InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ This Can't Be Good ❯ Distracted ( Chapter 25 )

KURAMA: (To cab driver) You were supposed to be here twenty minutes ago.

I guess times are tough.

KURAMA: I just want to get out of here.

Wait a minute.

KURAMA: (In cab) Not likely.

But you have a-

KURAMA: (To driver) Let's leave. Now.

See you later.

KURAMA: If by me you mean my lawyer. I fully intend to replace that crayon restraining order with a real one within four business days.

You still have a-

KURAMA: Goodbye

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"Then what happened, Hojo-san?"

"Did you hit the monster?"

"Well, Miss Hanako, the arrow got it right through to the back of its neck," he answered.

"So you killed it?" squeaked a third girl.

"No, Miss, that's just it. It wouldn't die! I was more afraid than I'd never been..." The rest of the conversation whittled away into the chatter of the thinning crowd. For some irritating reason, Hojo's eager voice seemed to stand out.

Kouga gave a snort, "That last one can't be older than thirteen," he muttered under his breath.

"What? Oh. Yes, disgusting," Miroku acknowledged noncommittally.

"What is it with him?"

Miroku made no response, staring down into his small cup of ... well he wasn't too sure what it was. It went down like lamp oil and tasted like feet, but Kouga hadn't made any complaints.

The monk held back a sigh. Mushin been an expert on women, but an absolute maven on more fluid matters.

"The work of a holy man takes him to all kinds of places," he remembered, "the selection may be limited, but a persistent man can always find something. And that's true of many things, boy..."

Kouga knocked back some more of the delightful local beverage. Miroku raised an eyebrow. Either the wolf youkai's own education had been quite limited, or he was more polite than he let on.

"It's not like I care what a bunch of human women find interesting. I mean, for all I know, your females have an extra row of teeth back there."

There was a silence. Kouga stared at the liquid in his cup.

"They don't."

"Thanks."

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Inuyasha jumped.

She'd been coming up behind him the whole time he'd been thinking? Inuyasha rubbed his face. He'd barely been able to sense Kouga in time to shred his scabby hide, and with the wolf's pungent B.O. that was no great feat. His nose hadn't been working right since...

Those reeking serpent youkai... Inuyasha stifled a growl. Their foulness still clung to his clothes, his hair, everything they'd touched. If it lingered much more, he might risk the wet dog jokes and take a bath.

Kagome teetered on one foot as she stepped over a root. Smiling, she dropped down next to him on the grass, and Inuyasha was reminded of what had gotten him so upset in the first place.

She wasn't missing.

She wasn't being eaten or hurt by some scavenger.

She wasn't off with Hojo or Kouga.

Which brought up the more direct issue:

"What are you doing sneaking up on me like that?"

"Sneaking up on you?" Kagome demanded. "Oh yeah. I'm sooooo scary! Careful or I'll get you with my mighty chopsticks and my bowl of rice."

Bowl of... Inuyasha looked at her folded arms, and realized why she'd been walking so gingerly. Kagome had her first-aid box tucked under one arm and was rather precariously cradling two stoneware bowls with something that smelled very good. As much as he hated to concede Miroku anything... Slaying serpent youkai was hungry work.

Kagome blinked as Inuyasha's stomach gave a rumble. He tried to cover it with a growl. "What are you doing up here bothering me?" he demanded. "I told the monk I wanted to be left alone!"

"And Miroku told me that you were up here sulking by yourself and wouldn't come get dinner."

"Maybe I don't feel like eating," Inuyasha folded his arms. "And why are you looking at me like that?"

Kagome set her first-aid kit on the grass next to her leg. "I can have a look at your injuries now," she said. "Or you can eat something while it's still hot;" she handed him one of the bowls, picked up the other and began to eat.

That stuff does smell pretty good... Inuyasha half-reached for the chopsticks. Oh what the hell; I'm hungry. He lifted the bowl and took a taste. That Mrs. Mura probably made it for Hojo, for being soooo brave and bringing back her little puking brat grandson. Stupid ugly wimp of a- Wait a minute!

"Hey whaddaya mean, my injuries? I'm fine!" he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. As if Kouga's puny kicks could do more than bruise. They'd be healed by the next morning.

"Yeah," Kagome was delicately finishing her meal, "but I know you got splattered with venom earlier today."

Venom? Kouga didn't have any- His eyes trailed down to the red welts from the fight with the serpent youkai.

"It's no big deal," he muttered. As loth as he was to admit it, he'd been hungry, and- "HEY!" he protested as his dish-bearing hand was jerked to the side

Kagome was swabbing it at one of the round welts with one of her antiseptic pads. The dog demon mumbled out a growl and leaned down to keep eating, twisting his head to the side.

Kagome twitched in disgust. "Can't you wait for one minute?" she insisted. "These need to be looked at!"

He gulped down the last of the food. "You were the one who wanted me to eat first!" Inuyasha scrunched at something caught in his teeth. His free hand was halfway to his mouth before he realized what he was doing.

"And Hojo, you NEVER pick your teeth with your claws?!"

The little twerp didn't even have to be around to spoil things. Inuyasha clenched his fist down next to his knee and winced at a tender spot on his ribs.

"Did Kouga do that?" Kagome asked softly, eyes following his movement.

"In his dreams, maybe," he snapped defensively, "And it's not like he isn't feeling some aches and pains!"

"You're right," she realized aloud, "I should probably have a look at him too!"

"What - no!" Inuyasha protested. "He's not that hurt. I mean he is, but he-"

Kagome let out a giggle. The dog demon scowled back at her. "They'll be healed by tomorrow anyway," he muttered, crinkling his nose at the acrid medicine smell. Kagome put down her swab and pulled out the dressings. Inuyasha wrinkled his nose. She just had to pick the ones that stuck and stung when he ripped them off.

"Ooooooh," she said softly. "That looks like it hurts."

Inuyasha humphed, tucking his wrist away. He only looked up when she didn't seem to notice. The dog demon frowned for a moment and realized that she wasn't looking at his wrist.

Those big, deep eyes were blinking roundly up at his ear, still aching and swollen from where Kouga had kicked it during the fight.

It was like watching someone teeter on the edge of a cliff. Kagome reached up, and gently, terribly gently, ran her fingers along the back of his injured ear.

Inuyasha's universe suddenly got very simple. There was the soothing, slightly puffy feeling of her skin against the velvet hairs, and there was everything else. But... His hands lifted to her shoulder level and stopped, hesitating. Did he really have to push her back? She was just touching his ear, for fuck's sake. What would be so terrible if he let her? It wasn't as if they were doing anything ...anything Miroku up here. It wasn't as if he were going to let his neck turn to jelly, and rub his ear against her palm.

"Inuyasha?" She was asking something. What was she asking?

"Hm?" the sound was too high, too stretched...

"Does it..." she paused to pull a breath in through her nose. She was taking in his scent... No, she was trying to say, "does it hurt?"

No...

Inuyasha moved his head to the side, giving just the first half of his answer. That sound came from his throat again. It was a better response anyway, more descriptive. It was...

And then he remembered what had happened last time. The dog demon managed to make his eyes open. He wasn't half-conscious on Kaede's floor this time, and he wasn't some ...some stupid lapdog for her to pet!

But...

Kagome's skin was smooth. Inuyasha found the pad of his thumb flush against her inner wrist. He pushed her hand away slowly, as if it were something very heavy, or very hard.

"Inuyasha?" her voice was quiet. "Is it- I mean, did I..." he watched her throat move as she swallowed, and rubbed his free sleeve against his mouth. At least he hadn't been drooling. Whining like a puppy, sure, he thought bitterly. Hadn't rolled over, either.

"I didn't think-I mean I..." Kagome was babbling, fingers twisting hard into her skirt, "Back at Kaede's, you just-" she swallowed hard, looking up at him as if she expected him to shout at her, "You seemed so ... happy."

Inuyasha's eyes shot up. She didn't ...like it when he was like that, did she? Fawning and whimpering like a disobedient pup?

"You think I-" Inuyasha clamped his mouth shut at the catch in his voice. What the hell had happened to him? He cleared his throat. "You think-"

"It doesn't matter," she said, looking down. "I'm sorry."

She was-But she-Arrrrrgh!

"And it wasn't what I came up here to talk to you about anyway."

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Hello.

KURAMA: I think you know why I'm back.

You realized what I was trying to tell you?

KURAMA: I did.

~ ~ ~ Flashback ~ ~ ~

KURAMA: We have a matter to discuss, Kuwabara. I believe you have impersonated a notary public, and issued me a false restraining order and - what do you find so amusing?

KUWABARA: I never thought you were that girly, Kurama, but what's with the butterfly barrette?

KURAMA: What?

~ ~ ~ End Flashback ~ ~ ~

KURAMA: But that's not why I'm back.

You missed my charming company. And you forgot your socks.