InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Price of Freedom ❯ Confessions ( Chapter 5 )

The Price Freedom

Confessions










"Any leads? Any suspects?"

"Not yet."

Naraku clenched his fists against the glass top table and took one big deep calming breath as he glared at Kouga. "I should have known better than to let an incompetent little Ookami deal with something as vital as this."

Kikyo leaped to his defence, but really only because she wanted a dig at the boss. "Actually, Ookami is one of the best trackers in the institute - second only to Inu, which is probably why it has been so hard to track him... Ookami is the best resource we have."

A faint frown furrowed between Kouga's eyebrows at being called a 'resource' like he was some kind of tool. But he forced it away the moment Naraku's eyes snapped back on him. It was obvious that Kikyo was successful in her attempt to piss him off further.

"What news have you got so far, animal?" Naraku demanded calmly.

Kouga shifted his shoulders back a little as though bracing for something. "No news yet. But I am certain that he's in the coastal town."

"How can you be sure of that if you don't have any news?" Naraku narrowed his eyes a fraction,

"Because it is too far from the major city of Tokyo to hitchhike. No one would allow him on their own mode of transport. Plus, with wounds like the ones he sustained it is doubtful that he would be able to make it across the mountains."

Naraku was silently waiting.

"Sir." Kouga added on quickly after realising Naraku had been waiting for him.

"Indeed..." Naraku shifted in his chair and looked back towards Kikyo who stood a few feet behind Kouga. "Well since the animal is so incompetent, we might as well send him a little accomplice, eh, Miss Kikyo."

Both young man and woman stiffened.

"Yes... that should do quite nicely." He leaned back as though it was a done deal. "And don't you dare return unless you have his head or know where he is."

Both of them cursed mentally and repeatedly as they skulked out the office, throwing each other dirty looks. Naraku seemed to be the only happy member of the party - seeing as he had just sent away two pesky vermin in one shot.

Like killing two birds with one stone.





^_^





Kagome was starting to develop an incredibly severe headache by the end of the third day alone with Inuyasha. He was like a three-year-old child... but bigger... more hot tempered... and a heck of a lot stronger and easier to get bored.

For a start, he'd also taken up residence in her bed and she had been forced out into the other bedroom that was slightly bigger, but held less warmth. And she was having to wait on hand and foot for Inuyasha... even though he insisted he didn't need help.

"You have your shirt on back to front." She informed him as he entered the kitchen, step by mini step.

He stopped and just narrowed his eyes. "Does it matter?"

"Uh... yeah, because the label's sticking up under your chin." She moved to get up from her stool. "You want help putting it-?"

"No!" he snapped angrily and she recoiled slightly.

"I was just only trying to help..." she mumbled quietly, seating herself back down slowly. She turned her attention pointedly to that morning's newspaper before her, and ignored his efforts across the table to tug the shirt back off over his head.

It was one of the new ones, a dark grey colour, plain, a little loose and average. Yet still he was having difficulty. She stole a little peak up at him when he'd completely removed it, telling herself that she was only checking for wounds. But upon seeing no scabs or scars - apart from the skin being a little raw in places - her gaze lingered a little longer than necessary on such a flat, hard torso. Not over-muscled but with decent amount of muscle to be called 'quite hot'. Though she didn't see any reason to why he was particularly strong - not when her father had been a lot stronger looking but had had trouble lifting her by the ankle when she was three... not that he'd ever tried it - hence he was still a good father in her head.

She turned her gaze away when he started putting the shirt back on and pretending to become engrossed in page flicking, licking her index finger as she slowly turned each page with great care. Only because Inuyasha was starting to have trouble. But eventually he was done. "There. See, I can do things for myself?"

Kagome took a quick check before looking back down. "Your labels still under your chin." She told him wearily.

"Shoot..."

"And now it's inside out."

He gave an irritated growl and yanked the shirt off again. His action was a little rough and Kagome was set wincing. "Hey, careful! That shirt cost money!"

"Whatever." He started to put it on again but Kagome just sighed.

"You're doing it wrong again." She pointed out.

He scowled. "Fine! You do it then!" he threw the shirt at her with amazing accuracy considering he was blind, and it hit her softly in the chest and slump to her lap. It took her a few seconds to get over the initial shock that he was even asking for help. For the past three days he had steered clear of any help whatsoever, despite the fact that he sometimes needed it, but he still had his pride.

"Ok," she took the shirt and walked around to him, setting it right as she did so. "Arms up!"

He grumbled deeply as he grudgingly complied and she smiled slightly as she slipped the shirt over his arms and head - the correct way. The whole ordeal reminded her a lot of when she had to dress Souta when their mother was pressed for time on school mornings. "Want me to tie your laces too?"

"Don't treat me like a kid." He growled.

"Then stop acting like one." She shot back and sat down beside him, ignoring the way he edged away from her slightly. It was something she'd grown used to. He just didn't like being too near others - some people were like that. It was ok... just as long as you didn't live in Tokyo.

"Pass the cereal?" he asked, holding out his hand expectantly.

"What's the magic word you're supposed to add on the end?" she countered.

"Pass the cereal... bitch?"

"Here you go." She just handed him the remains of her own breakfast and left him to mull over the highly sugared up contents. Not that he seemed to mind taking her leftovers. Though she really thought with someone with a pride and ego as big as his did, he ought to have a little more... shame...?

"Spoon?" he demanded again and his hand came out towards her again, taking her by surprise and unintentionally colliding with the right side of her chest. He frowned slightly and was about to investigate a little further when she slapped his hand away sharply, blushing all the way to her hairline. "What the heck are those anyway?"

Kagome stared, still furiously blushing with his bluntness. "What do you mean 'what are those'?!" she ground out.

"Exactly what I said. You deaf or something?"

"Exactly where have you BEEN for the last couple of millennia of evolution?" she snapped. "How can you not know what a woman's assets are?"

"I've never met a woman before - I told you!" he snapped back at her.

"But that's impossible!" she gasped.

"Not really if you live in such an isolated place like I did!"

"And where was that, then?!"

"On a - hey! None of your fucking business!" he snapped.

Kagome felt her cheek twitch slightly from annoyance. She'd been trying to catch him out for ages on the subject of who he was and what he was. But he'd been keeping it all hush, hush and she was no closer to finding out anymore than his name. So she tried to change topic again. "I don't believe you've never met a woman before. And even if you hadn't, why didn't you have sex education?"

"S-sex?" he looked like he'd just swallowed a stapler. "I can't have had... that... if I'd never seen a woman."

"Education!" I gasped. "And obviously you haven't had a lot of that - your grammar's awful!"

He folded his arms self-consciously. "Your point?"

"So you were never educated?" Kagome asked cautiously. He just shook his head. "At all?"

"I know about human rights... that's about it..." he said quietly.

"Are you human...?" she wanted to know.

"Do I look human?" he turned his head in her direction, but not focusing his eyes on her.

"Yes... you do..." Kagome wasn't sure that was the right answer but he shrugged anyway. "How come you only know human rights then?"

"Because it's a patronising game." He said with a sarcastic smile. "Like dangling meat in front of a hungry lion."

Kagome didn't get it... but she doubted he was going to tell her much more than that. "You're definitely not from around here, are you?"

"What gave me away?"

"Well... you're on the run from a group of people." Her overactive imagination pulled through... just to speculate of course. "Let me guess - you're like this NEW subspecies of human that was found on some distant tropical island by the government who want to keep it underwraps and have imprisoned you in some kind of underground lab?"

He snorted. "You're weird."

"I know. But only because you seem to be whispering government... or military codes in your sleep." She shifted on her seat so she could turn to face him properly. "Tell me... what does... 'three two nine I' mean?"

He bowl slammed down so hard it nearly cracked. "Who told you that?"

"You did." She said quickly, a little surprised by his reaction. "In your sleep."

"You watch me sleep?" he snapped, frowning at her.

"No - when you were unconscious when I found you."

He was silent before shaking his head. "You're one of them - you have to be - I DON'T talk in my sleep!"

"You weren't asleep - you were unconscious!" she huffed.

"You just said it was when I was sleeping!" he shouted

"I lied - so sue me!" she yelled equally as aggressively.

"So you're lying - then you must be one of them!" he pushed away from the stool and the kitchen table.

"Who is 'they'?!" Kagome stood as well, turning slowly as he moved away from her. His bad shoulder connected with the doorframe and he gasped in pain and almost buckled. Kagome was at his side in a shot.

"Leave me be!" he yelled, pushing her away, none too gently.

"You're injured and blind - what am I supposed to do?!" she cried back, her voice going a little hoarse. No one ever provoked her to yell so much as this one guy did.

"Why don't you just leave me alone! I don't need your help!" he was backed against the wall, and to all aspects looked like a cornered animal. "I escaped to find my own freedom and life - and you're not helping by trying to turn me into some petty little dependent invalid!"

Kagome calmed herself a little more, and let the pause stretch a bit so he could do the same. "Look... I don't understand why you're trying to run from something - but if you just tell me..."

"What if you're one of them?" he interrupted.

Kagome fought to keep her anger to a minimal. "But I'm not ok... I want to help you properly but I can't if you won't LET me, ok? All I want to know is what happened to you...? Why you don't know the stuff every teenager shoulder know...? Why you've never met a single girl in your life...?"

"I have no idea what they look like. They're just rumours... I knew they existed but it's like a myth of legendary creatures. I knew they were out there... I didn't know I'd ever meet one." He sounded a little hesitant now.

"What about your own mother?" Kagome frowned.

"Never knew her."

"Sisters?"

He shook his head.

Kagome sighed and stepped closer, he felt her proximity and leaned back as much as possible since he was backed as far as he could go. She took one of his hands by the wrist but stopped when she saw him flinch. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." He said through gritted teeth.

"I'm not going to hurt you." She said carefully.

"As if I was ever worried." He scoffed, relaxing a little anyway.

"I just want to show you..." she took his other rather tense hand and led them towards her face. It was something she'd often experienced with one of her uncles - her mother's brother. He'd been blind since birth because of an incubation bed accident when he'd been born... something about too much pure oxygen... a mistake that had since been corrected in hospitals - but her uncle had had to live with it his whole life. And although he'd never seen her face, he often said that she was his gorgeous little niece because he 'saw' it in her face.

The pads of Inuyasha's fingers were tensed stiffly against her skin and for a while she thought he was just going to stand like that, until a small frown appeared on his brow and his fingers spread a little to examine her. She rested her hands loosely against his forearms as he delicately touched her face with such care that he was almost trembling... something that belied his earlier aggression and strength.

"What do you look like?" he questioned quietly. He'd always wondered.

"I have black hair, shoulder length." She felt his right hand run down her hair to the tips, taking in the silky texture. "Blue eyes-"

"Blue?" his fingers gently touched her closed eyelids. "I thought they were brown... everyone I know has brown... is it a girl thing?"

"No... it's just a me thing." She smiled unintentionally and felt his fingers take in the smile.

"What else?"

"Um... people say I have fair skin... but after such a long time in the sun it's gone a tad darker."

"You're tanned?"

"Not much."

"I've never seen the sun, I can't be tanned." He shook his head slightly, his concentration still on her face.

Kagome quickly took a check. He wasn't ghostly white... far from it... he had a slight tan - darker than her own though she couldn't understand that if he'd said he'd never seen the sun. Though she'd heard of indoor lights that were being used in gyms that could simulate real sunlight.

"Are you beautiful?" Inuyasha asked from out of the blue.

Kagome took a double take. "Huh?"

"Are you... pretty?" he was sure she felt pretty. Smooth skin, fine hair, warm soft lips... she felt a darn lot prettier than him.

She stared at him. Would he treat her different if he thought she was pretty. She was well aware of her own looks, and knew he would either treat her better... or worse. So she opted for the safe road. "Mm... average I suppose. A little pretty... but not stunning... not ugly either though."

"Well if you're average - how pretty do girl's get?" he frowned, taking his hands from her face, both took deep breaths as the moment ended.

Kagome blushed a little and turned back to the table, glad at least that they weren't arguing anymore. "Quite pretty."





^-^





Kago me walked into the lounge in the morning to find Inuyasha sitting cross- legged on the sofa, listening intently to the television, almost as if he could see the movement on the screen. "It's a nice morning."

"Is it?" he sounded bored.

"You wanna go for a walk?"

"What's the point if I can't see the morning?" he grouched.

Kagome frowned a little. "Well maybe you can't see it... but you can smell it - and feel it, and hear the wind in the trees."

He thought for a moment before sighing like the reluctant boy he was and started to get up. "Fine." Kagome refrained from reaching out to help - she knew she'd only get rebuked. The guy was a grouch in the morning. But she was going to try her hardest to make him open up... even if it was only a little.





^_^





"-And he lived a happy long life despite the fact he couldn't see. Wife, kids... money... he had the works my uncle. It didn't bother him that it was permanent-"

"You seem convinced that this is forever, you know." He interrupted sharply, stopping in his walk with her across the beach. "And besides - he never even knew what he was missing if he was blind since he was born."

"All I'm saying is that I understand how difficult it can be to be blind - but you can get used to it-"

"You still think this is permanent!" he snapped.

Kagome frowned and folded her arms, the slight breeze chilling her bare legs and making her shiver. "You're not going to get anywhere if you keep turning my efforts to help you down."

"And you must be deaf if you think I need help! I tell you again and again! I don't need or want you!"

Kagome narrowed her eyes. "Fine, if that's the way you feel, I'll be leaving then."

He heard her turned, bare foot, in the sand and start flouncing off towards the cliff until the sound of her footsteps died. For a moment he felt better. He liked being alone, at least now he could relax. But then he began to panic. He was alone.

He couldn't see his way back to the house, he could barely tell which way the cliff was and which way the ocean was since the sound of the waves seemed to be all around him. He pivoted this way and that, clamping down on the fear that rose... no... he had nothing to be scared of... Kagome would come back for him and then...

Inuyasha dropped into the sand with defeat. "Wonderful... now I'm starting to think like I do need her..." he groaned, running his hands over his face and rubbing his eyes, just in case they started working again.

"I won't give up on a hopeless case like you." Kagome said sharply from behind him. He leapt to his feet so quickly that he lost his balance and fell on his rear all over again.

"When did you get back?!" he snarled, embarrassed he'd been caught talking to himself about her.

"I never left." She said simply and felt her hand on his shoulder. He hadn't seen the contact coming and flinched with surprise. She took it wrong, thinking he didn't want to be touched and withdrew her hand. "You DO need me Inuyasha, you just said so."

He was silent. There was no way he could just take back what he'd said. "So?"

"So, you wanna go back now? I'm getting cold." She told him gently, with a hint of a smile in her voice. He didn't know how he knew she was smiling, but he tone suddenly got that way it did when she laughed or smiled.

They started on their way back, Kagome walking a little ahead of the Inuyasha, telling him when there were steps or rocks to mind. "I haven't given up on your chances of recovery yet, you know. Miroku says you could get your sight back in the next week or so."

"And if I don't...?"

"Then it really will be permanent." She said simply. She paused a moment before sighing. "I won't give up on you then. You need my help whether you like it or not."

"Have you asked if I want it?"

"Do you want it?" she stopped walking.

"Whatever."

That was as close to a yes as she was going to get and she smiled widely. It was a start. She linked her arm through his to guide him, glad that he didn't shy away from once. "Great. But this means you have to do me favours too."