InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Phoenix Blade: Time Lapse ❯ Drenchings ( Chapter 11 )

Disclaimer: It ought to be illegal to have this much fun with someone else's creations…oh, it is?…well, thanks for your generosity in sharing, Rumiko Takahashi!

 

A/N: Sorry to leave you hanging, gang ::giggles evilly:: but I went camping with my personal horde of demon-spawn for a few days. Took along pen and paper, so have a few chapters lined up…but ya gotta wait until my boss-sama is finished with me…

 

Again, parts of this chapter are definitely not for the under 17 crowd…don't want anybody or their parental units flaming me because they got corrupted accidentally by my purple prose…

 

Citrus alert, and of course, the usual OOC…

 

The Phoenix Blade: Time Lapse

Chapter Eleven: Drenchings

 

Ж Ж Ж Ж Ж

 

Present Day

 

Inuyasha stretched out his arms, reaching for her. She scooted farther away, finally being able to speak. “What do you take me for?” she gasped, wincing at the implication he thought she might be a loose woman. She was unprepared for his rejoinder, delivered with an arched eyebrow and a positively devilish grin.

 

“I'll take you for my mate, with any luck…”

 

Kicking off the hakama, he pounced. They ended up in a similar position to before, except her back was now against the wall because she was straddling his thighs, and he was nibbling her breasts. His erection was poking her in the belly; she had to fight the impulse to reach down and push it away from her, in case her hand disobeyed her and decided to make friends with it. Her head was whirling; he was purring, and her whole body wanted to wrap itself around him and hold on fiercely for whatever ride was in store. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders, and pressed her forehead between his ears, trying very hard to stop her hips from writhing rhythmically against him.

 

I have to get a grip!

There's lots of choices for handholds…I recommend the biceps, actually…

 

His ears were perked straight up in front of her eyes, as his lips and tongue were working their way across her chest. She inhaled sharply as he found a particularly sensitive spot. Gods, she wanted this…wanted him…but who was in his mind? Her or Kikyo? Damn. She had to know before this went any farther…

 

“Inuyasha…”

 

“Hmmm?”

 

“Who are you holding in your arms right now?” His head came up, eyes dark as aged honey. He looked quizzical.

 

“You.”

 

She bit her lip. He elaborated.

 

“Glossy dark hair, beautiful twilight-grey eyes, a body to drive a demon insane…Kagome, who wears combat boots, swings a pretty mean sword and makes my knees weak just thinking about her…You.”

 

She flushed prettily, but he could sense something else was on her mind. Carefully he lifted her and swung her legs from around him, and brought her into his lap. He cuddled her against him; she was suddenly consumed with worrying about where to put her hands…his erection was now rammed up against her hip, so her lap was out of the question. She laid one hand carefully along her outer thigh, and folded the other across her chest. His hands were also in neutral territory, but she couldn't have escaped if she'd tried.

 

Like you were going to, anyways.

 

“What's the matter, koishii?” She inhaled sharply at his use of the endearment, and then felt her stomach flip over. He was really knocking her support pins out from under her. She turned her face into his chest, was momentarily distracted by velvety skin covering rock-hard muscles, but tried to sound nonchalant.

 

“I'm just vain enough to want to make sure that the name you scream will be mine…”

 

He tensed, then wrapped her even tighter in his arms. “Keh! As if I'd ever mistake you for her…your scent is much nicer, for one thing…why is this bothering you, Kagome? Don't you trust me? The bitch has tried to kill me twice so far…”

 

She sighed, and slipping a hand free, started playing with a few strands of his hair that were trailing across her thighs. “When I was in second year at the Academy, I started dating an upperclassman. We went out a few times, and then his ex-girlfriend got wind of it…I was dumped like a hot potato, to say the least. I know the pull that familiarity has over the new, especially if there is sex involved…”

 

He said nothing, raising goose bumps along her arm with his claws.

 

“The worst of it all was the humiliation…Sensei Yashita gave me the worst dressing-down I have ever received, before or since….hunh?” A deep, primal growl was emanating from his chest, and all of him had gone rigid.

 

“This asshole Yashita undressed you…?”

 

She couldn't help herself; she giggled. He didn't relax.

 

“No, you silly, clothes have nothing to do with it…what I mean is, I got into a lot of official trouble over it, that's all.”

 

His hand slid up to the nape of her neck, and he tugged back a fistful of hair, until he could look into her eyes. What he might and might not have said, or might and might not have done at that moment sprouted wings and flew out the window at the sound of a voice.

 

“Kagome, dear, are you all right in there?”

 

They froze. “Please tell me you locked the door…” she whispered.

 

“…the door locks?”

 

Oh shit.

 

“Kagome…I'm coming in!”

 

“No, mom, I'm okay, really…it's all right…don't come in!”

 

Inuyasha swung her across the room and sat her in the tub with barely a splash. He grabbed his clothes and wedged himself against the wall behind the door, and not a moment too soon. The door flew open, and Mrs. Higurashi stood there, motherly concern writ large all over her. Kagome tried to smile innocently, even though she knew her face was rivalling a tomato. She was also trying not to look at Inuyasha, who was smirking wider than she'd ever seen, separated from her mother by only an inch or so of wood.

 

“Dear, you'd better come out of that tub now…you're awfully flushed, and too much heat isn't good for you, you know.”

 

“Yes, mom…” Her mother noticed the soaking wet towel on the floor and started towards it. “No, mom…I'm using that…I'll take care of it…really, I'm fine…could you make me something cool to drink? I think I'm a bit dehydrated…”

 

“Oh, yes, dear, of course! You come down when you're done…” Kagome dropped her head onto her knees the second the door closed, thanking whichever gods, demons or fates happened to be listening for their narrow escape. She felt a hand stroke the length of her hair; then she was lifted out of the water and stood upright. A grinning hanyou beamed down on her.

 

“Keh! Too much excitement like this could give us heart failure or something…hmmm, you don't look pruney enough to play the dehydrated card.” She pulled together the shredded remnants of her dignity, and wrapped a dry towel around herself, then reached to drain the water. He twisted the water out of the towel for her, and she hung it over the shower.

 

“Are you going to pop out my bedroom window and swagger in the front door to join us? Actually, you'd better not…you're looking a little too pleased with yourself…” He kissed her quickly, and allowed her to precede him into the hallway. She paused, warily listening for any more possible surprises, and they scuttled down the hall to her room, Inuyasha closing the door behind them.

 

Kagome rooted around in her closet to find a yukata to wear over her sleep tank and shorts, and then hesitated to drop the towel in front of her `roommate'. What the hell…he's seen more of me today than anybody except my doctor… She quickly pulled up the shorts, and yanked the tank over her head. She heard a soft chuckle, and turned around to see Inuyasha mostly dressed, but with the front of his juban and haori hanging open, nicely framing his muscled torso. He waggled his eyebrows at her.

 

“I'm having a little trouble doing up these ties…could you help?”

 

“Nice puppy eyes…if I come over there, we both know we won't leave this room for a while…and the lock's broken, dog-boy, so no such luck.” He hopped up on the windowsill then, and grinned over his shoulder at her.

 

“Catch you later, koi…” and was gone. She was left to compose herself as best she could, trot downstairs to sit at the kitchen table with her mother, drink cooled green tea, and try very hard to look really innocent. In reality, she was replaying the whole steamy scene in her head.

 

Would she have had enough nerve to actually do the deed with Inuyasha?

 

Then she realized that he hadn't really answered her question about who he was going to bed inside his head. Yes, he had answered correctly as to who was in his arms at the moment, but she really had to wonder…and what, exactly, did he mean by that `take you for my mate' comment? As usual with the hanyou, more questions and no answers.

 

Ж Ж Ж Ж Ж Ж Ж Ж Ж Ж Ж Ж Ж Ж Ж Ж Ж Ж Ж Ж Ж Ж Ж Ж Ж

 

Sengoku Jidai

 

“Kaaagoomeee!”

 

“Yes, Shippo?”

 

“How do ya like me now?” She left off plaiting Arashi's mane, and turned in her saddle to carefully study the transformed kitsune bobbing along shoulder-height beside her.

 

“Ummm… I don't think eggplants are supposed to fly, Shippo…”

 

“I'm not an eggplant! I'm…oh, how did I turn purple? Gotta work on it some more…” The kitsune transformed with a `pop', landing behind her on Arashi's rump. He continued to mutter, but she didn't turn around as he went `pop' a few more times. `Pop' goes the kitsune… His transformations were quite good, actually, and they kept him out of Inuyasha's way.

 

She watched the half-demon, striding ahead of them with his predator's grace, ears flickering constantly. He'd easily detected the wariness in her when she'd come back through the well, fully armoured and as business-like as she could manage. She needed to keep a hanyou-free perimeter around herself; or who knows what might happen?

 

You'd have a big silly grin on your face…

And not be able to ride Arashi for a week? Don't think so…

You could ride him instead…

Gaah…that was a visual I didn't need…you're so not helping.

Spoilsport…

 

Kagome went rigid, something pinging on her conciousness…a Jewel shard, coming up fast. “Inuyasha! Incoming shard at two o'clock!” She whipped out her bow and arrow, and backed Arashi up, so she had a better angle of fire. Inuyasha grunted, and pulled out the Tetsusaiga, which transformed instantly. He then took off running in the opposite direction…she mentally rolled her eyes. She'd drawn him a picture of a clock face and everything, but he still wasn't getting it. Oh well, made it less likely she'd hit him when the critter showed itself…

 

It was an enormous snake youkai, green scales gleaming in the afternoon light, forked tongue the length of a tall man flicking in and out hypnotically as it scented the air for its prey. Its brilliant yellow eyes with their foot-long vertical slits glittered unblinkingly, the head bobbing sinuously as it reared up at the edge of the clearing. The Jewel shard glowed softly in the shadows of its throat, right at the level of its jaw hinge.

 

Kagome flared two long-range arrows, letting them go just as Arashi shied violently. The arrows went wide of the slithering target, which hissed nastily as it advanced. “Shippo…stay with Arashi!” She glimpsed the wide-eyed kit clinging to the mare's tail disappearing into the underbrush, as she herself used the opposing energy of the mare's jump to launch into a tuck and roll to the side. She dropped to one knee, flaring and firing three short-range bolts in quick succession, which only slowed the youkai slightly instead of disintegrating it wholly. Damn! Did it have more than one shard…?

 

Then it was on her, and she dove away from the strike, rolling, and coming up with Fenikkusuken in her hand. Shouting, she slashed at the coil nearest her, and rolled away again as the head twisted and came back at her. Each of those fangs was as long as her sword, and dripping some kind of poison. She wondered, briefly, as she lined up her next attack, why the katana didn't produce the same blast effect on regular youkai as it did on Inuyasha…and where the hell was the hanyou, anyways?

 

Kagome jumped, and ran over a couple of coils so that she was behind the head, hacking and slashing the whole way. A spatter of black blood struck her across the face, momentarily blinding her. When she smeared her eyes clear, the snake-youkai's open, hissing mouth filled her visual field. With a scream, she brought her sword up vertically, and charged, hoping to slice the thing in half before it bit down, or at least prop its mouth open to buy her some time to fire a bolt down its throat.

 

“Tetsusaiga!!” She heard the now-familiar battle cry, and was conscious of a blast of wind slicing alongside of her…she was covered in warm, wet, viscous something…and then there was open sky above her. Stunned, she stood in between the neatly sliced smoking and quivering halves of the snake youkai's head and body. Inuyasha landed beside her, sheathing Tetsusaiga. He looked her over, and then abruptly brought his sleeve up to cover his nose and mouth, coughing. “Gods, you reek, Kagome!”

 

“I thought you liked my scent…nice sword-work there, dog-boy…what the hell took you so long?” His eyes were watering, and he was gagging too much to answer, so he merely flapped his sleeves helplessly at her and bounced over the youkai's body to escape into fresh air. Sighing, Kagome bent to the task of locating and digging out the Jewel shard in the snake's throat, and then managed to find no less than three others scattered throughout its length. It dissolved in a lingering hiss, the ash vanishing into the grass. If it weren't for the ground churned up by its coils and the stink left by its blood, it was as if it had never been…

 

She was thoroughly covered in sticky, drying gore by the time she heaved herself to the base of a tree to flop in a congealing heap. Ugh. Her hair was saturated, and stuck to her arms and back. A disgusted noise from somewhere above her caused her to roll over and look up. Inuyasha was holding his nose again, and glaring over the branch at her. She smirked, and held out her arms wide.

 

“C'mon, dog-boy, wouldn't you like a kiss? How `bout a nice big hug?” He was priming himself for a comeback, when he was interrupted by Shippo and Arashi edging warily into the clearing. Shippo immediately grabbed his nose, but she forgave him the instant he opened his mouth.

 

“I found a hot spring over there…”

 

“All right! Lead me to it, my absolutely favourite demon in the whole Sengoku Jidai!” He removed his hand from his nose to stick out his tongue and smirk at Inuyasha, but hastily grabbed it again when she bounded past him, trailing a delightful cloud of eau d'youkai-guts behind her.

 

The hot spring had a decent run-off into a larger creek, so she didn't bother to strip off anything, just splashed right into the creek to hose off. She lay in the heated run-off channel until everything stuck to her melted off and flowed away downstream. Thoroughly waterlogged, she squelched her way back up the bank, and began dumping water out of her quiver, unstringing the bow and laying the arrows out to dry, pouring a surprising amount of water out of Fenikkusuken's narrow sheathe. She then rummaged around in the saddlebags for a dry cloth to wipe down the blade.

 

Inuyasha and Shippo sat and watched her with interest, but didn't offer to get involved. The boots came off next, and were rinsed out in the hot spring and propped upside down to drain. Gauntlets and armour were swished around and joined the boots. Then Kagome gasped, and made as if to grab something she dropped into the pool. Shippo was by her side in an instant, hanging over the rocks at the edge, his bushy tail vibrating with interest.

 

“What didja drop, Kagome? Was it important? It wasn't the Jewel shards, was it? Can you reach…glurp!” She whacked him firmly on his upturned butt, knocking him into the spring, and jumped in after him. He came up squealing, and an all-out water fight ensued, with much yelling and laughing. Then they both paused, looked at each other with evil grins, then at a still-dry Inuyasha. He caught their drift just a little too late.

 

“Don't you morons even think it…gaaaaaah!” He was completely drenched by a kitsune magic-assisted wave. The two conspirators in the hot spring retreated, chortling, to the other side to savour their victory. The cursing hanyou was not amused, and let out a stream of invective that had them giggling insanely. He wrung out his hair, flipping it back over his shoulder and settled down to glare malevolently at them, just daring them to try something else.

 

Kagome smirked, and swam over to the side closest to him, but just out of reach. She wriggled around and then dropped her shorts over the rocks. More squirming and her bra came over the side, too, and then she swam back across, her dark hair streaming behind her, her nicely rounded backside clearly visible. Inuyasha gulped and swore quietly.

 

She's damned infuriating…

Give her some space…I think you scared her the other day…

Scared her? How?

Oh, maybe by inviting yourself in when you knew she'd be naked?

She's naked right now…

::sighs:: Let's just say your wooing technique needs a little work, hot stuff.

Keh…

She's not Kikyo…

No freakin' kidding! How do I prove that to her?

Give her some time…it'll work out.

Okay, she has until tomorrow…

::sighs heavily:: You really don't get it, do you?

What? I know I'm not getting anything out of her…

 

Shippo hopped out of the hot spring, and scampered around the pool. He started pulling off his sopping clothes and wringing them out. Glancing over his shoulder to make sure that Kagome was out of hearing range, he smirked up at the hanyou. “Pays to be little and cute if you want to get naked with a girl…c'mon, Inuyasha, loosen up! Kagome won't care if you join us…”

 

Inuyasha grabbed the kit's brush, and hauled him upside down to stare at him eyeball to eyeball. “Keh! I've been a lot closer to Kagome that you could ever imagine, brat…without an audience…you watch yourself. I'm staying out because somebody has to stand guard over you two idiots…” A sharp gasping sound was caught simultaneously by both pairs of ears, and both sets of eyes shot to the pool.

 

Kagome had vanished, a trail of bubbles her only trace.

 

Ж Ж Ж Ж Ж

 

She had been sitting happily against the rocks on the far side of the pool, eyes closed. This was almost as good as the tub at home…now, if only a certain silver-haired inu-youkai would join her…oops. Shippo didn't need to be quite that enlightened just yet, and to be perfectly honest, she still hadn't really sorted out her feelings for the hanyou.

 

He turns you on…

I just can't shake this feeling that he's only using me as a Kikyo-substitute

That's not what he said…

I know, I know…I just don't know what to do…

Trust your heart.

It's my heart that's in danger as well as my body…

 

Something brushed softly against her leg, like a bit of floating vegetation. She didn't think anything of it, and shifted herself against the rock to a more comfortable position. The light tickling sensation came again, and she moved to brush it away. Silken bands twisted around her wrist and ankle, and she barely had time to draw a breath before she was dragged under.

 

She fought desperately, but she was being pulled down so quickly, that her barrier was trailing out behind her instead of projecting forward. She couldn't see from the force of the water rushing past her face, but at one point she thought she caught a glimpse of a large, dark cavernous mouth opening before her, lined with row upon row of needle-sharp teeth. Her mind wanted to scream, but she knew she was running out of time and air.

 

Her headlong rush was slowed when a metal-tipped shaft of wood…a spear?...slammed into the bottom in front of her, going right through the dark mass of the oni's body, which glowed blue for a moment before collapsing upon itself. At almost the same moment, a clawed hand reached across her and grabbed her shoulder, hauling her back up to the surface.

 

Inuyasha dragged the half-drowned girl up against his chest and held her there, his own heart thudding against her back. Kagome clung weakly to his arm, head bowed as she sucked in as much air as she could to feed her tortured lungs. She heard Inuyasha's low growl behind her, as he addressed someone in front of her.

 

“Whoever you are, thanks…I can take it from here…”

 

Kagome raised her eyes and met a pair of friendly violet ones. Blinking, she registered dark robes of black and purple, an interestingly topped staff that jingled softly, and a kindly expression on his youthful, handsome face…her rescuer was a Buddhist monk?

 

“Th-thank you, houshi-san…” She trailed off, noticing two things. One, that Inuyasha's hanging sleeve effectively protected the monk from a full frontal of her body, and two, that the Tetsusaiga didn't transform to its usual scruffy state until it heard her voice. Inuyasha started backing away from the monk slowly, gripping her firmly. The monk paused, watching them, a bemused smile on his face, then turned and sloshed out the far side of the hot spring.

 

Inuyasha scooped her up and carried her to dry land, where he first wrapped her in her cloak, and then held her in his lap. She snuggled close to his chest, and he started carefully combing through her hair, working out the knots with his claws, and softly purring. Shippo crept up to them, and gently patted her arm through the cloak. Kagome smiled at him, and then he was hugging her tight, tears streaming down his cheeks.

 

“Oh, Kagome…I th-thought you w-were…g-g-gone…!” She couldn't get an arm loose to pat his back, but she was surprised to see Inuyasha's hand doing the job for her. Kagome tilted her head back and kissed his jaw, and then bent to lean her cheek against Shippo's hair.

 

“Keh! What in all the hells woke that…thing…up?” Kagome thought for a moment, then slowly spoke.

 

“I'll bet it was the combination of the blood scent and the presence of the Jewel shards. We have quite a few in my cuirass…” Inuyasha moved irritably.

 

“These shards are more of a curse than anything…C'mon, Shippo, quit blubbering, and let's build a fire for Kagome. We might as well stay here for the night.”

 

The two demons bustled around while Kagome snuggled into her cloak. A fire was soon crackling brightly, and Shippo started in on food preparation. Inuyasha brought her gear closer to the fire, and as soon as her bra and shorts were dry, formed a screen with his body and wide sleeves so she could get dressed. She dug out and pulled on her fleeces, and then, feeling much more cheerful, sat next to the hanyou at the fireside. Fairly soon, she and Shippo were engaged in a ramen-slurping contest that ended with the kitsune rolling on the ground in hysterics, a noodle trailing out his nose…

 

Ж Ж Ж Ж Ж

 

Very early the next morning, Kagome awoke in the pre-dawn darkness with the sense that something was amiss. She heard Arashi whinny suddenly, and shift her feet, but she attributed that to the surroundings…probably a bat had swooped too close. Then she became aware of gentle breathing next to her ear, and a comforting red-clad arm around her. Inuyasha…she wriggled backwards until she came into full contact with his body, and then relaxed against him, sighing happily. The arm tightened, her hair was kissed, and she fell back asleep. I really need to make a decision about me and dog-boy…was her last semi-concious thought.

 

At daybreak, Shippo was up first, very self-importantly readying things for breakfast. Kagome grinned from the protective circle of Inuyasha's arms.

 

“You're hired, Shippo…I wouldn't mind giving up KP duty to you!”

 

“You and Inuyasha stay put…I'll fix everything!”

 

Inuyasha sat her up with him, hugging her tightly to his chest after they had rearranged their legs. His voice was thrillingly low in her ear as he rested his chin on her shoulder. “You gave me quite a turn there, koishii…thought I'd lost you…”

 

“Can't get rid of me that easy, dog-boy…I had a better chance of drowning in that snake blood…” She shuddered at the memory, and he did, too. “Hey, what did take you so long to slice that thing, anyways? Last I saw of you, you were high-tailing it in the opposite direction…” He shrugged.

 

“I felt the vibrations of its coils, and just went back far enough to take a run at getting over top of it…nice distraction job, by the way.”

 

Everything was lovely, until Kagome went to collect Arashi…and the mare was gone.

 

“Dammit! Damn, damned, damnable!” She suddenly remembered the mare's whinny that morning, and tore around the campsite, cursing, collecting up all her weaponry and armour. Shippo and Inuyasha watched her bemusedly. The second she touched her cuirass, she knew exactly how bad it was.

 

“Inuyasha! The shards are gone!!”

 

“What?!” he thundered…and camp was broken with alacrity. Kagome finished buckling everything on, and then she asked the hanyou for assistance in restringing her bow. She jammed the tip into a crack in the rocks, and had him lean downwards onto it, causing the weapon to flex. She quickly notched the string into the crack, and screwed on the silver tips. Armed and dangerous…

 

Inuyasha carried the saddlebags, while Shippo found a spot on Kagome's shoulder. “Keh! Let's go track down that thieving monk…” She gasped.

 

“How…?” He tapped his nose.

 

“Could smell him on your armour…it'll be easy tracking Arashi, so let's go…”