InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Strategist, the Leader, the Infiltrator and the Suicide ❯ Mrs. Darling's Kiss ( Chapter 4 )

 

 

 

Mrs. Darling's Kiss

 

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Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or Peter Pan.

 

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Something about these humans was quite not right. Inuyasha pondered over this thought as he observed the giant man named Kazuhiko took a handful of soil and brought it under his nose to sniff it.

 

“Kagome, smell this,” Kazuhiko called out to the girl who was rummaging around her bag.

 

“What?” Kagome approached him reluctantly.

 

“Smell this,” he said softly with, as always, great patience lacing his tone.

 

Kagome sniffed the dirt unenthusiastically.

 

“What is it?” Inuyasha rose from his perch. “Do you find anything out of the ordinary?” He refused to believe that those humans could smell better than him.

 

Kazuhiko gave him a blank look while Kagome responded indifferently, “It's nothing like that. This is just his hobby.”

 

“Huh?”

 

Kazuhiko turned his attention back to Kagome. “It smells great, right?” He crumbled the earth in his hand and scattered it back to the ground. “It's spongy, well textured, and aerated. It's perfect for an herb garden.”

 

“I'd guess so.” Kagome shrugged.

 

“Imagine what we could have out here — basil, thyme, rosemary, hyssop, tarragon, chives,” he paused when he noticed Kagome was tuning him out by the glassy look on her eyes “We can even have strawberries.”

 

“Strawberries?” She looked up hopefully.

 

Kazuhiko nodded. “You miss that, don't you?”

 

“Yeah,” Kagome answered softly, but then her eyes turned hard as she continued in a stiff voice. “But we don't have time for cravings or gardening. We need to move fast when we're going to get all the shards together.”

 

Kazuhiko smiled a bit dejectedly in response. He raised his other hand, the clean one, and ruffled her hair gently.

 

Kagome was looking at him with a mix expression of confusion and regret, not really knowing how to handle at such situation where tenderness was sought.

 

The interaction was not lost on the three friends, listening from the beginning to the end, masking their interest. They were silent until suddenly the slayer came up with a question, “What's basil? Or thyme, and that dragon thing?”

 

“Tarragon,” Kagome corrected quietly. “They're just herbs, used for cooking.”

 

“Oh?” Her answer earned the slayer's interest as she walked up towards them. After spending a week together traveling, they had been fortunately given many chances to enjoy the newfound culinary talent of Kazuhiko. “Are they what you've been using in your cooking?” Sango asked him as she inched her way beside the man in question, squeezing her shoulder in between the two, shoving Kagome out of her position in effect.

 

Kagome gave the slayer an indignant glare and was about to rebuke her when Kazuhiko, thrilled of having someone to talk about herbs and food, answered her enthusiastically, “No, we don't have any of those herbs here, but I've used some of my own that I always kept with me.” He gestured her to follow him as he made his way where his bag was.

 

Kagome felt literally all of her blood rushing to her head in a fast-paced flow. Either she was extremely embarrassed, or she was fuming with jealousy. Inuyasha decided for the latter as he watched her about to explode. She opened her mouth to say something and then decided against it as she huffed and stomped off towards the opposite direction.

 

“Damn. I thought there's going to be some cat fight or something of the sort,” Miroku sighed in disappointment. He raised his brow in annoyance when he saw the usually tough slayer practically fawned all over the other man. “Look at him, with that height and the cooking skill. He's surely making us look bad,” he commented to the hanyou.

 

Inuyasha rolled his eyes. “Speak for yourself, bouzo.” He eyed the direction that Kagome had taken, slightly indecisive if he should follow her or not. Under pretense of stretching his arms out, he stood up and was about to follow her when the monk called out to him warningly, “Before you go to her, Inuyasha, make sure that you're perfectly aware that she's absolutely not `her'.”

 

“Yeah, I know,” Inuyasha answered without turning.

 

~*~

 

He found her squatting on the forrest ground, picking at small rocks and throwing them in no particular direction. “Hey,” Inuyasha greeted her softly as he stooped next to her.

 

“Hey,” Kagome replied, a little frown residing on her forehead, which he found cute.

 

He watched as one rock was thrown into a remarkable distance and could hear the next moment a remote wounded howl. “Are catching our dinner with that?”

 

“Huh?” Kagome turned towards him, not really taking in his words.

 

“Cause I'm pretty sure you already killed your game with the last three pebbles,” he said grinningly.

 

“You can have `em,” she spoke uninterestedly. Her eyes fell to the sword that was tied on his left side. “Any luck with that?”

 

“Nope. I guess that time was only a one-time-thing.”

 

“If you want to know what I think, maybe you ought to reach a certain power level in order for the sword to transform.”

 

“Power level?”

 

“Yeah, like in the battle, the last strike, driven by your emotion, boosted up your fighting force no matter how tired you are or heavily wounded.”

 

“Yeah, probably.” Inuyasha fell into a deep thought. “So, I'll have to be half-dead in order for the sword to function?”

 

Kagome rolled her eyes at him as she muttered under her voice, “Beginner…”

 

Inuyasha's left eye twitched at the insult. “You know if you just tell me outright —”

 

“It means you have to become stronger,” Kagome cut him off, “So that that kind of power level is a normal fighting condition for you, and that means practice, practice, and practice.”

 

A slight feeling of awe entered the expression of his eyes, not that he would openly admit it. “You know an awful lot about this, do you?”

 

“Of course, that's what I have learned all my life ever since I could walk.”

 

“What about him? It's hard to believe that he has learned what you learned.”

 

“Kazuhiko is stronger than all of you put together, including your brother. He's my mentor.” Kagome answered defensively.

 

“If he's that great then how come all he gets to do is cook?” Inuyasha asked sneeringly.

 

“Because —,” Kagome started to raise her voice, but suddenly realizing of what she was about to reveal, she clamped shut.

 

“Because?” Deliberately challenging her to finish her sentence, he tried to ignore the burst of jealousy over the object of the girl's strong loyalty.

 

“Because he doesn't need to prove himself, he's already great as he is. He taught me all he knew. If you need verification then you might as well look at my combating capability.” Kagome explicated in a cold tone.

 

“All we ever heard is your talk, Kagome. If he's going to stay in this team, he has to take a real part of it, and that means fighting, fighting, and fighting.”

 

“We had a deal,” Kagome hissed at him. Grabbing his hitatare lapels as she dragged him up and pushed him against a tree bark, she whispered in a calm tone, dripping with venom. “You will not, I repeat, bring him into a battlefield ever. You hear me? If I ever see, even smell the slightest intention of you violating our agreement then I'll be out of here in a flash, doing my own shard-hunting, after I have ripped you apart with my own bare hands. You got that?”

 

Inuyasha tried to nod as far as her choking hands would let him. He really didn't want to upset the girl, and unknowingly he had pushed too far when he had only wanted to shatter a bit of the girl's faith towards her, in his opinion, undeserving partner.

 

~*~

 

Sesshoumaru watched from a concealed place as the conversation took place. He flexed his new hand as he saw the sword, fastened on the hanyou side, and then his eyes fell on the girl.

 

Something stirred in his inside. He interpreted it as a delicious anticipation of getting to terminate her finally. No one, really no one marked his face — even if it had lasted only for a few hours — and got away with it.

 

And as he heard the exchange turned into some sort of dispute over a man whom she apparently highly regarded, he suppressed the ignition of primal rivalry inside him. It was normal for him to be possessive over his prey. If the thought of her having a partner bothered him then he just had to kill him as well, might as well make it all into one massive slaughter.

 

~*~

 

“What's the monk doing?” Inuyasha asked Sango as he watched with wide eyes the way their friend hunched over some type of a plant and cutting it into small bits.

 

“He's cooking.” Sango rolled her eyes.

 

Kagome, who had just yet joined them after she had gathered some wild mushrooms, looked over towards the monk. “Hey,” she called out to him as her eyes took in the instrument he was using. “Is that my tranquilizer blade?”

 

“What?” Miroku turned towards her and accidentally cut himself on the finger. “Ouch!” he cried out in pain as he put his finger into his mouth.”

 

“No, don't —,” Kagome didn't get to finish her warning as the monk's eyes suddenly crossed together and his body hit the ground.

 

“I did tell him to keep away from my stuff,” Kagome sighed. “What now? He'll be out for at least a week.”

 

“Great, then we'll be able to grow that herb garden you've talked about,” Sango called out to Kazuhiko cheerily, darkening Kagome's already sour mood.

 

“Maybe.” Kazuhiko threw a questioning look at Kagome, trying to discern her temper. He then looked at the small veggies cuts. “What a waste of food.”

 

Kagome followed his eyes. “We need to throw everything away he prepared with the blade and bury `em.”

 

“Hey, I found this in the forest quite a while ago and thought you might know the name of this plant. Is it edible?” Sango closed in on Kazuhiko, showing him a bundle of herbs while Kagome was standing on the other side of him.

 

Before the man could answer her, however, Kagome had stepped forward, grabbed the bundle of leaves, and shredded them in pieces in front of them. She then gave the taijiya a challenging glare, the man an angry glare, and stormed off for the second time of the day.

 

“What's her —,”a chuckle coming from the hanyou interrupted Sango's indignant rant. She looked to her side and found that Kazuhiko was smiling in apology. Sango sighed and returned his smile reluctantly. “Sometimes she's so cuddly and other times so mean-tempered or even cold.” Sango remarked dryly.

 

“Kagome returned action with action, so affection would naturally be retaliated with affection as well for her. But she can't, unfortunately, heal or protect with words. In those times, her retaliating instinct fails her.” Kazuhiko calmly explained. “This is not an environment of our norm.”

 

Sango nodded her head stiffly and went to check on the monk.

 

~*~

 

Kagome came back later that night holding a bundle of herbs in her hand. She silently went over to the slayer and handed her the woodland plant. “This is Japanese Wild Chervil. It's used to flavor dishes such as clear soup or nabemono and is rich in carotene, vitamin C, and Calcium.” A nervous pause ensued before she continued, “I'm sorry for throwing a hissy fit.”

 

Sango blinked before she nodded and smiled tentatively at Kagome. Having understood only half of what the younger girl was saying, she abandoned the thought of asking for more clarifying information.

 

Kazuhiko grinned at Kagome and ruffled her hair. “So you did listen to me from time to time I tried to explain something to you.”

 

Kagome slightly pouted, and then her tone grew serious. “I always listen to you, you know that.”

 

Watching the exchange between Kagome and Kazuhiko, Sango suddenly realized that it was completely hopeless to try to divide the attention of the gentle male to her direction. A part of her had understood that the connection between Kagome and Kazuhiko was too deep-rooted and untouchable to the outside party, but another part of her still bemoaned the fact that she couldn't have him. She turned her attention towards the sedated monk next to her and sighed, wishing him to be at least slightly less a pervert when he woke up.

 

~*~

 

“Is it even possible?” Kazuhiko said wonderingly as he stared at the corner of her mouth.

 

“What? What is it?” Kagome asked him as she sat between his legs, her back to his chest. She rested her head easily against his raising knee, exposing the right side of her neck, the soft jaw line, and an amazingly marble-smooth cheek.

 

“The kiss,” he answered simply as he touched the spot that captured his gaze.

 

“The kiss?” Kagome asked him smilingly, laughter in her voice, as dimples easily made their appearance, urged by the attractive way the corners of her mouth uplifted themselves into a smile.

 

“The unattainable kiss, there it is, mocking at me, conspicuous in the right-hand corner.”

 

“The kiss?” Kagome asked again teasingly as the addictive sound of her laughter grew. “You're so silly,” she remarked lightheartedly as she shook her head.

 

“Yes, I'm sure of it now.” Kazuhiko ignored her comment and continued, “Mrs. Darling's kiss.” (*)

 

“Mrs. Darling's kiss,” Kagome mimicked his words and laughed again, her eyes shining brightly in the darkness.

 

Sesshoumaru wondered if he should listen to their senseless babble any second longer. He should just kill them here and now, but then he thought about his first priority of gaining the sword first and relished the idea of testing its power on those silly humans.

 

The taiyoukai watched as the couple continued to whisper nonsense to each other, secluded in their own secret world. A kiss in the corner of the lips, indeed.

 

His eyes narrowed as he felt it again, the stirring in his inside. He deemed it as probably a twist of revulsion over such scenery.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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(*) from Peter Pan

 

A/N: Before anyone rants at me about the story being absolutely OOC, I just want to make it clear that I know it's OOC; it meant to be OOC.

Okay, I said the word three times. God knows how I hate repetitions (even though I occasionally can not evade making them). So if you read the story and find it unacceptable, just chill before you send me any flames, okay?