InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Difference a Little Time Can Make ❯ Chapter 21 ( Chapter 21 )

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha. Rumiko Takahashi does. I am not making any money from this story.

 

Author's note: Thank you to everyone who has reviewed. Please continue to review and let me know what you think. The changes from canon will continue to ripple out, though some things will remain the same.

 

I'm sorry it took so long to get this chapter out. I meant to post it over the weekend but didn't like the way it came out and had to go back and rewrite a few sections. I will have the next chapter out as soon as I can.

 

For those of you who were wondering what an “Inugami” is. In an episode of the anime, not sure if its in the manga, they come across a village that is having trouble with some monkey youkai. I believe they translated it as Dog-god but if you watch it in the original Japanese they are calling Inuyasha an Inugami. In Japanese mythology an Inugami is a type of shikigami, similar to a familiar spirit, resembling, and usually originating from, a dog, and most commonly carrying out vengeance or acting as guardians or protectors on behalf of the Inugami-mochi, or “Inugami owner”. Inugami are extremely powerful and capable of existing independently, as well as turning on their “owners” and even possessing humans. So in the previous chapter the villagers were assuming that Inuyasha was an Inugami after they heard Kagome refer to him as her protector.

----------------------------

Kagome sighed as she settled down on the futon Hisao-sama had provided. That bath had been wonderful. It had been ages since she had been able to relax in a hot bath. And one of the village women had provided soaps, so she had really been able to clean herself. She felt so clean and warm. And the futon was much softer than the ground she had been sleeping on recently. It was a nice change from the last couple of weeks. She started to lay down but paused, glancing at Inuyasha. After they had eaten and been shown to this room he had sat down with his back to wall, the sheathed Tessaiga propped against his shoulder. It didn't look like he had moved at all the whole time she was gone. “Inuyasha? Aren't you going to use the other futon?” She gestured to where it sat in the corner.

 

“Keh. I'm fine.” He didn't tell her that he didn't plan on getting any sleep that night. It was too dangerous to sleep in a village like this. Who knew when the humans would change their minds and decide to attack them? That was why he hadn't wanted to spend the night but he had found himself unable to deny Kagome. He sighed.

 

Kagome heard him and wondered at his curt reply. She knew that he was upset about staying in the village and she began to regret forcing him to. She looked down at her lap. “I'm sorry. I know you didn't want to stay here.” She bit her lip before continuing. “If you want we can still leave. We don't have to stay.” She fidgeted, refusing to meet his eyes.

 

He had turned to look at her when she first apologized. Now his eyes softened, though she didn't see it. 'She really is special. I know how hard it's been for her, that she's not used to sleeping outside. And the first real chance she's had in weeks to sleep inside, she's willing to give up to make me more comfortable. I can't do that to her.' He carefully set the Tessaiga down and moved to her side. He placed a hand on her shoulder and gently pressed down until she got the idea and let her body lay down. “Go to sleep wench. Besides, at this point it's too late to look for a decent campsite.” He gave her a brief smile to let her know that everything was alright and received a brilliant one from her in return before moving back to his previous position.

 

Kagome smiled again as she snuggled into her futon and quickly fell asleep. But her rest was not peaceful. She kept seeing the axe falling toward Inuyasha, over and over, and this time she wasn't able to stop it. She woke up with a gasp, tears in her eyes as she bit back the scream that tried to rip its way out of her throat. She felt strong arms grip her, pulling her to rest against a hard chest and she relaxed. “Shh wench. It was just a dream. You're safe.”

 

Inuyasha had known she was having a nightmare for a while. She had been tossing and turning in her sleep, murmuring words too low for him to understand. He had been contemplating waking her up when she had jerked up, a look of horror on her face. He hadn't hesitated, moving to hold her and comfort her. He continued to hold and soothe her until he felt her relax. Then he pulled back and asked “Do you want to talk about it?”

 

Kagome clutched at his haori as she struggled to get her emotions under control. She was slightly embarrassed to find herself sitting in Inuyasha's lap but the horror from her nightmare overrode it. So rather than move away, she stayed there, drawing comfort from his embrace. As she finally gained control of herself she heard Inuyasha's question and tensed. She raised her head to look at him and threw her arms around him to reassure herself that he was alright.

 

Inuyasha was surprised at her actions. He was about to question her further when her voice stopped him.

 

“I dreamed about earlier. When the axe was falling. But in my dream I was too slow and wasn't able to stop-” she broke off as a shudder ran through her body.

 

Inuyasha felt an answering shudder run through his own body as her words brought back his own memories. “Shh. It's alright. That didn't happen.” He continued to whisper soothing platitudes to her as he tried to rein in his own temper. His mind was flooded with the image of the axe descending and the fear he had felt when she threw herself over him.

 

But Kagome had felt his body tense. She pulled back to look at his face. “Inuyasha?”

 

And the fragile hold he had over his temper snapped. “You stupid Bitch!” He watched as she flinched back in shock at his outburst. He reached out and grabbed her by the shoulders, giving her a little shake before crushing her to his chest. “Why did you do something so stupid?! You could have been killed!”

 

Kagome had been shocked by his sudden outburst but as he continued to yell she quickly understood what the problem was. She hesitantly lifted a hand to cup his cheek, forcing him to look her in the eyes. “I'm alright Inuyasha. It's okay.”

 

He growled at her. “No it's not! Why would you do something like that?!”

 

“What else could I have done?” she asked him. “They were going to kill you! I couldn't just sit there and watch. I had to stop it somehow. Anyway, it all turned out alright in the end, didn't it? The barrier protected us.”

 

He scowled down at her and gave her another shake. “But you didn't know you could make a barrier before hand, did you?!” Her silence was his answer. “Damn it Bitch! If you hadn't gotten lucky, you would be dead right now!”

 

Kagome knew she had worried him with her actions but she was getting frustrated that he wasn't letting it go. Everything had worked out alright in the end after all. And he was really getting on her nerves the way he kept calling her a bitch. “I was not going to just sit there and watch them kill you, you baka!” She shoved at Inuyasha's chest to make her point and opened her mouth to continue when Inuyasha suddenly tightened his grip on her and pinned her to the floor.

 

“And how do you think I felt watching you throw yourself on top of me?! I couldn't move and all I could see was that axe falling toward you! How do you think I felt thinking that you were going to die?! And for something as foolish as that! They would have just killed me right after you anyway!” He growled again, all the pent up worry and fear and frustration showing on his face as he glared down at her. He didn't even realize what he was doing before he drove himself forward and captured her lips in a bruising kiss.

 

Kagome laid there in shock as he kissed her. This was nothing like their previous kisses. This was hard and full of passion as he poured all of his emotions into it. She quickly lost herself in the sensations as she responded to the kiss, pouring her own fears and worries into it. She fisted her hands in his haori and tugged, pulling him closer. Neither noticed when the shoji door slid open, or the startled gasp before it slid closed again. Both were lost in the kiss until they had to break apart, panting for breath.

 

Inuyasha didn't know what had come over him. But as he sat there staring at her while trying to catch his breath, he knew it was the right thing to do. He pulled her back against his chest, anger now spent. “Don't ever do that to me again. I don't know what I would do if I had to watch you die. I swore to protect you, remember? Promise me you won't do something that stupid again.”

 

Kagome stared up at him. His golden eyes shone intensely with the depth of his emotion, so intense that she felt herself shiver unconsciously. She wanted to reassure him but she couldn't make that promise. She knew she would do it again if she had the chance to save his life. “Inuyasha-”

He saw the look on her face and growled. “Promise me Bitch! I don't want you throwing your life away for mine.”

 

She opened her mouth to respond but whatever she was going to say was lost as the sound of many footsteps approaching intruded on them. Inuyasha leaped up with a curse, snatching up the Tessaiga and placing himself protectively in front of Kagome as the shoji door was flung open. A large group of armed men stood there. Inuyasha started to growl while Kagome moved closer to him. Things didn't look good. She saw Hisao move to the front of the group and called to him “Hisao-sama?”

 

He looked at her grimly. “Kagome-san, please move away from him.”

 

She was shocked, especially when she saw the other men raise their weapons threateningly. “But why? I thought you said that we were welcome to spend the night here in peace. What is going on?”

 

“One of my servants heard yelling coming from this room and came to investigate. He looked inside and saw the youkai pinning you to the ground, forcing himself on you. Please move away from him and we will deal with him. You need not fear him any longer.”

 

“What?” Kagome asked as her shock grew. She felt a little embarrassed that someone had seen her and Inuyasha in an intimate position but it was overwhelmed by the shock. They thought that Inuyasha had attacked her, forced himself on her? “But Inuyasha didn't force himself on me” she tried to explain, hoping to calm them down.

 

But she had obviously said the wrong thing. “She willingly?” “With a youkai” “Maybe Nobuo-sama was right after all” “Nothing but a youkai whore!” The group of men began to mutter among themselves.

 

Inuyasha continued to growl as he pulled Kagome closer to his body. He knew that staying here was a bad idea. He looked around the room for an escape route, he had a feeling they would have to make a break for it. He inwardly cursed himself for letting down his guard again.

 

Even Hisao reeled back in shock. “You would allow a youkai to defile your body? Willingly?!” He shook his head in disgust. “It is one thing to live in peace with a youkai. It is something entirely different and unnatural to bed one. It as an abomination and you are a traitor to your own kind to allow it. Perhaps Nobuo-sama was right after all. This unnaturalness must be cleansed.” The men raised their weapons higher.

 

Inuyasha growled louder and drew the Tessaiga. “You won't touch her!” he snarled at them but paused when they made no move to attack.

 

Hisao shook his head. “You misunderstand me. As I stated before, our village has seen enough bloodshed. We were willing to let you stay for the night when it appeared that you were merely her protector, perhaps an Inugami. But her lover? No. That will not be tolerated in the village. You must leave immediately. We will give no aid to those who would go against the laws of nature.”

 

Kagome simply stared at him in shock from her position behind Inuyasha. 'How can they such hateful things about me? What have I done to them?' And now they were being told to leave because she had kissed Inuyasha. “But why?” she asked, confusion written upon her face.

 

Hisao turned his back on her and the other men followed suit. “Such an abominable act will not be tolerated in this village. Leave now, peacefully, or we will have no choice but to run you out by force.”

 

“Keh! Don't worry yourselves. We're leaving. Who would want to stay in a village with assholes like you anyway.” Inuyasha glared at them as he sheathed the Tessaiga and grabbed Kagome's bag. He gently but firmly grasped the shell-shocked girl by the arm and led her to the shoji. He grunted with satisfaction as he slammed it open, knocking it off of it's frame. He started to exit, only to growl as he realized that there was a large group of armed villagers, including the men that he had knocked out earlier, waiting outside. He realized that word had already spread and he needed to get Kagome out of there fast.

 

As the villagers began to throw rocks and shout vile things like “Youkai whore, slut, traitor, tramp” Inuyasha pulled Kagome onto his back and leaped up, jumping from roof to roof to evade them. He headed quickly out of the village and toward the nearby forest. He was too fast for the humans and the only resistance he met was a lone sentry at the edge of the village. Inuyasha easily evaded his hastily fired arrow before knocking him out. He paused and swiped the man's quiver of arrows before continuing on his way. He figured that at least this way the trip into the village wasn't a complete waste if Kagome now had a useable weapon again.

 

He felt her shift on his back and tightened his grip on her legs as he leaped into the trees. He ran full out, determined to put as much distance between them and the village as possible. He finally stopped after a couple of hours of hard running and Kagome slid off his back as he caught his breath. He kept his gaze averted from her, not wanting to see the look he was sure would be on her face. 'Stupid idiot' he silently cursed himself. It was his fault that they had been run out of the village. 'Why did I kiss her?' But he couldn't deny that it had felt so right.

 

Kagome fidgeted slightly as she looked around. She didn't understand what had happened back at the village. 'How could they be so narrow minded?' she wondered still slightly in shock. Nobody had ever treated her like that before. She looked at Inuyasha out of the corner of her eye but he was standing with his back to her. She slumped slightly. She knew it was her fault, she was the one who had wanted to stay in the village. “Inuyasha?” She hesitantly reached out her hand and touched his shoulder, feeling even worse when she felt him tense at the contact.

 

Inuyasha tensed when he felt her hand touch his shoulder. 'Here it comes' he thought. He was sure she was going to blame him for what happened. He should have known better than to kiss her. He knew better than anyone how most humans thought of someone who would love someone of youkai blood. He slowly turned to face her but was dumbfounded by the look of sorrow and guilt on her face. 'Why is she guilty? Is it because she realizes now what it would mean to stay with me and now she wants to change her mind?' He quickly schooled his face so that it wouldn't give away the despair he was feeling at that thought.

 

Kagome felt even worse when he turned around. He had schooled his face into a blank mask so that she couldn't tell what he was feeling. Only his eyes showed his emotions, and there were too many to figure out what he was feeling. And the little moonlight that reached them through the trees wasn't enough for her to try to make sense of what she could see. “I'm sorry” she blurted out suddenly, unable to take his silent staring any longer. She foolishly feared he planned to leave her somewhere so he wouldn't have to put up with her foolishness any longer. She saw his eyes widen at her apology and she grabbed one of his hands, holding it between two of her own. “I'm sorry, I know it was my fault. You wanted to leave and I'm the one who insisted on staying in the village for the night. I shouldn't have argued you into staying. Please don't leave me.”

 

Inuyasha's eyes widened further as he listened to her apologize. But he growled when she begged him not to leave. “Baka!” he said as he used her grip on his hand to pull her closer to him. “I've told you before, I won't leave you. I'll be with you for as long as you need me.” He inhaled, breathing in her scent, allowing it to soothe him. “I'm the one who should apologize. Things would have been fine if I hadn't kissed you. That is what set them off. I should have known better.” He sighed.

 

Kagome pulled back to stare at him. “But I insisted on staying in the village even though you wanted to leave.” She gazed at his face, silently willing him to elaborate. Her heart lurched in her chest at the thought that he might regret the kiss they had shared.

 

He raked his free hand through his hair. “I understand why you wanted to stay in the village for the night. You're human and not used to living out doors like I am. I didn't like the idea but if I had thought it was really that dangerous I would have insisted that we leave and no amount of arguing would have convinced me otherwise. But things would have been fine if I hadn't kissed you. I'm the one that made the mistake, not you.” He looked away, not wanting to see the look on her face when she finally realized it was his fault that she had been chased out of another village.

 

'Mistake?' Kagome's breath caught and her heart gave another painful lurch. “M-mistake?” She struggled to control herself, willing herself not to cry. “You think that kiss was a mistake? You regret it?”

 

His head snapped back around at the heart broken tone of voice. “Fuck no!” he exclaimed before he could stop himself, shocking even himself. But he continued when he saw the look of confusion on her face. “I don't regret the kiss itself, I can't. It felt right. But I should have known better than to do it in a human village. I shouldn't have let my guard down, I should have been paying attention to our surroundings. But more than that, I shouldn't have initiated that kiss where anyone could see us.”

 

Kagome had felt better when she heard that he didn't regret the kiss after all. But his last sentence made her blood boil. “What do you mean you shouldn't kiss me where anyone can see?!” she burst out before she could stop herself. “You make it sound like I'm some dirty little secret, that you're ashamed to be seen with me!” She let out a yelp of surprise when he grabbed her by the shoulders to push her against a nearby tree. He towered over her, his body pressing close to hers and preventing her from moving away.

 

“You stupid Bitch! I'm not ashamed of you. How could you even think that?!” He glared down at her. “If anything, you should be ashamed to be with me. Look at how those humans in that village reacted. They thought I was forcing myself on you and when you admitted that you were a willing participant they turned on you! That is why I should have known better. I know how humans react to those they see as traitors to their own kind and should have remembered it.” He growled in annoyance.

 

Kagome felt the anger drain out of her at his statement and her gaze softened as she gazed up at him. He looked so intense as he glared down at her and she became aware of how his body was pressed up against hers. She felt herself flush and her gaze dropped to his lips. Before she realized what she was doing, she had closed the distance between them to place a kiss of her own. She felt his mouth open in surprise, he hadn't been expecting it, and she took the initiative to deepen the kiss, slipping her tongue between his parted lips. She had barely tasted him before he jerked his head away to stare at her in shock.

 

Inuyasha didn't know what had happened. One moment he had been yelling at her and the next she was kissing him. He didn't mind that, he actually enjoyed the kiss. But he had felt something enter his mouth and that had shocked him into breaking the kiss. 'Was that her tongue?' he wondered as he gazed down at her.

 

Kagome blushed at his look and averted her gaze, biting her lip as she worried that she had gone too far. It had felt right to progress things but looking back on it now she worried that she had made a mistake. She was in the Sengoku Jidai, something like that must be unheard of here. She was shaken out of her thoughts when Inuyasha gently grasped her chin and tilted her face to look at him. She couldn't understand the emotion she saw in his eyes before he lowered his face to hers and claimed her lips with his own. His lips parted and she felt his tongue hesitantly touch her lips. She immediately parted them, then moaned when she felt his tongue slip inside.

 

Inuyasha had watched the various emotions flit across her face. When he had seen her bite her lip, he felt something inside him change and he had reached out to kiss her. She had responded like before, so he decided to repeat her earlier actions. As soon as his tongue had come in contact with her lips, she had parted them and now he lost himself in the feeling of her hot, wet mouth. He felt her tongue react to the presence of his, felt how it seemed to wrap around his own. A growl escaped his throat to be swallowed by Kagome's mouth as one hand wrapped around her body drawing it flush against his own, while the other clawed at the tree behind her. 'Is this heaven?' he absently wondered as he reveled in the taste of her as their tongues caressed and dueled each other in her mouth.

 

They parted after a few moments, panting to catch their breath. Inuyasha recovered first and fought to regain his self-control, resisting the urge to kiss her again. He stepped back from her and said “It's late. You should get some sleep. We'll have to travel hard tomorrow, this area isn't safe for us to linger in.”

 

Kagome nodded as her hand absently rose to her swollen lips. She had seen the brief struggle in his face, and had felt it herself. Part of her wanted nothing more than to continue where they had left off, and that scared her. She began looking around for a place to build a fire and lay down for the night when she felt Inuyasha drape his haori over her. She looked at him in confusion. He normally only did that as she laid down for the night. In response he wrapped his arms around her and leaped high into a tree. Kagome squeaked and wrapped her arms around him in alarm. “Inuyasha?” she asked.

 

“Keh” he blushed and turned his head away as he settled them onto a branch. He sat with his back against the tree with her back against his chest and wrapped his arms around her to prevent her from falling. “It's safer up here” he told her after a moment. “I don't know if any of those villagers are looking for us but most humans don't think to look up. And this way you don't need a campfire, which would easily give away our location.”

She understood his reasoning. “Okay” she said as she arranged his haori as a blanket. She blushed as she tried to make herself comfortable but found herself quickly falling asleep snuggled up against his chest. Her last thoughts as she drifted off were of how warm and safe she felt in his arms and how she always wanted to feel that way.