InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Snare ❯ Chapter 4 ( Chapter 4 )

Chapter 4

“What is a date?”

Kagome stumbled a bit as she registered what Inuyasha had just said, ‘He really doesn’t know.’ She looked at him, her ears ringing slightly, and found in his questioning gaze what she needed to see. It was, for her, a teenager’s ending vision of childhood, one that treasured disappointment and confusion only to have it all solved in one hopelessly clueless sentence that flushed it all to hell where it belonged. But, well, Kagome was seventeen and couldn’t help regretting that normal life she was never going to have. She smiled a little bitterly at him, “Couldn’t you have asked me sooner?”

“Huh?” his golden eyes glowed with incomprehension.

“About a date.“ Kagome said, rather succinctly, she thought.

“But I’m asking about it now.”

“I know that, Inuyasha. I’m saying I think you could’ve asked me about what a date was any time in the past two years and I would have been more than happy to tell you.”

“Well that’s good.“ he was starting to say when Kagome’s pack suddenly sailed through the air and landed with a solid thud in the leaves on the path, barely missing his bare toes.

“It means going out together, Inuyasha! You know, boyfriend, girlfriend. He brings her chocolate, she looks beautiful. They eat dinner at a nice restaurant and get to know each other. Maybe they fall in love.”

Inuyasha gave a slight kick to the pack, nudging it along the forest track a bit. “Oh, you mean an assignation.” He glanced swiftly at her through his bangs to check her reaction and gave the yellow pack a sharp punt that had it spinning in midair. His hand flickered forward and hooked a couple of fingers into the straps, looping them about his wrist, “Hell, Kagome, all you needed to do was ask, I was more than willing to take you to bed any time you said the word.”

She gasped and her face flooded with color. Inuyasha noted it absently and decided for the umpteenth time that she was the most beautiful when she was angry.

“That’s not what I mean! How could you say that? All I ever wanted was for you to take some time out for me. For us to share some special time together. Like maybe go on a date or something. Why do you have to make it sound so dirty?”

She stopped in the middle of the path, fists on hips and jaw thrust forward. In a shrug, Inuyasha dropped his load on the path, causing leaves to puff up in a swirl about his ankles as he stalked toward her. She held her ground, gaze never wavering as he approached only lifting her eyes to maintain contact despite the disparity in their heights.

His dark brows were sharply angled as he frowned down at her, “There is nothing cheap about me wanting to take you to bed. I never laid a hand on you in that way without your consent until the very end.* You made it clear enough the first time, ‘hands off‘, and I respected that.”

She blinked at him, not understanding.

“Remember, just before Kikyou came back. I was trying to tell you then how much I loved and wanted you. You freaked out on me. We weren‘t standing all that far from here.”

She bit her lips and found something very interesting to look at in the middle distance. He sniffed, but all he could smell was her scent and the surrounding woods. He took a step closer and caught her chin between thumb and forefinger, gently preventing her from looking away. She rolled her eyes at him, her expression conveying an angry sense of embarrassment, “What is this thing, ‘date‘, Kagome? Is it a meeting for sex? Is it a young man sneaking in to meet his lover under cover of darkness?” His thumb unfolded and its claw traced her full lower lip. He studied the indentation caused by his movement there.

She swallowed, but showed no inclination to speak, her breaths coming in little huffs.

“Is this ‘date’ thing anything to do with this?” He dipped his head and caught her mouth with his. Kagome’s eyebrows quirked even as she willingly followed his lead in their kiss. Her fingers curled themselves into the generous cloth of his suikan and she found herself sagging slightly onto his chest.

She made a major effort and pulled her mouth away, “You’re just trying to confuse me. A date is just getting introduced.”

He kissed her again, sliding a warm palm up from her hip to her lower back under her sweater, “I really don’t think I’m confusing, Lady.” With that, his eyes closed and he drew a knuckle up her spine in a nerve-tingling stroke that had her gasping and arching against him. He paused, nibbling at her earlobe, “Is this a date? Kagome?”

She stiffened and twisted between his hands, “No! That’s not what I meant!”

His hands were on either side of her ribs and her sweater seemed somehow to have rucked itself very nearly up over her breasts, “Ohh, how can I talk to you? First you won’t do anything, then you do too much.”

She stepped away from him, trying for dignity as she pulled her sweater back down around her waist. His hand stopped her; he hadn’t lifted his hand from her waist and seemed uninterested in her modesty for the moment. The sweater slid back up.

“Kagome,” she lifted her eyes only as far as his mouth and that only for a moment before dropping their lids and presenting her mouth for another kiss. Which had a good deal to do with her shock as his hands left her sides and she stumbled backwards, catching her heels on the bundles lying on the path. Her hands flew out in an effort to catch herself only to clutch at air as he easily caught her.

She was furious, he was intent, “What’s a date, Kagome?” Her hands were gripping his forearms as he cradled her weight easily by her elbows, at any instant quite likely to drop her if he had been any other man, “Is it this?”

She moved her feet in an attempt to regain purchase, He hesitated and then let her. She was out of breath, hair disordered and sweater rumpled as she finally placed her feet safely on the ground.

“Well?” he was inexorable. She gulped a bit and tucked her hair behind an ear; it was getting too much in her face.

“Inuyasha, a date is like flirting. Sort-of.” her voice trailed off as she lifted her eyes to meet his.

He smiled a little, “And we’re not flirting?”

She licked her lips, “No, I don’t think so.”

The smile blossomed into a grin, “Good answer, Kagome.”

He caught her mouth again and it seemed to her that he was laughing. Could one laugh and indulge in a very erotic kiss at the same time? Kagome didn’t know but she sure wanted to find out. She yelped as he grabbed her shoulder and swept an arm underneath her knees and cradled her up against his chest. Within an instant, he was moving off of the path amongst the trees towards a spot that he remembered from long ago, before fate had ever broken his heart.

It was a small glade with a tiny freshet of water sparkling out from a fissure in the black rock of a lonely outpost of the mountains to fall in a cool rain to add itself to a brook that wound between banks of cress and stands of burdock. He let her down into the cool grass that grew by the edges of the pool.

She looked around, there were no tracks in the grass that indicated anything larger than a rabbit had been there in some time. She left his arms and stepped about, walking straight up to the split in the black rock that formed one wall of the place. The water was shockingly cold when she put her hand forward and let it play over her fingertips.

“Kagome,” he stepped forward, lifting a hand, “Kagome, is it so hard? Was I wrong? I never wanted to hurt you.”

She lifted her head and looked at him, the water spraying from her fingers falling in rain bowed droplets onto the grass, “Nothing is hard, Inuyasha, were you worried? It’s all OK.” and with that she stepped toward him and placed her cool palms on either side of his face. He dropped his head a bit and lifted his hands to touch her elbows first. From there they dropped back to her waist and his thumbs slid along either side of her to hook solidly in the top of her skirt.

Kagome tensed, the skirt was new, “Inuy…”

His hands slid around, knuckles to the tender skin of her lower belly until he reached the front of the denim. In an instant his right hand found the metal button and popped it off to be lost in the air. She whimpered but his hands were back at her waist separating the front zipper by main force and shoving steadily down. Both skirt and panties descended towards her ankles, “Step out.” His hands were on her shoulders and he was walking her out of the puddle of fabric before she could even gather herself.

“Your shirt.”

Kagome was still staring at the now button less remains of what had been a really nice denim skirt and her brand new panties, “What?”

“Your shirt, take it off.” Inuyasha sounded quite serious.

Kagome complied, eyes wide and a little buggy as she got it up past her shoulders and he reached to pull it the rest of the way off. She was left standing naked except for a pair of thigh-high fuzzy black stockings and a pair of old loafers.

Inuyasha ran his eyes over her shrinking figure and smiled a little with one side of his mouth, “Chilly, Kagome?”

She clapped her arms across her hardening nipples and glared at him, “Yeah. Guess whose fault it is?”

Inuyasha smiled a little more broadly and stepped forward, bringing his arms up to enfold her in the billowing sleeves of his suikan, “Better?”

She wiggled a bit and shoved her chilled nose into his throat (it was November, after all) and breathed his wild scent of forest and musky…, “Inuyasha?” she breathed. She couldn’t help it, not really. His hands were tracing over her curves beneath the folds of his sleeves. There was the lightest pull of claws as he slid a hand down between her buttocks to catch her in the most surprising way, “Inu-”

“Shush,” he said in a sibilant whisper, “Just shut up Kagome. Come here.”

She was confused, he was all around her, where was the here he wanted? A couple of steps in his arms, his warm breath ghosting over the cold tips of her ears and ’here’ turned out to be a mossy bank. The chill sides of which were erased by the by the strength of his arms and the furnace-like heat of his mouth as he kissed hers and then proceeded to kiss a number of spots that had never occurred to her as kiss-worthy.

There was a moment as he arched his back over her and went so far into her that she felt charged with power and pulled at his hair until he dropped his head and snarled at her, lips curling back to show gleaming fangs and she leaned up set her mouth over his. In a sudden roll, he swung himself underneath her and she found herself in the chill air straddled overtop him.

She gasped and stared down at him. He was all golden skin and shimmering silver hair except for the magenta streaks on his cheeks. The red of his discarded clothes slashed across the green of the grass beneath him no less brilliantly than that. His eyes glowed lambent gold as he murmured, “Ride me, Kagome, you know you can do it. You’re the only one who can.”

And so she did, to be brought sharply to the crest by his hands, busy with her breasts again at the peak only to find himself sliding right after her.

They sagged together in a loose heap of limbs and it was far, very far too soon that they heard Miroku’s voice calling for them as he advanced up the forest path.

“Oi! For the sacred existence of Buddha! Can’t you two even clear your shit off the path before bounding off and shagging like bunnies?”

Kagome gave a remarkably bunny-like squeak as she suddenly launched herself into the bushes and disappeared into the undergrowth with what could well have been demonic speed. Inuyasha pulled on his hakama and was making no pretences about being interrupted as he dealt swiftly with the quadruple tapes when Miroku emerged through the trees. He had the yellow pack over his shoulder.

“I thought you were coming to help,“ he said shortly. The yellow pack was dropped on the ground. “Or did you forget?”

Inuyasha was busy with settling his suikan over his kosode and didn’t answer right away. Miroku watched him in a nearly accusatory silence that Inuyasha was very aware of, “Miroku, if anything’s happened to Mushin there’s nothing we can do to prevent it now.” He glanced down at the pack and then over at the thick screening of bushes, considering for a moment, “A few minutes lost while setting off shouldn’t matter.”

He moved the pack closer to the bushes led Miroku out of the glade back to the forest path. Miroku carefully kept eyes to the front as a stealthy rustle sounded in the bushes behind them. Kagome was slipping a cautious arm out to grasp the handle at the top of the pack and pull it back into the leafy cover with her.

Inuyasha stepped onto the path and grabbed the sausage-shaped bundle of blankets and tossed it at Miroku, “Here. Kagome brought these along with us to pass out to those who need them in the village.”

Miroku grunted as the pile landed in his arms and felt the thick fabric curiously,
“Blankets? That’s very kind of Kagome-sama. Such bright colors.” He pulled out a fold of a white one scattered with very large, very pink, cabbage roses and fingered it wonderingly, “What a fine soft weave. Strong too,“ he declared in appreciation, giving the fabric a yank. “Do you know what animal produces the fur that it’s made of?”

“Acrylic nylon,“ Inuyasha grunted indifferently as he gathered up the rest of the bags strewn on the path.

“An acrylic nylon,“ Miroku repeated to himself. “I see. It must be some kind of new animal. What is it? Is it like a yak?”

“I have got no clue. I think it’s related to plastics.” Inuyasha said impatiently, “I thought you wanted to get moving.” With that he set off down the path, one ear twitched back to follow Kagome’s movements in the glade behind them.

Miroku took the hint and stepped forward to walk in the lead as they reached the crest of the hill.

Kagome came up with them a few moments later, still brushing leaves out of her hair and trying to settle the pack more comfortably on her back. “Uh, hi, Miroku-sama.” she said somewhat confusedly.

Miroku made no sudden moves as he glanced back over his shoulder, “Good afternoon, Kagome-sama. Are you ready for our trip? It was a good thought of yours to bring the blankets. They will be greatly appreciated in the village.”

Kagome relaxed a bit and smiled back at him, “They aren’t much but every little bit helps.”

Miroku nodded solemnly in agreement and shifted the bundle in his arms for a better grip, “Indeed, and such interesting fabric. I would greatly like to see plastics if I could, one of these days. They must be very wonderful.”

Kagome hesitated and then said, “You know those little water bottles that I bring? Those are made of plastic.”

Miroku nodded, “A versatile animal that, Kagome-sama..”

The way to the village was taken up by Kagome’s spirited description of the wonders of plastic to Miroku’s continuous (and increasingly incredulous) smile. Plastics, he came to realize, were plants that could be turned into nearly anything once they were old enough and had rotted in the ground for a long time. Kagome-sama’s world was wonderful indeed and tended to strain the imagination. Miroku glanced over at the hanyou for conformation but Inuyasha merely gave a faint shrug and trudged ahead.

Distributing the blankets went quickly and Kagome was overwhelmed by the response. She found she had to speak up quickly and insistently to prevent them from being either placed into storage in wedding chests or hung on the walls for the sake of display. She had not considered the possibility that they would be thought valuable for anything other than their utility and had felt a little guilty about their garishness. They had come cheap, however, from a factory sale and would be warm for the people she had gotten to know so well.

She gently detached a weeping old woman currently wrapped in a yellow blanket festooned in a pattern featuring carrots and what appeared to be bricks and sent her to Kaede‘s side. Inuyasha stood to one side in long-suffering silence next to a warmly-dressed Kohaku. The boy had lit up so at the mention of a road trip that Sango had been completely unable to say no. She was anxious about it however and kept thinking of more things she might need along on the trip. Miroku now carried a large bag on his shoulders on the top of which Shippou perched.

Shippou seemed out of sorts and tended to go silent and watchful when around Kagome and avoided Inuyasha altogether emitting miniature growls the entire time. Inuyasha didn’t seem to care and actually walked across the main square of the village to engage Miroku in conversation for a few minutes about some small matter. This caused the kitsune to crawl down the back of the pack and dangle there, out of sight, Miroku was forced to put his hands up to the pack’s straps to ease them from where they were biting into his shoulders and it was with a grunt of relief that he greeted the hanyou’s movement away from him to go over to stare meaningfully at Kagome. Shippou promptly scrambled back up and now sat on the top of the pack sounding like a pot getting ready to boil.

Oh, yes, it was going to be a lovely trip.

(*) – Only to be Distracted by Nokomarie the Snake