InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Time After Time ❯ Intentions ( Chapter 11 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Chapter 11:  Intentions

This was different.  Kagome could honestly say she had never heard of a puzzle like this.

And it was one that would cause untold havoc unless they figured it out.

After traveling for almost two weeks, they'd come close to the second shard that Bokuseno had spoken of as being in the North, buried in the ground.  As deeply buried as it was, Kagome hadn't been concerned, after all, they had two males that could turn into fifty-plus foot dogs – why not let them dig it up?  Easy, right?

Wrong.

Getting it out of the ground had been easy, sure enough.  But the problem was what was left once they'd pulled it up.  She could not even imagine how this had happened.  It shouldn't have been possible.

But it was.

Everyone was currently sitting, staring at the problem at hand – the shard of the shikon jewel – encased in a rather large chunk of adamant – better known as a diamond.

How the hell were they supposed to get it out?

“So... anyone got any ideas?”  she asked, chin in her hand as she stared at the beautiful gem, shining with the purity of the shard within, in a way no other diamond ever had.

That question was met by shakes of various heads, and voices saying,  “No.”  

“Okay... so what the hell do we do now?”

Sugimi stared at the shard still sitting in his hand.  “Well, I suppose that it's not a puzzle that needs to be solved right this minute, ne?  We can continue on with searching for the other shards, since you did say that there are still one or two more, correct, Kagome?”

She nodded, a rather blasé sigh coming from between lightly parted lips.  “Mhmm.”

He cocked a brow at her, amused at her expression of jaded boredom.  “Becoming used to exotic happenings, are you, Kagome?”

Miroku chuckled at that, and everyone looked at him.  “Well, if anyone has that right, Kagome would be that person.  After all, what is something like this to someone who crosses through time on a frequent basis?”

Kagome shook her head in mock annoyance as the group agreed with Miroku's words.  “Well, anyway,  we may as well head back to Kaede's – we're starting to get low on supplies again, so...”  she trailed off, once again staring at the gem.

Casting a glance skyward, Sugimi stood, and tucking the adamant-wrapped shard into his haori, said,  “Let us go back to that small meadow we passed on the way here, and make camp for the night.”

With no further discussion, the pack picked up and moved, perfectly happy to settle in for the night.  It had been a long last couple of weeks, and Kagome, even more than the others, was tired out.

She'd had so much on her mind, and there was so much fear in her.  She'd thought over and over Miroku's words that day before they'd gotten the shard from that horrible tree, but for all that she knew he was right, she wasn't sure she'd have the courage to let anyone back into her heart.  She sneaked a quick peek at Sugimi as he walked at the head of the pack, silver topknot swaying rhythmically.

He was just so overwhelming to her.  Powerful, intelligent, handsome beyond anything she'd ever known, he tore into her heart with his presence alone – what would he do to her if she let him in?  She shuddered – there'd be nothing left if he turned on her.  Not a comforting thought.  

And she felt so odd feeling that way about a being that was at least a thousand years older than her – probably a lot more!  Then again, the age difference was so ridiculous that it really just faded away when she thought about it – after all, Inuyasha was two hundred years old himself, and she hadn't thought anything of that.  

She narrowed her eyes at the hanyou as he walked off to the side... of course, that was probably because he acted like he was twelve most of the time.

Still...

With shame, she looked down at her feet as they walked, and sighed inwardly.  She knew she was being selfish with this thought, but she wasn't sure how to stop feeling this way.  It was so bad that she could barely even admit to herself that she felt the way she did about it, but for some reason, she had begun to believe that she deserved what she was getting.

For the bottom line was that she knew that he had loved before.  At least once, though she didn't know how he'd felt for Sesshoumaru's mother.  And she wanted to be first in someone's heart, just once!  Why did she have to keep coming in behind someone else?

That's what made her believe that she deserved it.  Deserved to never be loved first, to never be first in someone's heart - because she was being selfish, and because she wasn't good enough.  She should just be thankful that anyone cared about her at all, really.

She winced, not liking what she was finding as she dug deep and looked into the darker corners of her soul.  She had the bad feeling that if Naraku tried to get his hands on her and taint her now, he'd succeed.

And then she had to laugh at herself.  Love?  What the hell was she thinking anyway?  Since when was sexual attraction labeled love?  So he wants to sleep with me – that hasn't got anything to do with my heart.  At least not from his end... unfortunately for me, or maybe him, I can't sleep with someone just for physical gratification.

Putting a hand to her aching heart, she shook her head, a frown painted across her face.  She was so lost in her thoughts she hadn't even noticed that everyone had stopped and was looking at her.  

Sugimi narrowed his eyes on her, worried.  Something was bothering her greatly, and he desperately wanted to comfort her.

For days now he'd been fighting his beast's desires where this female was concerned, and he couldn't anymore.  He wanted to make a move – to make her aware of what he wanted from her.  He'd waited long enough...

With his decision made, he turned to Sesshoumaru and ordered him to watch over the pack, and before Kagome could even blink, or Inuyasha react, he'd snagged her and taken off, leaving everyone to stare after them with surprise.

Everyone but Sesshoumaru – and funnily enough, Miroku.

Inuyasha was just pissed.  He'd watched the little dance between the two for the last month since they'd woken his father up, and he was less than pleased.

It was more than obvious that the daiyoukai that had sired him, was after his miko – but not for a quick rut.  Oh, no, that bastard wanted Kagome, and for a lot more than just once.  And he still hadn't come up with a way to keep him from her.

Sugimi flew them quite some distance away, not wanting any interruptions, and knowing that it was very possible that his youngest pup would come after them if given half the chance.

Finally feeling he'd gotten far enough away, he settled back down to the ground, gently setting her on her feet near the bank of a small stream.  He wasted no time in speaking.

“You are afraid,”  he said bluntly, shocking her.  “Why?”

Kagome eyed him warily, uncertain.  Just what did he know – or was it merely a guess?  “W-what do you mean?”  

He caught her gaze and held it with his.  “You fear me - or is it my intentions that you do not trust?”

“I-intentions?”  she squeaked, eyes wide.

“Let us not beat about the bush, Kagome.  I am attracted to you, as much as you are attracted to me – however, you fight it while I do not.  Why is that?”  he asked bluntly, ignoring her blush.

Flustered, intimidated, and unsure of herself, Kagome couldn't even look at him.  “I... uh... look, while I'm really, really flattered, I'm just not the type to sleep around,”  she said softly.

“If you were, I would not be attracted – I have no desire to even look at a woman who scents of various other males.  I am far too selective for that,”  he said after a moment, his voice very serious.  

What could she say to that?  He didn't seem to understand her point...

“Mmm, okay, let me say this another way,”  the very embarrassed Kagome said firmly,  “I will remain a virgin until marriage, Sugimi-sama, whether I'm attracted or not.”

He sent her a funny look, one she didn't understand.  “Do you think I do not understand what you mean?  However, I was not thinking of marriage, but mating.  Marriage is not enough,”  he said calmly.

At that, Kagome's face almost fell off.  Dumbfounded, she stared at him, completely unable to speak.

Sugimi watched her for a moment, then shrugged.  If she wasn't going to speak, then...

The next thing Kagome knew, he had taken over her mouth.  

Oh my gods... her eyes fell closed and she sighed into his mouth.  This ought to be illegal... come to think of it, it probably is, she thought, somewhat disjointedly.

Not really sure what to do, as she'd never been kissed this way, she let him do what he wanted, simply following along with his lead.  After all, it wasn't like she wanted to fight him...

Sugimi wanted to howl, throw her to the ground, take her, mark her, mate her, and he wanted to do it all right now.  He had never tasted anything like Kagome – she was like the the finest sake, the ripest berries, the sweetest cream – damn, but there was no way to describe it, except that he was feeling distinctly drunk on just her taste.

On top of that, her lips were so soft, as was her skin, and the beautiful lengths of hair he'd wrapped his fists in – it had to be her era's bathing products, because ningen women from the current time were nothing like Kagome.  Most were course of skin and hair, carried unpleasant scents, and bathed rarely.  And none of them tasted like her.

He finally allowed her to pull away, smirking slightly as she gasped and panted for air, eyes wide and somehow defenseless.  “No – marriage is definitely not enough, for I would have to be willing to let you go into death at the end of it – and I am not.”

Kagome blinked, then blinked again as she took in what he was saying.  What's that American saying again... Houston, we have a problem?  I wasn't planning on getting myself mated to Inuyasha's father – but somehow, I don't think he's going to give up.  “Uh... don't I get any say in this?”  

Cocking one regal brow, he studied her for a moment, then said,  “No.”  He looked up at the darkening sky, then, and with a smirk at her still rather drugged appearance, pulled her back into his side and lifted them into the air again, chuckling at her startled “Eep!”

“I never let anything go that I want, little miko, and I definitely want you.  Inuyasha, and any others, will simply have to accept that,”  he said firmly.

Yup, I was right.  I definitely have a problem.  I'm not sure whether learning his intentions has alleviated my worries – or created more.

She sighed.

---sSs---

By the time they got back to camp, it had been set up and Kagome found that Sango and Miroku had already gotten dinner cooking – apparently, Sesshoumaru had taken it upon himself to hunt, and the meat smelled very good to Kagome's starved stomach.

No one said a word about their rather abrupt disappearance – but Inuyasha was once again staring at her heatedly, and it was easy to tell he was angry and highly suspicious.  Kagome refused to meet his glares – for once, he was right in those suspicions, and what had taken place would not make him happy were he to find out.

She felt a bit guilty... at first, but then she scowled to herself - why should she?  Inuyasha had chosen Kikyou – many, many, times over her, leaving her free to make her own choices about who she wanted to be with.  He had no right to make her feel guilty about anything...

With that realization, she suddenly looked up across the fire, and glared belligerently right back at the hanyou, taking him aback.  He sat back a bit, eyeing her with uncertainty, and she huffed at him, then looked away, telling him without words, but just as loudly, to grow up.

That wasn't taken well; he narrowed his eyes on her, and then suddenly stood up and stalked around the fire towards her, watching with satisfaction as she sank back warily.  Good!  Wench should be worried... “Come on, Kagome, let's go – I wanna talk to you-”  he glared at everyone around the fire, particularly his father,  “-privately.”

Kagome tensed, staring at him for a moment, then looking across the fire at Sugimi uncertainly, not sure what to do.  After what had just happened between them, she didn't want to do anything that might degenerate into a fight.

The words that came shocked the hell out of everyone – no one had expected that things had moved that fast, except maybe Sesshoumaru.  He knew how his father was when it came to what he wanted.

“You must first ask my permission to speak to her privately, Inuyasha – I have declared my intent to her and she did not deny me.  As I am now courting her, she cannot be alone with any other male without my permission.”

With a bewildered blink, Kagome looked back at him again, ignoring her suddenly enraged hanyou friend.  “Wait, what?  Courting?!  You didn't ask me that!”

Sugimi turned to look at her over the flames with a raised brow.  “And what did you think I was doing with declaring my interest in mating you?”  He didn't acknowledge the gasps from the rest of the group at the word 'mating' rather than 'marriage', instead holding Kagome's eyes steadily.  His gaze turned suddenly shrewd, then, as Inuyasha let out a loud growl.  “I am not like Inuyasha, acting interested in you one moment, and then backing off the next.  I have stated that I want you as my mate – if you were willing, I would have already mated you.  This courting is for your benefit, so that you may have time to come to the realizations that I have.  But there are rules to courting, and that is one of them.”

“But... but... Hey!  I didn't even get the chance to say yes or no!”  she yelled, her temper heating.

He chuckled, not at all concerned.  “You asked if you had a choice, and I said no, did I not?  But the truth is, you would not deny me, anyway, so there is no point in being angry, little spitfire.”

She sat back at that, flustered – wanting to deny it, but unable to, because he was right – she wouldn't have said no.  With a pout, she turned her head away and glared into the fire, still fuming, refusing to even acknowledge all the interested stares from the others around the fire – or Inuyasha's enraged, trembling form behind her.  Let Sugimi deal with him...

And he did.  Just as soon as Inuyasha opened his mouth, his father cut him off.  “Are you ready for another round, then, boy?  Do you challenge for alpha, or for Kagome?  Or both?”

Everyone in camp held their breaths waiting for his answer – but no one as much as Kagome.

If he even thinks about being stupid over this...!

---sSs---

The trip back to the well was wrought with stress for Kagome, as she now had an openly aggressive, possessive and protective male practically glued to her hip.  He was worse than Inuyasha had ever been.

And Inuyasha wasn't helping her stress levels any – she just knew he was up to something.  She'd been around him for far too long now not to know when he was plotting.  But what was he planning?  That was the million dollar question.  The scary thing was, she had a couple of ideas of what he might be up to, and if she was right, then he was just asking to get murdered.

I don't think I can handle all this insanity, she thought, pressing her fingers against the bridge of her nose as her head practically pounded.  Too many inu around for anyone's good, I swear.

With the overprotective male at her side, and her own unstable aura, the rest of the group kept to themselves, trying very hard to keep from adding to her tension, for which she was absurdly grateful.  Miroku even kept a tight rein over his cursed hand, for once giving Sango's poor bum a rest.  With an inward roll of her eyes, she reflected that her stress seemed to be Sango's redemption – the poor girl hadn't been grope free in months.

At least some good's coming from all this, she thought with a sigh.

Sugimi was just as preoccupied, only his thoughts rested on the woman at his side.  He felt a bit conflicted at this point – on the one hand, he'd finally come out into the open with his intentions towards her, and had not been rejected out of hand – but on the other hand, he knew that Kagome herself was still terribly conflicted.  

She was still trying to completely heal from Inuyasha's careless use of her heart.  The things he had done to her had done a lot of damage, and he knew that she was hesitating to give herself freely over to him, because of that.  She was afraid – and it hurt, in a way he hadn't thought possible, that the woman he was coming to love so much was afraid to trust him.

And it wasn't even because of something he, himself, had done.  

It made the courting difficult, in that he couldn't just spend time with her and expect it to go anywhere – he had to figure out how to help her heal – and how to get her to trust him.

He scowled inwardly at the thought of what his son had done to her, twisting her up so much inside that she was afraid to trust anyone near her heart again.  The only thing that he could be thankful for was the fact that she was proving at least somewhat willing to try, since she had tacitly admitted that she wouldn't have said no to courting him.

But the fact was that it hurt.  He, being demon, already knew what he wanted.  His emotions were already engaged, and it was a bond that was only going to become stronger as time went on for him.  She wasn't at the same place yet, though – and that was making it difficult for him, because if she were, he'd have already claimed her.  

His beast was calling out to her... and she hadn't answered yet.  It would only get harder for him from here on out, too, as his beast became harder to handle when it came to anything to do with her.  If he wasn't very, very careful, he could end up killing someone over even the slightest of harm done to her – and he knew she wouldn't be able to accept something like that.

He could also feel her tension, and that was setting him on edge, as well – he could only hope that some time at home would help to calm her, and give her a chance to think things through to gain some perspective on everything.  With that thought in mind, he decided to push the pace a bit, wanting to get her back to the well before she had a meltdown.

“It is time that we moved faster,”  he said, looking around at the group that had been walking at a comfortable pace.  “Kagome is in need of some rest, and I wish to get her to the well quickly.”

Without discussion, the group all prepared to move quickly, Rin and Jaken on Ah-Uhn, Sango, Miroku, and Shippo on Kirara, and Kagome with Sugimi.  Once everyone was settled, despite Inuyasha's glare at seeing Kagome in his father's arms, they covered much ground, for which Kagome was truly grateful.  She was pretty sure this was one of the only times that she'd been able to go home without fighting with Inuyasha about it beforehand.

It was nice, she reflected.  No yelling, and no sitting.  Peaceful.

“I just wanted to say thank you for allowing me to go home without a fight,”  she said to Sugimi as they flew; at her statement, he cocked a curious brow.

“Why would I fight with you over such a thing?”

She shook her head.  “Not necessarily you – it's just that I've always had to fight Inuyasha about going home – it was always such a hassle because of that.  I think this is truly the first time that I've not gone home in a raging temper because of it,”  she chuckled.

Sugimi narrowed his eyes, irritation at his son roiling though him, again.  That pup was really in need of a nursemaid – with the way he acted, it was looking like he'd have to be treated as though he were two, and trained up from there.  It was disgusting that he'd been allowed to become so self-centered and selfish.

“Inuyasha is a child.  He throws temper-tantrums until he gets his own way – but now that I am back, he will not be allowed to continue with his reckless behavior.  I will keep disciplining him until he grows up.”

Kagome sighed, appreciation for the male beside her going up.  It was such a relief to not have to be the one responsible for trying to raise her hanyou friend anymore.

Now, if only his father can get him to grow up some... without having to kill him to get the message across.

Unfortunately, I have a really bad feeling about this whole thing... I think the baka's going to push it a little too far, and we'll be left picking up the pieces.

Her stress went up another notch as she thought about it.


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