InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Uncovering the Untainted ❯ Love Sickness ( Prologue )

Disclaimer (as will be stated beginning every chapter): I do NOT own the rights to the series InuYasha nor the show's characters, although I do wish I owned Koga.

 

*sigh* That fact actually leads to my first IY story, “Uncovering the Untainted”, a story primarily about Koga and the decisions he must face when it comes to his love for Kagome. As the summary suggests, this story is both Kou/Kag and Inu/Kag, but how will it end? Hmm, guess you'll just have to wait and see ^_^. I welcome reviews. I'm especially interested to see how my readers would like to see the story evolve. Now, on to the beginning…

 

 

 

 

Cherry blossoms. The widely admired and abundant flowers that adorned the tree tops of the Sengoku Jedai were brightly blossoming now that it was spring. Even in the seductive, milky glow of the nearly full moon, the blossoms colored the forest canopy with pale pinks and shades of pastel fuchsia. With their euphorically stimulating sight, the soft, downy feel of the petals fallen upon the forest floor, and the light, intoxicatingly feminine fragrance, the bountiful buds dominated the forest beings this time of year.

 

No wonder springtime was the season for courtship and mating. Even the brashest brutes could be rendered love-sick puppies in such an enchanted environment.

 

As a certain wolf-demon stalked the winding weathered trails through the forest surrounding his pack's den, even he paused in step to deeply inhale the intoxicating pollen spread surreptitiously by the dubious pink flowers. For such small, seemingly innocent buds, their potency was as colossal and comprehensive as the long, spreading branches from which they grew.

 

The wolf demon leader savored another hushed, motionless moment of silent wonder, an indulgence he rarely allowed himself. His life was too riddled with responsibility for much personal pleasure. First and always foremost, there was the safety of his tribesmen. They were his comrades, his brothers, and he their unanimously revered commander and chief. He hadn't the luxury of choosing his position, his deceased father having bequeathed the massive responsibility. As the eldest and only son, only blood child for that matter, it was his right, duty, and privilege to follow in his father's footsteps. He'd never pondered dishonoring his father's memory, accepting his duty in stride without question.

 

It was the fleeting freedom in such moments as these that reminded him of the chronic ache in his heart for something more.

 

Or, perhaps, he thought with a slight, wistfully distant smile, it was the ache for not something, but someone.

 

The dull throb only intensified in his second of self-indulgent sin, settling itself shamelessly in the pit of his stomach, a violent sensation of burning, fluttering butterfly wings scraping and tickling his insides with the call of nature, his pounding heart, and his isolated soul.

 

The wolf demon looked downward with shame upon the dirt trail before him. He shook his head, a long ponytail of silky raven tresses billowing back and forth in the motion, willing his mind to block the instinctual reaction of his body to the cloistering, radiant buds adoring the forest floors and treetops. They were obviously infused with some sort of dark magic. Nothing was able to taunt him or bring him down from his pedestal of powerful, strong-willed warrior and young yet skilled wolf youkai to a blundering mess of raging hormones and heart-searing loneliness.

 

Well, there was one who could do that, yet the attack never came from malicious intent. Her very presence set him off. His heart would beat a little faster, pumping blood rapidly through every muscle fiber like the adrenaline he feasted upon during a dangerous battle. His muscles would twitch in response to the nutrients they were being fed, his mind becoming ferociously alert to her presence. Before he could even lay his sparkling cerulean gaze upon her beautiful face, his body felt vigorous and vibrant, her existence the very nourishment that kept him alive, her radiant smile, reserved just for him whenever they locked eyes and shared space, giving him a reason to be breathing in that single moment.

 

Of course, no one was to know that the arrogant, raven haired, aqua-eyed, alpha male of the wolf demon tribe could be completely brought to his knees by a mere, “weak” human female, albeit a powerful miko capable of seeing Shikon Jewel shards. He hid his plight exquisitely behind a mask of cocky indifference, or so he believed and prayed. No one could know, not even she.

 

He sighed vociferously, releasing an unusually audible gust of emotion into the calm, quiet forest surrounding him. That was enough. Gritting his teeth, grating sharp incisors and fangs against eachother with pounding pressure, a scowl drawing his dark brows downward and together in self-disgust, he mentally scolded himself for wasting time on weakness. He wasn't in the forest for luxury or frilly, poetic philosophies. He had a sole purpose out here tonight, as he did every night he ventured away from the safety of his den and tribesmen. His absence not only left the beta-male and men without instruction from their true leader, he left the bitches and pups without the protection of the alpha male. That could be synonymous with a death sentence. However, he held great faith in his beta. Besides, he trusted no other with the job at hand. His intent patrol, his singular mission, could only unquestionably succeed if done by him.

 

Itching to refocus on his mission and more than ready to abandon the troubling thoughts brewing in the darker portions of his psyche, the tan, 6 foot 4 inch, armor clad male began his nightly pursuit of possible predators in the surrounding greenery when he stopped again, unsure if what he had just sniffed was his mind once again playing cruel games with his heart.

 

The wolf demon paused, eyes meticulously scanning the shadowed surroundings of shrubbery and foliage with keen, night vision. He cautiously sniffed the air again, inhaling the intoxicating scent that sent his heart beating wildly against his ribcage and lodged his hot breath in his constricted throat. It was not the cherry blossoms that had inebriated his senses this time. He knew better than to allow their scent to again nudge him into emotionally exhausting musings.

 

This scent bypassed all that. It allowed him no time to catch his thoughts from floating into the lofty world of springtime fantasy and passion. It led him straight to it. His purpose in the forest was suddenly forgotten, his resolve died as quickly as he had reclaimed it. All rational thought, the fierce willpower in which he was profusely proud, had dissipated. In its stead was one truth, one simple fact that filled his brain like a mind controlling miasma, but much sweeter and palatable to all his senses. It was her scent. His woman. The one he desired so deeply to be forever with him as his mate.

 

He sniffed again, unable to resist her naturally seductive perfume. With lusting, half-lidded eyes not really seeing the path which his feet trod, he followed the worn dirt trail straight toward her. In a small clearing in the middle of the forest, standing still in a blue glow from the moon, she almost looked like a ghost. Surely she had haunted his dreams every lonely night since their first meeting. Now she was standing in front of him, a mere few feet away, glowing with azure radiance like an illusory spirit haunting his conscious eyes.

 

He blinked once, but she was still there. Her face and body were turned to the side, a perfect profile of her fair face and gentle, feminine curves gracing his eyes like a gift sent from angels. She was dressed as usual, wearing a long-sleeved, white cotton kimono with a lush, green collar adorning the v-shaped neckline, her short skirt matching the verdant hued collar and rustling with a gentle breeze. He couldn't help but drink in the way the milky moonlight accentuated her womanly figure, illuminating her curves to glorify the body that housed a glorious soul.

 

His hungry eyes shifted upward to study her face. Her skin was a glowing mixture of shallow waters and creamy silk, the milk and aqua reflecting the fertile, feminine strength that radiated from her body and spirit.

 

The wolf licked his lips lasciviously, fighting the urge to rush to her and taste that milky, nourishing skin with his salivating tongue.

 

From a few feet afar, he worshiped her unruly ebony tresses carried softly in the breeze behind her like the rustling skirt. The locks blew backward, giving him a clear vision of her warm, loving eyes, the chestnut orbs he needed a map for so as not to become lost in their depths. Unfortunately for him, no such map had been nor ever would be made, leaving him to struggle not to lose himself with sheer strength of will.

 

It was then that he noticed something unusual about her. She looked the same to him as always. Same clothes, same style of hair, same comforting aura. The difference he found was in her eyes. The lack of life in her orbs stabbed him in the gut, a knife puncturing his innards and twisting around in small, caustic circles, splicing his internal organs.

 

He sniffed the air again, confusion clouding his gaze and furrowing his brows. Her scent was off as well. It still smelled sweetly of Kagome, but there was something else, almost muted. It was as if another scent had soiled her and someone had tried to cover it up or erase it, but the attempt was in vain.

 

He refocused upon her eyes, their emptiness of causing him greater disturbance than her shifty scent. There was a sadness in her gaze, or rather a lack of life. The typical sparkle dazzling her eyes, the twinkle that lingered in nearly every emotional state she experienced, was hidden, or had completely vanished.

 

His sudden, gut-wrenching sickness swiftly morphed into a seething rage. If that damn mutt was responsible for hurting his woman, he would…

 

A soft gasp snapped him out of his thoughts, his cerulean gaze immediately locking with beautiful chestnut eyes. He was surprised at their sudden connection, blushing lightly from having been caught gaping at her from his presence at the edge of the clearing. She simply looked shocked.

 

And then she screamed.

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

Miles away from the desolate forest clearing on the outer rim of the wolf demon territory, a lonely inu hanyou slightly raised an open palm to catch a drifting cherry blossom that floated towards him with the wind. The flowers were proliferating, petals pouring down from cherry blossom trees like the torrential rains that flooded the surrounding woodland each spring.

 

Not to mention the affect said flowers had on living creatures aside from foliage, bewitching miniscule insects, brutish demons, and weak minded humans alike.

 

The inu hanyou twitched uncontrollably, shifting his position in efforts to control the climbing urgency of his baser instincts. He sighed and scowled furiously, ready to Iron Reaver-Soul Stealer the forest floor to shred every last petal. Damn flowers exuded such potent pollen that no being could escape the seductive spores without their body heat rising several degrees.

 

Clamping his claws into the pit of his palm and slamming his fist down upon the branch in which he perched, the inu hanyou named InuYasha ground his teeth in self-disgust.

 

Here he was, barely a week after abruptly losing the most important person in his life and he sat in a tree desiring her in the least honorable of manners. The fact that he was perched in “their” tree, in the branches of the sacred Goshinboku that had bound them together, didn't ease the rising need in his body for her.

 

He couldn't stop thinking about her now after the incident, not that he ever could before. Always stealing a glance her way whenever he believed no one watched, often searching for any vague reason to argue with her or brush against her skin or pull her onto his back because “weak humans are too slow”, he never had spent a second not thinking about her.

 

Everything was different now. He supposed it had been this way for a while, way before that night. The others in their group had seen it coming before either he or Kagome had passed the denial stage and let their guards down. Miroku often kidded InuYasha about when it was going to happen. He observed Sango and Kagome speaking quietly with each other into the night, “girl talk” as Kagome labeled it. He smiled, reminiscing, imagining how Kagome's face had always resembled the hue of his haori after many of their talks.

 

Then there was Shippou. Shippou, being the young, innocent kitsune pup he was, never failed to ask him utterly unanswerable and mortifying questions, like why he and Kagome started smelling so funny when they were around each other. InuYasha imagined his own face had been fire-rat red in those moments.

 

Amber eyes glazed with the look of distant memories, InuYasha smiled wistfully. The awkward encounter had occurred one quarter-moonlit night about a month ago, but the raw, embarrassing innocence invoked a prickling blush upon his cheeks as if it occurred the night before. The memories were beautifully flawed, perfectly imperfect, spontaneously planned. If it had happened any differently, it wouldn't have been them.

 

The group had been journeying around Japan hunting jewel shards for an extended period of time, and everyone, even the fatigueless inu hanyou, was bone weary. As they reentered the lands of Musashi and upon the insistence of the “weak” humans, InuYasha decided to “allow” the group to rest in Kaede's village for a while. What he didn't admit to them was that he was looking forward to the rest as well.

 

The night they entered the village, it didn't take long for something to go wrong. Everyone was settling down inside of Kaede's hut when Shippou piped up and asked where Kagome had gone.

 

InuYasha's head snapped up, eyes shifting back and forth across the room. Sure enough, she was missing.

 

Before his human companions had time to verbally react, InuYasha bolted up, temper flaring and warning anyone stupid enough to protest that they would be in great pain if they got in his way. Hanyou on a mission, he stalked toward the bamboo curtain that served as a front door to the hut and nearly ripped it from its hinges as he stormed outside into the fledgling night air.

 

It took mere seconds for him to catch her scent on the wind. Though the scent usually pumped his pulse and kindled a gentle heat in the pit of his stomach, the sensation was purely relieving, the hanyou muttering thankful curses to himself in response. In an instant, a blur of crimson and silvery white was bounding through the village and into the trees on a path that lead to a shallow pool at the side of the river.

 

Cursing under his breath, InuYasha already figured out where Kagome was and what she was doing.

 

Sure enough, he spotted her where he had predicted. `Stupid, beautiful girl and her stupid, tantalizing baths.'

 

As stealthily as he had landed upon the earth, his calloused feet padding gently upon the ground with practiced ease, as well as his knowledge of her lack of exceptional smelling ability, InuYasha contented himself to simply stare at her without fear of being caught. Her skin glowed almost eerily in the meager moonlight, cast in a whitish blue that glistened brightly with her miko energy. He watched, painfully mesmerized, as her right arm extended outward and her left hand curled around the front of her body, soaping her lengthened limb and lathering her flesh with little white bubbles and suds. Her back was to him, teasing him, causing his imagination to run wildly with visions of how her beautiful her body must look from the other side.

 

Against his better judgment, InuYasha tip-toed toward a large boulder at the side of the pool. If he could simply perch himself upon the giant rock and hold himself slightly over the ledge, he'd be able to satisfy his body's aching curiosity and relieve himself of the searing fire that watching this woman ignited in the core of his being.

 

Hopping upward, he landed effortlessly upon the rock, sitting in his typical doggy style as he unabashedly continued to watch the young woman bathe herself.

 

He never counted on causing a gentle breeze to stir from his sudden flight and landing upon the boulder. He also failed to notice little flower buds littering the ground around the pool, one of which took to the air with the breeze and landed on top of Kagome's dark head. As she reached up to remove the unwanted bud, she slowly turned her body, revolving clockwise until she faced the crimson clad inu hanyou, her cheeks burning with the color of his fire-rat haori. She gasped hastily before releasing the swiftly inhaled air more audibly into the night.

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

Kagome, stunned and looking frightened, began to scream.

 

What the hell? Why was she screaming? She was never anything but happy to see him. Even her surprise was unfathomable. Hadn't she sensed the two jewel shards steadily looming toward her through the forest's edge?

 

Thinking wasn't important at the moment. With the power of Shikon jewel shards infused in each bulging, muscular calf, Koga was instantly at her side, a large, calloused hand plastered securely yet gently over her mouth to muffle her gratuitous screams.

 

She struggled against him, writhing between his overpowering body and the arm he had wrapped protectively around her waist, drawing her back flush against his armored chest. After a moment of muffled cries and senseless struggle, her body quieted, adrenaline plummeting and sapping any lasting energy with it.

 

He was about to relax his arms and try to speak when he felt a steamy textured surface flick against the center of his palm. In shock at the moist lap, he released his now glistening palm from its secure clamp over her small, dampened lips. When he realized that she had just licked him, he blushed, embarrassed at the excited heat that rose in the base of his torso. That is, until she took advantage of the release and began to scream again.

 

He couldn't take this anymore. Anymore shrieking and she would attract the vigilant attention of his beta and ensure either a search group or hunting party's arrival. This ended, now.

 

“Yo, Kagome, calm down. It's just me,” he reasoned with her, his naturally low voice brimming with masculine authority and protective comfort.

 

Kagome gasped, the scream rewinding itself into her throat. She was staring at him now, eyes locked once again. At least her eyes were again sparkling with vivid animation, even if there was still something missing in their depths.

 

The wolf demon's eyes matched the intense, almond gaze of the beauty before him. With his usual cocky countenance, the alpha male smirked smugly, aqua eyes twinkling with amusement. “Gee, Kagome,” he continued flirtatiously, inching closer to the retreated girl so they were inches apart, “I never realized I had such an effect on you.”

 

She took a step back, the action taken vainly. He only closed the distance between them, his smirk widening at the rosy blush that tinged her creamy cheeks. Her coloring reminded him of strawberries and cream, a sweet desert that the wolf demon women often compiled to seduce their men. None of them ever pondered why or how it worked, just that it did, and could awaken a deep, insatiable hunger in any man whose woman showered him with the arousing edibles.

 

The thought of strawberries and cream had him advancing on her again, his breath heated and rapid within his hard body, his tongue subconsciously flicking out to lick his lips with predatory hunger for the second time since he found her that night.

 

Before he could blink, his face slung sideways, twisting to the right with a newfound burning sensation erupting from the searing skin of his left cheek.

 

The wolf placed a hand up to his stinging skin, shocked. His gaze fell downward toward the girl and he had to use the practiced strength of his will to choke back a laugh. Standing before him, her right hand still poised in the air from its post-attack position, Kagome looked positively infuriated. Her eyes were smoldering with invisible flames. He didn't have to see the glowing orange embers to feel the angry heat pulsating in her chestnut glare, her fiery eyes ready to scorch his skin beyond the sting of the slap.

 

He had seen her like this before, so very long ago.

 

His hand rested comfortingly upon his right cheek, his eyes bulging and dilated in utter shock. His mind was reeling, memories from moments before replaying through his mind nonsensically, as if they were moving in reverse or the audio had switched to a foreign language.

 

The wolf demon had arrived back home to the wolf den, throwing the large, wild bore he caught for dinner at the feet of his tribesmen at their gathering at the cliff. He jumped down effortlessly, landing gracefully upon the rocks with feline elegance. He glared at his tribesmen accusingly.

 

With feigned innocence, the cowardly wolves recounted their story, telling of how the captive human and her kitsune friend stole Koga's identity and fled the caves, only to have the girl hurl her little companion into the sky so he could transform into a lopsided, coral bubble and fly away unscathed.

 

Koga put a thoughtful finger to his chin, smiling as he mused out loud. “Hmm, she's loyal.”

 

The wolf demon then turned toward the human girl, smirking at the fleeting fear she tried vainly to mask in her eyes. He advanced upon her, his tall, muscular physique towering over her shorter, slender frame. Looking directly into her eyes, he smiled confidently. “Your name's Kagome, right?”

 

`Huh?' she seemed to ask through her questioning gaze.

 

“I'm going to make you my woman.”

 

The slap ensued.

 

His fingers still clutching his stinging skin protectively, he stared in awe as Kagome unleashed a fearlessly furious tirade upon the wolf demon prince. “I'm not some slave at the auction. You can't just claim me as your own!”

 

No one had ever stood up to Koga in such a fashion before. He vaguely heard murmurings from his tribesmen in the background, talking of her murder by Koga's hand. He didn't pay much heed. This feisty, beautiful woman was a rarity. He was instantly enamored. Plus, she could detect sacred jewel shards.

 

Not one to listen well to others' ideas and certainly not a man who took orders from a woman, a mere human at that, he rationalized her assault as her fear of his power and denial of her attraction. He then confessed his love for her, not only to Kagome, but to his entire tribe, Kagome's traveling companions, and everyone within a fifty mile radius.

 

Koga smirked at her defensive stance and wild eyes, amazed at how beautiful she looked in the heat of anger. She wore weak, “human” emotions the way super models of her time wore couture; any animation that graced her features looked stunning on her and radiated breath-taking vivacity, while precious few others looked mildly attractive adorning those same emotions as she.

 

The slip of his grin caused her eyes to widen further, resembling the round, bulging orbs of many types of bug youkai. The embers of her anger ignited into tall, brilliant flames that erupted from her body in verbal assault.

 

“How DARE you! First, you sneak up on me and scare me to death, then you come at me and hold me down like you're going to kidnap me, and then, THEN when I finally free myself, you have the audacity to make arrogant, chauvinistic remarks and look at me like you're going to, to…”

 

She cut herself off, suddenly looking down at her feet, the strawberries and cream hue deepening to a red that resembled the crimson blood of a recently gutted boar. Her attempt at defiance only ended with her biting her own tongue, cornering herself into a verbal retort that opposed her innate shyness and caused her to blush furiously. It was unbearably attractive.

 

He couldn't resist. Against better judgment, he took the bait. “Going to…what, Kagome?”

 

The mention of her name caused her head to snap up, inches from his face, her skin broiling with indignant rage. “And that. How the heck do you know my name? Just who the heck are you?!”

 

As suddenly as this arousing amusement had begun, the wolf demon forgot his baser impulses, feeling utterly dejected and shell shocked. His feelings must have betrayed him and shown through his eyes, for her anger quickly melted into confusion, one eyebrow cocked and the other furrowed in bewilderment.

 

He opened his mouth to speak, yet nothing came out. He opened his mouth again, yet nothing. On his third try, he managed to get out a stuttering “I”, at least no longer resembling an open-mouthed fish swimming about in a fresh water creek. He was stunned speechless.

 

“I…I'm…uh…”

 

Her emotions melded yet again, this time her anger and bewilderment fading into quiet despair. She suddenly seemed sad, her eyes housing the look of a lost little pup, scared and not having a developed sense of smell to find her way home. Before he could summon the words from his momentarily useless brain, she asked him a question that stabbed his heart with an indecipherable pain.

 

“You said my name was…Kagome?”

 

“You said your name was Kagome, right?”

 

Battling an onslaught of memories while staring at her like she had just turned into her demon form before his eyes for the first time, he nodded lamely.

 

Her eyes fell downward, a small, pensive smile gracing her delicate lips. “Do you…do you know me?”

 

The question utterly baffled him. Wasn't the appropriate question `do I know you?'? Did he know her? Of course he knew her! What was going on? What had happened to his lovely Kagome to have seemingly erased all memory of everything she knew, including her very self, from her unconditionally unprejudiced mind?

 

Beneath his rough exterior, the wolf demon's heart was crumbling. He felt her eyes intently upon his face once again, but he could not meet her gaze. Staring upon the forest floor beneath him, he studied the familiar details of a cherry blossom that had escaped the sheltering protection of the forest and danced with the night's breeze until it landed between them upon the soft, dewy grass in the clearing. Those damn cherry blossoms haunted him in the springtime, just as she haunted him in his dreams. The sign, while unbearably ambiguous, was no coincidence.

 

He bent down, squatting on powerful legs as his long, copper tail brushed the earth behind him. He carefully scooted his fingers underneath the bud to pick it up, the flower smaller than most that escaped the nourishing attachment of the cherry blossom trees.

 

Pushing up from his squat to stand straight, he looked at the bewildered girl before him. She was viewing each of his motions intently, a mixture of confusion and awe brewing in her sparkling eyes. Like the flower, her body was small, her pretty head not even reaching his shoulders, and her life experiences exceeded her physical age. Yet, even through adversity, she thrived, a beautiful, blossoming woman flying with the wind to wherever life would lead her.

 

He took her hand, turned it upward, and placed the tiny blushing blossom into her dainty, open palm. Still holding her, he raised his other hand to clasp hers, both of his strong, calloused palms encasing her soft, creamy hand with affection.

 

Sighing, just as confused as she, he finally peered directly into her eyes, meeting her questioning gaze with a small, preoccupied smile. He tried, but the friendly grin didn't quite reach his regretful, pensive stare. “Yes, Kagome, I know you. And you know me too. I'm Koga, leader of the wolf demon tribe.”

 

“W…wolf…demon?” For a moment, Kagome stared sideways as if deep in thought, trying to recall a distant, fleeting memory that was desperately trying to elude her mind. Koga held his breath the whole time, still clutching with two hands onto her palm that encased the miniature cherry blossom. When she finally began to speak, he sucked in a shuddered, gasping breath, having forgotten to breathe all the while.

 

“Are we…are we…” she hesitated, unable to formulate the right word.

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Miles away, a fatigued hanyou was sleeping peacefully, dreaming about the memory at the river his sleepy mind was not able to finish moments before.

 

“Mates?”

 

She blushed, hardly able to repeat the declaration that was so foreign to her ears. He seemed to say the word with natural fluency, or so she thought.

 

Kagome stole a quick, shy glance at InuYasha around her shoulder, her head bent slightly toward the earth and her eyes staring upward through thick, ebony lashes. She smiled slightly when she saw the pink that tinged his cheeks. So, this was new for him too?

 

The beautiful innocence of their situation caused a fond, fuzzy warmth to grow in her heart.

 

She leaned forward slightly, eliciting an objecting, guttural growl from InuYasha's throat as she leaned her back away from its previous position snuggled against his bare chest. He suddenly felt cold and somewhat lonely, even though she hadn't left him. He wanted her warm body resting safely against his once again.

 

He looked up to find her staring at him in silent wonder. His cheeks grew warmer, his embarrassment escalating every second she continued to stare at him with such unspoken intensity.

 

In his humiliation, his temper erupted, his eyes smoldering with mixed emotions like molten golden lava. “What are you staring at, wench! Quit looking at me like that!”

 

Her quiet smile grew faintly, the adoration remaining in her eyes as they lit brightly with amusement.

 

“Like what, InuYasha?”

 

He didn't miss the forced sweetness in her voice nor the purposeful batting of her lush eyelashes. He gulped. How had he resisted this girl for so long?

 

“Like that. Now…now you stop that. Right now. I mean it, wench!”

 

She fully turned around, scooting closer to him, her chest now flush against his. She smiled brightly as she looked shyly into his eyes, her dilated pupils scooting around so as never to rest upon one spot for too long. She gulped nervously, a quality that instantly relaxed him and brought a small, adoring smile to his lips.

 

Momentarily hesitating, she spoke coyly. “Now, InuYasha. Is that anyway to speak to your partner?”

 

InuYasha snickered cockily. “Partner? Who said anything about being partners?”

 

Kagome frowned in confusion, her eyebrows wrinkling together and hurt surfacing in her glistening eyes. “But…but I thought you just said…”

 

He placed a finger swiftly and softly to her lips to silence her, making a soothing “shh” sound simultaneously. “I didn't say we're `partners'. `Partners' sounds like a business dealing. You and I are…”

 

InuYasha paused, looking into her eyes intently and willing her to finish his thought, saying the word that so perfectly defined them.

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

Koga wondered like a curious kitten youkai what she would say next and hoped like a child before Christmas time that she would say the very word he had always wished for…

 

“Friends?”

 

Friends. How could one simple word crush his heart like a sledge hammer slamming down upon a small creature and splashing its flesh into a morbid spray of instant death?

 

He studied the ground again, hiding his deceitful eyes behind a thick mass of ebony bangs. He laughed wryly, silently berating himself for having such foolish fantasies. Friends. That's all they were. All they had been, and probably all they would ever be. How could hearing the simple truth crush him so effortlessly?

 

Probably because he had always known the truth, yet chose to deny it, fervently.

 

Of all the times he had brushed off her protests and assurances, this time he listened, respecting her words. Friends. “Y…yes. We're…friends.”

 

Since the beginning of the awkward encounter, Kagome began to relax next to him, the scent of her apprehension beginning to dissipate from her being. She sighed and when he looked at her, she was smiling back up at him, this time the smile sparkling in her eyes as well.

 

She closed her eyes and continued to smile softly, relieved and relishing the newfound calm. As her eyes closed, she began to slump forward.

 

He caught her, thinking she may have lost her balance on the hilly earth in the clearing. She didn't respond. Somehow, from the shock or recent trauma, her body had stiffened and fallen faint.

 

He didn't hesitate with thoughts for another second. Scooping her up bridal style, her body limp yet safely secured in his arms, he smiled affectionately down at the beauty lying contentedly in his embrace before bounding into the trees back toward the wolves den, a spiraling cyclone following his path down the trail.

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

With a sudden sense of vertigo, InuYasha's eyes snapped open just in time to violently latch his claws onto the tree branch in front of him before clumsily wobbling off onto the forest floor.

 

He shook his head and sneezed. He blinked several times, willing his senses to return to the present. Staring intently at the thick, dark branch that extended before him, he sighed heavily, releasing numerous emotions in one, solitary release.

 

He had been asleep and dreaming. At least his last dream had been pleasant, unlike every other night in the past week that his mind assaulted him with nightmares, repeating the events of the incident in his psyche like a broken record of Kagome's time. He had desired nothing more than to grab that record, smash it into thousands of obsidian shards, and destroy the player at the same time.

 

Now, straddling a branch high in the arms of Goshinboku, he stared lifelessly at the dull bark before him, miserable anguish clouding his eyes like little storms that brewed before a downpour.

 

If he had known that the good dreams would leave him missing her presence so profoundly and grieving her like his heart was dissolving in demonic acid, he would have relished the continual torment the recurring nightmares unleashed.

 

At least, with the nightmares, he lived in a constant state of grief and guilt that he could slowly accustom himself too. Sleep deprivation reduced the impact of reality as well.

 

The sweeter dreams, constructed from the fond, loving memories he held from the past few weeks and years, were pleasant while they lasted, but like all forms of instant gratification, he found waking up the next day to unspeakable shame and stomach gouging regret almost unbearable.

 

Self-disgusted and depressed, InuYasha shook his head slowly from side to side. Suddenly sapped of his energy, he tilted his head back to lie upon the scratchy bark of the tree trunk, succumbing to mental fatigue.

 

His surroundings already hazy, InuYasha's eyes began to flutter closed, his mind drifting away from the painful reality. The last thing he noticed before completely releasing his soul to the dream world was the tiny cherry blossom that remained in his palm, still beautiful and unblemished by his lifeless essence. He marveled silently at the beauty it radiated, a tiny gem of life in the palm of a body that was slowly allowing itself to die from the inside out.

 

`This blossom…it's so small. So much smaller than the ones on the ground. But…it's got a power in it…a lifeforce. It's so beautiful…'

 

As InuYasha fell into a fitful slumber, he mused about the tiny cherry blossom bud.

 

`…It almost reminds me of…her…'

 

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

Through the rough trip in her unconscious state, Kagome continued to clutch the small cherry blossom securely in her right hand. Her grasp never faltered, keeping it safe and secure, carrying it with her as though she were Earth's chosen guardian and the blossom the precious gem she was to protect with her life.

 

Perhaps all she had noticed was a familiar lavender color gracing the petals. The way the moon's glow reflected from the tiny flower would confound the most practiced eyes.

 

Glowing palely of purple and rose, in the moonlight the blossom almost resembled the Shikon jewel.