InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Transformations ❯ Big Story Part III ( Chapter 16 )

Rare nodded. "Alright. Then cook."

Ray nodded, knowing she had to eat anyway. "Are you going to stay here?"

"I'd prefer it."

"Okay." She turned and shut the door, setting her mind on cooking/making lunch.

Chapter Sixteen

"I don't get it, Mom. When does any of this relate to my birth?"

"Shush, dear. I haven't gotten there yet. And in one way or another, it all contributes."

"Alright. I'm sorry. Go on."

"Right. Well, he looked surprised at my cooking. I think he hadn't tasted anything so good before by the way he complimented it. Lucky for me I didn't have to do much to convince the men to stay out of the room. After all, if they found him there, they might've lynched him, thinking he was a bandit or something. Nothing else of value happened until I went to get him something else to eat at around one in the morning . . ."

*Flashback*

"Rare? Are you up?" Ray whispered, one hand balancing a plate against her hip and the other slowly opening the door.

"Yes."

She sighed, coming in and closing the door silently. And gasped.

A huge blue dog with four tails lay on the floor, licking its wounds. Ray's tongue disappeared from her mouth as she fought to stay conscious, her eyes as huge as the dog.

"Ray?" More shocking was to hear Rare's voice come from the dog's mouth.

She stumbled and sat down, setting the plate on the floor. This was getting a bit too insane for her. "I . . . food . . ." she managed.

Looking up again she caught the dog seem to shrivel and turn into Rare. A very naked Rare. She passed out and fell back with a sigh.

~*~ Half-hour Later ~*~

Ray shifted, feeling hard, cold floor against her body although her head was on something cushiony, soft, warm and wrapped around her shoulder. She turned her head to the side and rubbed her face against it, her hand going up to feel it. Very nice, her mind made out. Warm. Soft.

"You shouldn't fondle my tail, onna."

"Wha . . . Rare? Onna?"

"Yes. 'Onna' means 'woman'."

"Oh. Your tail?"

"What you're laying on, onna."

"Oh." Slowly Ray sat up, rubbing the back of her neck. She turned to see behind her and saw that he was indeed letting her use his tail as support. "Thanks." She looked up then, into his eyes, wondering what had possessed her to fall asleep on his tail. Then it hit her, and hard. She jumped up and spun to face him, taking a step back. "You . . . you were a dog!"

"Don't insult me," Rare replied, standing up. "I'm a wolf demon. I told you that, I thought."

"But you didn't say you changed into one with four tails!"

Rare raised a brow at her. "And what were you expecting me to do? Unleash the pits of Hell on Earth?"

Ray got lost at that point. There were such things as good demons? Impossible! Her mouth worked as she sought to come up with a response to that and figure this out in her head in one. Well, he hasn't been doing anything to convince me he was evil . . . But then, he's hurt, so technically he can't do anything evil . . .But why would he stay here if he wanted to do something bad? . . He might be planning something . . . But he's always being civilized . . . But that doesn't mean he isn't evil . . . But he looks so good! She caught herself there - since when did she think any man looked good, save her husband?

"N-no, I guess not. I just wasn't expecting . . . You should've warned me or. . ."

"You're blushing again." Ray closed her mouth and looked away, her eyes landing on an empty plate near Rare's feet. It was spotless. But he was continuing. "Perhaps you don't know, but blushing is quite a turn-on for demons. I suggest you stop."

Ray gasped, her hand going up to cover her mouth. One of two things had to be done - one, she had to get out of here, or two, she had to change the subject. Since she didn't know how to leave without offending him or embarrassing herself further, she decided on the latter. "Did you clean the plate?" she asked, gesturing to it.

Rare looked down at it. "No." He smiled as he looked back up at her. "I licked it clean."

"You what?" Ray was caught between laughing at the statement and teaching him about how bad that was manners-wise.

"I am a wolf demon, for the last time. Demons tend to run by their instincts. One is survival, which means to eat every scrap you can get your paws on."

"Oh. Wait a minute," she said, her voice becoming stern. "Does that mean to imply you in fact did not love my cooking, but are just 'surviving'?"

Rare looked caught now. This was one of those questions a woman could ask a man and have no right answers, and not answering is the worst. He kept murmuring "Uh," "ah," "um," and other such stutters. "No," he finally got out. "I was merely pointing out how demons act. Your food is literally the best I've ever tasted."

"Oh, and since you live, I'm guessing - in the wild - then you wouldn't normally have a good cooked meal, now would you?"

Now he had literally backed himself into a corner. During his speech and hers Ray had been advancing on him, and now he was against the wall, with no way out. As much as he could move now, he still couldn't outrun an angered female. All he could do was stand, walk, sleep, and clean himself. I knew I should've listened to mother and became a more peaceful demon - then I wouldn't be here or fearing for what's left of my life! he thought, trying to come up with something that could get him out of this unscathed. Finally he came up with something. "Uh, Ray. . . Your raising voice might alert the others in this household of your presence here and lead them to mine."

Unfortunately for him, it didn't work like he had planned. Ray's eyes narrowed and she pushed closer, but when she spoke now it was barely a whisper. "Then maybe from now on you should choose your words better. I don't have to feed you. I don't have to house you. I didn't have to make sure you lived through the night. I didn't have to pay the slightest attention to the noise coming from the well house. So you have to learn to watch what you say concerning my food." She spun on her heel at the last word and swooped up the plate on her way out of the room, shutting the door as silently now as she did when she came in and hearing Rare's sigh of relief from inside the room. Without paying any attention to it, she put the plate in the sink and went upstairs to crawl back in bed, and got there just in time it seemed. As soon as she got under the covers her husband rolled towards her and his arm stretched out across her stomach. She smiled. At least he never complained about her food or stumbled over his words.

~*~ End ~*~

The two sitting at the table listening were dead quiet. There was no way that this cute, sweet, somewhat quiet mom would back talk a demon and get away with it.

"Mom. . ."

"Yes, dear?"

"Well, now I see where you get your anger from," Inuyasha said, folding his arms and taking the last development as he always did - with no care whatsoever.

Kagome narrowed her eyes at him, waiting silently until he looked at her. Then she mouthed the word "sit". His eyes widened and he nodded, looking back to Ray.

Meanwhile, Ray was looking confused. How could her daughter make him shut up by mouthing one word she didn't quite catch? She shook her head and continued on.

"The entire next day I didn't check up on Rare. I didn't set my alarm clock for one or at all. I figured he'd learn soon enough to be careful when it came to my cooking but I wanted to punish him a little bit more. That is, until about three in the morning. . ."

~*~ Yet Another Flashback~*~

"Ray. Ray. . . . Ray!" a voice whispered into her ear. She jerked to sit up straight, her covers falling to her waist.

It took a minute for her to completely wake up and realize what was going on around her, even as her mind was reminding her that at around nine she and her husband had made love, and they were still naked. Her eyes were on level with Rare's deep green ones, and part of her was crowing that he couldn't see her naked breasts. Instantly she grabbed the covers and covered her chest, while verbally berating him. "What are you doing?" she hissed. "You're not supposed to be here! . . How did you find my room?"

"I followed your scent," he whispered back as though it was nothing. "I'm hungry. Would you cook for me again?"

Ray shook her head, feeling dizzy. "Wait, slow down. Back up. You followed my 'scent'?"

"Hai. And why do you give three orders in one?"

"No, that's not. . ." She gasped, feeling her husband shift and his arm tighten around her waist. "Go on, back to your room! Tonight I'm going to sleep through the night with my husband." To prove her point she laid back down and cuddled close to her husband.

"But I'm hungry! Ray, can't you just help me? You're already awake!"

"No!"

"Why not?"

"Because I happen to be naked, that's why!"

"Don't be so meek! I'll turn my back or wait downstairs! You can't blame me for loving your cooking!"

Ray sighed and waved a hand at Rare, mumbling about how he was begging and she'll be downstairs as soon as she got dressed. If she looked she would've seen him grin like a child with delight and hurry downstairs as fast as his still healing body could allow.

While waiting downstairs Rare continued to think over everything that had happened since his fight with Lein. He got seriously injured, fell into a well, felt the use of magic within it, and awoke trying to climb out of it and seeing wood - but not trees - above his head. Ray found him, helped him into her home without a second thought, bandaged his wounds, fed him, and somehow, healed his bitter heart.

All of his life Rare had been used to fighting or dying, kill or be killed. That's how it was for demons in his time. That's how it was for as long as he could remember. Things like compassion, fear, love, worry, they were all things embedded to humans. No demons had those feelings, not now, not ever. Albeit, he himself had heard rumors of demons and humans loving each other and having children, but those were just rumors. . . Until now.

He knew now that it was possible to feel more than anger, hate, or the need for survival. It was still foreign to him, but he knew that Ray had somehow shown him that compassion was real, and that it was not fatal to invoke. He could feel other things as well, though it confused him as which was which. He knew he didn't want to see her hurt, or hurt her. He wanted to see her happy, and eat her food. He wanted to compliment her more, and prove to her that everything she did for him meant more than he would've thought.

That's when it struck him. He was going to have to do something for her in return. As soon as his wounds heal, he knew. And that would be just two more days.

Rare's thoughts were cut short when Ray came downstairs, tying a blue robe shut at her waist. She told him to not touch anything as she cooked, so he didn't, but was continuously looking over her shoulder. All of the things she used were as well foreign to him, and he wanted to see how it all worked. And with the way Ray was reacting, she was stuck between laughing at him and throwing him out altogether.

Rare only touched one thing the entire time Ray was cooking, and it happened to be the burner. He had a nice puffy red mark on his finger now. Ray had treated him like a child, urging him to get it under cold water and scolded him for not listening to her. While Rare was eating, however, the light mood vanished and cold, hard reality asserted itself.

Her father walked into the room. [DL: I'm going to just stick with "Grandpa" for him.]

A full minute of silence followed, tense, and practically throbbing from the heightened heartbeats. And then Grandpa spoke.

"Who is this young man?"

Ray cleared her throat. "This is Rare, Dad."

"Alright. Why is he in our house?"

"Because he was hurt, Dad. I found him."

"Where? And don't ask me if you can keep him," he added sternly.

It was one of those jokes Grandpa sometimes gave to her to prove he wasn't angry, just confused. And Ray laughed. "I'm not going to, Dad. He was in the well house. I'm not so sure how he got there."

"Ahh. I see." He turned to Rare. "And what time are you from?"

A pause. "Time? . . I'm afraid I don't quite understand."

"It's simple, really." He sat down. "That well has magic powers. I never knew what kind, though. But your clothes are not of this time, I have scrolls that say demons with animal-like qualities once roamed this land, and you have a tail. What time?"

Rare looked at Ray and then to Grandpa. "500 years ago," he said, the words like a question. "Back when there was a forest surrounding this area. I don't know the exact year."

Grandpa nodded. "I'm going back to bed. Ray, don't let your husband see him. He'll go mad."

Ray nodded as her father left. Then she turned to Rare. "Good answers. But, since you're done, you have to go back and I have to clean up. Go on."

Rare looked like he wanted to protest, but got up and sniffed his way back to the room he was staying in anyway. Ray cleaned the dishes and put them back and went upstairs. She took off her clothing to make it seem like she never left and crawled into the bed. She was going to have to talk with Rare tomorrow and teach him about not waking up people in three in the morning.

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Okay, here's the deal. I know this is taking a while and I keep switching roles, but oh, well. I don't need you to point out what I already know, but I do need you to review. If you do not. . . Hee hee. . . I've wired your big brother with three pounds of C-4! If you do not review, I press this button *presses button* and your big brother will go ca-blooey!

*Boom from behind a door*

@ .@ Oops. That was MY big brother. I hope Mom doesn't find out. . . Eh-heh.

=^_^=

See ya!