InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Killer Inside ❯ Chapter 9: My Stupid Mouth ( Chapter 9 )

Update! Frigging finally! And at then end of the fic I will be recommending a few fics and Authors that I just love!

And no, I do not own dog-boy. I don't even own a dog! Well, I own the ashes of a former dog. And there's a dead Hedgehog in my freezer. I'm pretty sure that doesn't count for anything though.

I didn't give up, but an e-mail from a reader reminded me that I should be working on it…

Chapter 9: My Stupid Mouth

"I'm never speaking up again

It only hurts me…"

John Mayer

Darkness was the first thing Kagome noticed when she began to regain consciousness. She remembered talking to Inuyasha about Kikyou and then healing him when his emotional pain became too much for him to bare. And then there was darkness. For a moment she wondered why it was dark then she realized she hadn't opened her eyes yet.

Idiot, she berated herself. You wasted all that power healing him when you could have just let him be. She pictured the pain he'd been in when he'd finished his tale and changed her mind. No, I couldn't let him stay that way, not when I could help. It was worth the power used.

"Kagome?" A voice pulled her closer to the surface. "Kagome, can you hear me?" She tried to speak but all that came from her mouth was a weak groan. A hand grabbed hers and squeezed. "I think she's coming around. Kagome, if you can hear me squeeze my hand twice." It took a massive amount of effort but she was able to squeeze the clawed hand holding hers twice. Inuyasha, she thought.

She struggled to open her eyes and realized she was not lying down but instead being held by strong arms. When her eyes finally opened all the way, she was staring into a pair of very worried golden ones.

"Inu…yasha," she whispered hoarsely. She took a deep breath and blinked a few times, trying to get the room into focus. Never before had she used that much energy. And never again will I ever attempt to do so! Oh, gods, this is so painful!

"You scared the hell out of us, Kagome," Inuyasha whispered. "You've been out for about an hour and your aura is looking weak. I want to take you back to Kaede but I'm worried about taking you on the bike."

"Don't," she rasped. "I can hold on tight."

"And if you pass out again?" Inuyasha shook his head. "We're not going to leave yet, we'll wait another hour, but if I don't see significant improvement in that hour, I'm calling a cab."

"Tea," she whispered. I need caffeine. She could feel her body crying out for the drug. Chocolate might work too, but I want tea, she thought.

"She needs more than just tea," another voice announced. Maire walked into Kagome's line of vision. "That drained her nearly empty. She needs caffeine, quickly, that I know from experience. But she also needs something with substance, maybe some bread. I've got some ginger candies in the kitchen; it'll help with the nausea."

"But I'm not-" All of a sudden, Kagome felt the room begin to spin and had a strong desire to empty her stomach. She groaned.

"There, just hit you, didn't it?" Kagome nodded at the older woman and closed her eyes. It didn't help much. She felt the Fae presence leave the room and concentrated on keeping her eyes closed and her food in her stomach.

"You are not going to puke on my leather pants, little girl," Inuyasha growled. Kagome stuck her middle finger up at him. "I'll take you into the bathroom. You can puke there." More gently than she'd thought him capable of, Inuyasha picked her up and carried her, bridal style, into the hall. "Maire, where the fuck is your bathroom?"

"Up the stairs, down the blue hall and to the left," she shouted back.

When the two were situated in front of the toilet, Kagome seated sideways in Inuyasha's lap, both let out a sigh of relief.

"What happened to me?" she asked.

"I was hoping you could tell me," he replied. "You passed out."

"Yeah, I think I mighta used too much power."

"That much is obvious," he snorted. "What the fuck were you thinking, Kagome? Why would you do something like that? It was a waste of power and it put you in danger."

"You were in pain; I had to do what I could," she whispered.

"The pain will come back," he growled. "It will always come back. And it's not like it's never been that fierce before either. The last three years of my life have been like that and worse." Inuyasha shook his head and sighed. "You wasted your power. It was very nice of you to want to help me; I appreciate the gesture and the sentiment behind it but it was foolish."

Kagome turned to stare at the floor. "I'm sorry."

"Feh." One hand squeezed her arm. "Apology accepted, wench. You still acted like a fool though."

"Specifically like a poorly trained fool, which I would really not have expected from a relative of Kaede's," said a voice at the door. Both looked up to see Maire standing in the doorway with a tray. "How long have you been living there?"

Kagome did a brief calculation in her head. "About thirteen months."

"Were you trained at all before you came?"

"No," Kagome shook her head. "I wanted to; both Kikyou and Kaede encouraged me to find some way to train, but Mama didn't really want me to be a miko. She didn't fell it was a safe profession."

Maire sighed and shook her head, kneeling and putting the tray on the floor between them. Kagome could now see the small pot of tea and a plate of ginger cookies the old Fae had brought for her. "It's not always, but it's more of a calling than a profession. I suspected you were untrained but not how untrained you might be. Gods, how Kaede could let someone with as much power as you stay so untrained is beyond me."

"What do you mean as `someone with as much power as me?' I'm not that powerful." Kagome was confused. "Kikyou was the one with the massive amounts of power; I've never been able to do the things she could." Maire snorted.

"That girl had power, but it wasn't totally internal." The old woman made a face. "She used something to amplify it."

"Kikyou pushed herself," Inuyasha interrupted, "She admitted to me that she had purposefully awakened her powers at an early age so that she could learn to use them more quickly." He glanced at Kagome quickly. "And honestly, for all her training, she never had as much power as I feel in you."

Kagome blinked at him. "You've got to be kidding me." When he shook his head she looked up at Maire, angrily. "So now I'm some sort of freak with massive amounts of power?"

Maire laughed. "No! Certainly not! You're just an untrained Miko from a powerful line." The old Fae put her hand on the girl's head and smoothed her hair back. "I will be having a little talk with Kaede, but you don't need to worry about that. Drink your tea, child. It's black oolong and ginger with just a hint of honey; it'll counteract the affects of the drainage. And the cookies will help you feel better, I promise."

"But-"

"No `buts,' Kagome," she admonished as she stood. "Inuyasha, make sure she drinks the tea." In a swirl of purple, she turned and left the two.

Inuyasha smiled at the girl in his lap reassuringly. "She can be like that," he said. "She sees it as her calling to take care of every creature that passes her door, with or without their permission. She'll be calling Kaede now." Kagome sniffed at the tea. "It's not poisoned. Just drink it."

"I never said it was." She took another sniff and then a small sip. Warmth seemed to seep into her body. Just what I needed, she thought. The churning in her stomach lessened as she drank and the tightness in her shoulders that she'd barely registered eased. She felt a whisper of magic and had to stop herself from smirking. Oolong and ginger my ass, she thought. I distinctly taste mint and comfrey as well not to mention lavender and chamomile. But if she thinks I need a spell to get over this, far be it from me to stop her. At her temples, the headache that had been threatening subsided.

"Feeling better?" Inuyasha's voice close to her ear interrupted her thoughts. Suddenly she realized just where she was sitting. It took a supreme effort for her to stifle the blush she felt rising and look into his eyes.

"Yeah." She swallowed, throat suddenly feeling dry. "Can we get back soon? I'm sure Kaede is getting worried about me."

"Maire is calling her, it'll be ok." The hanyou shrugged and leaned back as if she weren't even there. Kagome swallowed the rest of the tea and moved to get up out of his lap but was stopped by two large hands on her waist. She looked at him quizzically.

"Let me help," was all he said. Within moments she was on her feet staring at a wall of masculine chest. "Your aura looks more steady and your heart rate seems to be ok," he said looking her up and down. "You still feel sick?" She shook her head, still a bit dazed. "Are you dizzy at all?"

"No, I'm fine," she said, trying not to stare into his eyes.

"Sure you don't want a cookie?" He grabbed one and waved it under her nose. It smelled delicious. "Mmmm. Yummy ginger snaps…" Kagome giggled and snatched the cookie from his hand.

"I'd never turn down free cookies," she said.

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He was going faster than he should, he knew.

After the strange experience at Maire's, he was eager to get Kagome back home and himself back to his "manor" to brood. He hadn't really been paying much attention to his speed. But with all the twists and turns the forest road made, it wasn't safe to be tearing along at seventy-five miles an hour, especially with a passenger. One patch of wet road and he and Kagome would go flying headlong into the swamp. He'd be fine, he healed quickly and was pretty hard to hurt in the first place. But Kagome's body was soft, her bones broke more easily than his and her flesh tore much more readily.

The thought of her mangled body lying in the swamp shook him. If the crash were bad enough, if he were hurt, she could easily die before he could even call for help. The idea sobered him and he started slowing down. Every few moments he checked the speedometer. Seventy. Sixty-five. Sixty. When he looked up again there was a tree lying across the road ahead and a man with a very big tire iron standing on top of the tree. Even from a few hundred feet off, he could see the grin cross the man's dark features. He wasn't going to be able to stop in time.

When he felt her arms tighten their grip around his waist, he knew Kagome had seen the threat as well. He didn't have time to reassure her; he barely had time to think. Grabbing the break and turning hard to the left, he skidded sideways into the trunk of the tree, trying to avoid an outright crash. The back wheel hit wood hard, jarring them both. Inuyasha could smell Kagome's blood; the bark of the downed tree had scraped skin off her right thigh.

Before the two of them could get their bearings the man with the tire iron attacked. Kagome just barely dodged the first swing, which was aimed at her head. It hit her shoulder with a sickening crack and she was thrown from the bike.

"Run!" Inuyasha shouted to her as she scrambled to get up. He watched her run as fast as she could she into the trees by the side of the road, worried that she was clutching her shoulder and limping slightly. Inuyasha returned his attention to their attacker a second too late. Before he could blink the iron rod slammed against his side. Fuck, that cracked a rib. Inuyasha dodged the next blow and came up swinging. One fist connected, knocking the man back a few feet. He threw himself off the bike and dodged another blow with the tire iron.

"Fucking coward!" Inuyasha shouted. "Put down that stupid stick and fucking fight me!" The hanyou lunged at the other man, fingers crooked, baring his claws. Flesh tore and a scream escaped from the thug.

"Hanyou," the man spat as he threw the tire iron towards the woods. "Worthless stinking half-breed." Blood steadily dripped to the ground from a wound in his side.

Inuyasha narrowed his eyes, a growl beginning in his chest. "What did you call me?" He cracked his fingers with a negligent movement. "You'd dare call me a `half-breed?' Do you even know who the fuck I am? You worthless pile of shit!" He threw himself bodily at the man then, taking both of them to the ground. They fought like that for a few moments, neither one gaining the advantage. Then a knife appeared and Inuyasha found himself grappling for the weapon and trying to avoid slashes to his exposed flesh.

For a moment, Inuyasha found himself on the bottom, the knife inches away from his throat. Damn, this fucker is strong. He has got to be youkai or fae, no human has this type of strength. With a growl, he dug his claws into the other man's arms and pulled, trying to see if he could rip enough flesh off to stop him. It did little good.

The man looking down at him laughed and spoke to him. "Of course I know who you are! You're Inuyasha; tainted son of the Inu no Taisho. And I'll have the honor of wiping your stain off the planet." The youkai snarled and his eyes flashed red. Spittle and drool flew from the creature's mouth and Inuyasha could feel the acidity of the liquid burning his skin. With a loud cry he drew the man closer and then flipped him over his head to land on his back. He landed with a thud and scuttled away. When Inuyasha gained his feet, the man threw himself at him again, knife flashing. Inuyasha cracked his knuckles and slashed at his opponent with iron hard claws.

When he backed away to survey the damage, he clutched his own side, realizing that he had been cut as well. Fuck! The gash ached now, but soon it would be healed. If I can get Kagome and myself out of this mess, he amended.

Gripping the wound tighter, he felt his fingers beginning to drip with blood and grinned. With a rare display of youki, he gathered the blood into solid blades and threw them at his attacker with a cry. The blades of blood tore at his attacker and shredded much of his skin. Kagome's gasp almost distracted him, but he saw the other man move out of the corner of his eye as he turned to check on her.

The man threw himself at Inuyasha again, but this time, the hanyou was ready for him. He dodged and rolled, snaking his heavily booted foot out to catch his opponent's knee to disable him. He felt his foot connect and heard the popping of bones being dislocated. A moment later Inuyasha was standing over the man who had attacked them, boot on the other man's chest.

"What the fuck did you think you were doing?" Neither was really breathing hard, but Inuyasha was far from relaxed. "Who are you?"

"I am Goshinki," the man replied. Inuyasha looked him over, memorizing his face. "Go ahead and memorize my face. It will be the last one you see, I want it to be familiar." His features were blunt; his nose broad and flat, his lips thin and flexible. His hair was light grey but his skin was darker and reddish, almost purple. Inuyasha suddenly noticed two horns protruding from his hair.

"What do you want?" he barked, pressing a little harder with his foot.

"To erase a mistake," Goshinki rasped. His eyes darted to the road towards town. "You will see me again." Inuyasha's ears flicked in the same direction his sensitive hearing picking up sirens. Kagome must have called the police with her cell, he thought with relief. Smart girl.

Suddenly he felt claws digging into the skin of his leg, the one not holding the captive down. Another slash of claws and two more from the knife and Inuyasha was down again. But this time Goshinki did not take advantage of the situation and attack again.

This time he ran.

By the time the police arrived, Goshinki was long gone and Inuyasha was spitting mad. Kagome was trying to calm him, assuring him that she was only bruised and tried to see to his cuts but he was livid. He brushed aside her offer of aid and looked at her shoulder. Not broken, he thought with a frown, but not healthy either.

Sango was the first uniform on the scene and offered to call for an ambulance but both refused. Her partner called in the incident and relayed the refusal of medical assistance.

"Kagome, what did you get yourself into this time," Sango chided gently.

"It's not my fault!" the girl cried.

"This time?" Inuyasha asked with a raised eyebrow.

"It's nothing, honestly. I don't understand why everyone made such a big deal out of that stupid incident anyway." Kagome crossed her arms and looked off into the wood. Bitch is hiding something, he thought.

"I hardly think that a stalker is nothing, `Gome." Sango rolled her eyes at the younger girl. "Honestly, if it made you mother, who hates the thought of you becoming a miko, so paranoid she agreed to your moving here, it had to be something big." Kagome glared at her friend.

"Stalker?" Inuyasha was very curious now. Some shithead was following my Kagome? Wait- She's not mine. Not mine… But still, some creep scaring her family into sending her here…

"He was not a stalker," Kagome said, interrupting his train of thought. "He just had a difficult time believing I didn't want to date him. And he liked to watch me."

"Sounds like a stalker to me," he replied.

"Oh shut up and focus on what just happened!" she barked at him. "We were nearly killed! Some psycho attacked us and you're worried about something that didn't happen?"

"So what did just happen, Yash?" Sango asked, taking out her notepad and a pen. "Kagome called in that some big freak had chopped down a tree and was pounding on you."

"It was a youkai," he replied. "He was pretty big so he probably pushed the tree down himself. Said his name was Goshinki."

"Do you know him?"

"No, but he knew me." Inuyasha frowned and shifted his feet. The gashes were beginning to heal and it was uncomfortable. "Are you sure you need to report this, Sango? I mean; it was a youkai fight…"

"It was a youkai fight that involved a human. But even if Kagome hadn't been attacked, I'd still have to report it, Yash." Sango shook her head. "There aren't actually separate laws for the different beings and an assault is an assault, regardless of the victim."

"Feh. You're one of the few who see it that way," Inuyasha scoffed. "Feh. Fine. Whatever." Inuyasha proceeded to explain to the policewoman what had happened, Sango asking questions occasionally. He tried to skip over what Goshinki had told him, but Sango wouldn't allow him to.

"So," she said after he'd finished, "it seems to me that this was actually an assassination attempt rather than a random assault."

"No shit." He glanced over at him still intact bike and shifted anxiously again. "Can we go now? Kagome should be getting home soon-"

"After I get Kagome's statement." Sango tuned to her friend. "Gome, are you sure you don't want to get that shoulder looked at? It could be broken and the worst thing for a break is for you to let it go."

Inuyasha bristled. "It's not broken. He wasn't trying to kill her, just knock her out." Sango glared at him.

"She's human," the policewoman practically growled at him. "It takes a lot less than you'd think to break human bone, especially that of a human woman. Since when did you become an expert in human physiology?"

"Guys, I'm fine," Kagome interrupted. "It's feeling better already. Really." Both looked at her disbelievingly. She rolled her eyes at them and blew at her bangs, which were falling in her face. "Let me just give my statement and we can go so his royal bitchiness can get back to brooding, O.K.?"

"Fine. What did you see, Kagome?" Kagome gave her version of the story as Sango wrote it down; it was fairly similar to Inuyasha's. "Anything else?" Sango asked when Kagome stopped.

"No, just that I think Toga Taisho should be called." Inuyasha blinked at her in surprise and then just stared. Kagome flushed. "His youngest son is a target and I think he'd like to know about it," she defended. "From what Kaede told me, he's a loving father who would want to know something like that."

"If anyone calls my father, it will be me."

"O.K. Then we're through," Sango announced. "You're both free to go. Kagome, would you rather ride back in the squad car? If your arm still hurts at all, it might be easier on you to be in the car."

"No, San, I'll be fine." Kagome waved off her friend's concern.

"If you're sure…"

"Absolutely. I'll see you for lunch at Kaede's tomorrow." Kagome smiled at her friend.

"Alright. I'll see you tomorrow."

Kagome and Inuyasha watched the police get back into their car and drive off. Kagome stared at the bike on the far side of the tree and frowned. Inuyasha saw it and smirked.

"So…" Kagome began.

"So?" Inuyasha smirked.

"I don't suppose you're strong enough to lift a fifty foot tall tree?"

Inuyasha's smirk grew. "Aren't you?" Kagome blinked at him and he chuckled. "No? Well then, I guess I'll have to give it a try." He dug the claws of one hand into the trunk close to the road and with a heave pulled the downed tree a few feet off the road surface. Lifting the trunk above his head he began to "walk" his hands along until the tree was standing mostly upright. A bit of a twist settled the roots back to where they should be and he called Kagome over.

"I don't suppose you're strong enough to heal this tree's roots?" he asked her with a smile.

"Um…"

"Just try it," he said. She gave him a doubting look but put her hands on the tree's surface near his. She began to glow a bit pinkish and her eyes moved under her lids in a quick motion. He could feel the power radiating off of her and analyzed her use of her powers as best he could.

She's wasting energy, he thought, a little surprised. It's not focused, just haphazard. If she could focus, she might not drain herself every time she did something more difficult. She knows what she wants to do but not how to fine tune. Huh. He knew by her stance when the roots were mostly healed and laid a hand on her shoulder. She stopped and looked up at him, a bit confused.

"Let it heal itself the rest of the way," he told her. "That should make the roots harder to break the next time."

"And how would you know that?"

"You can't break a glued board in the same place twice?" he answered, a little unsure. She laughed and shook her head. "Well, I mean-"

"No, Inuyasha, really, you're right. He'll be fine." She smiled up at the tree. "Now let's get back."

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The room had once been a ballroom; its wood parquet floors had seen the slippered feet of hundreds of the well to do and wealthy. The mirrors still stood, the crystal chandeliers still hung suspended from the tin ceiling. If one listened closely, the ghosts of music long since played could be heard drifting on a draft.

Of course, only one woman danced here anymore. Today she danced for herself and not her master. She danced wildly, her limbs almost flailing yet still graceful. He always wanted to see something more dignified and controlled, not because he enjoyed it, but because he knew she did not. No music accompanied her today, just the erratic rhythm of her own body. She felt sweat soaking her tank top and drip to the floor yet did not stop; who knew when she would be allowed to dance like this again?

She executed a pirouette, leapt to the left, lunged forward and reached out, eyes closed. Pulling her arms back, she leapt again and again, landing on the balls of her bare feet. With her hands above her head and her left foot on her right knee, she spun with an inhuman speed and grace. With un-natural flexibility, she landed on her feet and then rolled backwards to stand on her hands. She stood that way for a moment before landing on her feet again, her dance becoming a strange mixture of ballet and martial arts.

It could have been hours or mere seconds that she continued on that way but all too soon, the dance was ended by the sound of clapping from the doorway. A man stood there, his long black hair only partially held back. The smile on his face could have frozen the sea. He threw a bottle of water at the dancer and walked into the room as she caught it. Glaring at him, she opened the bottle and drank from it.

"Beautiful, as always, my dear," he said, his voice dark and cold. "But you really must be more precise. I saw several points where you could have hurt yourself." He walked up to her and ran a pale hand down her sweat-covered arm. "And you know I can't have that, my sweet." She repressed a shudder and turned to look up into his eyes.

"What would you have of me, Master?" She spoke softly, trying to keep her loathing of him from her voice.

"Goshinki has failed me," her replied.

"You did not expect him to succeed in the first place, my Lord."

"No, I did not." The man smiled again and caressed her cheek.

"What would you have of me, Master?" she asked again. Her stomach wanted to revolt at his touch and he knew it. His touch trailed to her neck and he moved closer so that his breath snaked over her skin, cooling and heating it at the same time.

"Mmm." He breathed deeply and sighed. "Nothing smells quite as wonderful on you as fear and hatred, Kaugra." She would not allow him the pleasure of seeing her flinch. "I want you to take the next steps, my dear." He moved closer and licked her neck, his hands snaking around her waist and pressing her against him. She fought to contain her whimper of revulsion. "But first, you have another duty."

"Of course, Master."

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If you're wondering why I had Kagome eat ginger cookies after the "incident", here is a fun fact: Ginger is a digestive aid. In small quantities it usually helps to relieve nausea and sour stomach, which is why when you're sick, you often get ginger ale. My mother used to feed me ginger snaps on long car trips (over 9 hours long) after she figured out that pretzels just made me worse. (salt is supposed to help with nausea too) To this day, hard pretzels (rods especially) are one of my least favorite foods. When wet, they smell like vomit to me.

Of course, ginger didn't help me much THIS time; I ended up puking every twenty minutes, regardless of the emptiness of my stomach, until my fiancé finally brought me an anti-emetic and some Propel. At least I'm healthy now.

And I promised recommendations, didn't I? First and foremost, Sabichan; she has written some really great AU fics and a few not so AU ones. A Bus Stop Fairytale was one of the first Inuyasha fanfics I read and is still one of my favorites. I occasionally re-read it just because I love it so much. Right now she's working on My Will, another AU, where Kagome is a single teenage mother. Great story! READ IT! And she updates more frequently than I do, which is always a plus.

Anyway, I hope you review my story (and read and review Sabichan's). I'll try to remember to thank my reviewers; if I do thank you, it'll probably be in E-mail form. Thanks for reading! Stay Tuned for the next installment of: The Killer Inside!