InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Virulence ❯ Chapter Twelve ( Chapter 12 )

Chapter Twelve

“Chicks Dig Some Time Apart”

Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha. Not one cell on his teenage body. He is Rumiko Takahashi's pride and joy.

“Hey, InuYasha,” Miroku called, pushing aside passerby as he came to stand next to Sango. Kagome saw her friend flinch, and her eyes locked onto what must be the source of all Sango's heartache.

“Miroku,” Kagome heard InuYasha hiss, “What the fuck are you doing here?”

“Nothing,” the young man replied smoothly, putting a casual arm around Sango (who visibly shuddered). Paying no attention to her, Miroku's eyes instead wandered to Kagome. “Who's this fine young lady?” He asked, his eyebrow rising as he looked at his friend with bemusement.

Kagome heard InuYasha stutter, looking for a response. `He doesn't want Miroku to know who I am, she realized, `but it's already too late. Sango knows…'

“My name is Higurashi Kagome,” she said in her friends' place, bowing slightly and keeping her eyes locked on the boy's own. “You must be Miroku.”

“So you've heard of me!” Miroku smiled, his perfect teeth stunning Kagome. “My beloved Sango here tells people about me all the time.”

“Get off, monk,” Sango snapped, shoving his arm aside. “Can you just leave me with my friend?”

“InuYasha's my friend too though,” the man pouted.

“No I'm not,” the hanyou grumbled, his arms across his chest, “don't go deciding things like that on your own. Fool.”

“Wait,” Kagome said, raising a hand before Sango could start into her boyfriend again, “you're a monk?”

“Well, not really,” Miroku said, placing his index finger under his chin. “I guess you could say I'm one in training. My family runs a temple and my father is head monk there. Soon, I'll be donning the robes too. I don't plan on getting into that until I'm at least forty, which means I still have about sixteen years of freedom left before I shave my head and take my vows.”

“Oh,” Kagome replied, stunned that he was in a situation that she had been in. “that's funny,” she laughed, “I was-“

“Just leaving,” InuYasha interrupted, gripping Kagome's shoulder hard, “we really have to get back before the last train. And I have laundry and all.”

“Uhh.” `Oh yeah! She couldn't just go telling people her life story! Even humans couldn't be trusted right now…'

“Yeah,” Kagome sighed, “I guess it's about time we went home.” Turning her eyes back on Sango, she smiled in apology, “sorry.”

“Wait, Kagome,” Sango said, her voice puzzled, “I thought you live with that Yoshiko guy?”

“Yoshiko?” InuYasha and Miroku said in unison, their eyes locking on the teenage girl in front of them.

“Umm,” Kagome mumbled, “Sango, let's talk about that alone. Guys hate being around that, right?”

Fumbling for InuYasha's hand, Kagome took off, dragging the hanyou behind her. `I can't believe I was so stupid!'

^.^

“I can't believe you were so STUPID!” InuYasha thundered, confronting Kagome as she threw herself onto the couch. “you mean to tell me you told that Sango chick about us? About this whole situation?”

“No, I didn't,” Kagome retorted, “I just told her I was living with some guy who made my life hell and didn't give a damn about me. That's all I said.”

“I see,” InuYasha seethed, “you obviously don't get the picture. You told that girl, and Miroku, your REAL NAME. You almost told Miroku that you used to live in a shrine and that you were going to become its head priestess. You don't know who all Miroku's friends are, or who all of Sango's friends are. You don't know who might go around saying what and getting both of us into deep shit!

“But you obviously don't care. This is like a game to you. Living the life of a scared little hostage obviously excites you, or you really did just want an excuse to get away from your old life, which I'm sure didn't include mercenaries hunting you.”

“You know what, InuYasha?” Kagome whispered, “I really don't give a damn what you think.”

InuYasha didn't think he could ever be more furious. His hand lashed out to grab hold of Kagome's arm, and he squeezed it as he drew her close until they were a hair's breath apart.

“Listen, you,” he said between gritted teeth, “and listen good. If you want, I'll just dump you in the center of Tokyo, and you can waddle back home yourself. If you don't give a damn when I worry, then I guess I don't need to give a damn about you anymore.”

With a snort of disgust, he released his grip on her, walking down the hall towards his room and slamming the door shut. “Bitch,” he hissed, tossing himself on the mattress. His claws dug into the fabric. “Stupid bitch!”

^.^

Kagome kneeled on the couch, gripping her arms where InuYasha's violent grip had left behind angry bruises that had yet to show. The pain, confusion, and anxiety she had tried to hide suddenly resurfaced, and sobs began to wrack her body. The sound of a smash from InuYasha's room shocked her into silence, and she ran into the bathroom, hoping his dog ears wouldn't hear her over the sound of the shower.

“What's wrong with me?” she gasped, “why don't I think? He has a right to be angry. I've been going around telling people my name, and he could've gotten killed because of it. What's wrong with me…?”

Images began to flash through Kagome's mind. InuYasha, standing before demonic shadows as they jumped him, claws and fangs rending his flesh apart. Her screaming as hands pulled him away from her, his screams of pain as the door closed behind him. Her hands outstretched for him, touching only air. The thought that she would never see him again.

The thought that she would ever be without him was something that tore at her. She could never imagine it. They had only been together for about a month, and had never sat down and had a normal conversation, but she knew that she would always know him, and that he would always be one of her closest friends.

A friend.

Her tears stopped flowing as she realized that, yes, InuYasha was her friend. He was different from her friends at school, in that he happened to be much older. It wasn't as though she didn't miss her old friends and hanging out with them; but going to karaoke with InuYasha wasn't something she could see happening any time soon. She could see them in the house, watching the telly. She could see them sitting together in the kitchen, eating breakfast. She could see herself watching from the window as he walked out the front door for one of his delivery boy jobs, sighing as he rounded the corner.

She wiped away her tears. Standing, she pulled her hair back from her face, turning towards the hallway and walking softly towards her friend's room.

^.^

The intense anger and frustration he had felt only moments ago was starting to fade, replaced by a sort of regret. `She deserved it,' InuYasha thought, `she's been putting herself in danger behind my back. I should never have even taken her out.'

He cared about her, that much InuYasha could admit, but he also couldn't stand the idea of being in the same room as her most of the time. Sometimes he wanted to take hold of her and hug her, let her know that he was watching out for her, and at the same time, he wanted to grab hold of her and shake her, until she understood that she couldn't just take everything onto herself on her own.

Shaking his head as he sat up on the bed, InuYasha knocked over the bag of clean -though now undoubtedly wrinkled- laundry the couple had remembered to grab as they had hurried home. `I'll get that later,' InuYasha thought wryly, stretching as he stood to close the shades, `right now, I just want to take a nap. I'll think this over in the morning.'

^.^

In the end, Kagome found herself pacing back and forth in the hallway, her bare feet smacking lightly against the tatami floor. In the end she was too nervous and scared of InuYasha's reaction to go in there. She was so ashamed of her stupidity, while at the same time her own stubbornness made her feel as though she should put at least a small part of the blame on InuYasha. He had treated her like she was a puppy underfoot in the beginning, she fumed, and he really expected her to listen to him? And when she did disobey him, he immediately went into a frenzy, never asking for an explanation, never giving her any chances.

If it was going to be like this for the rest of…whatever this thing they were doing, nothing was going to get better. Kagome didn't want to be the one who always had to go to InuYasha and be the one who apologized.

That's when the idea struck her. She was a burden on him, wasn't she? She was dangerous to him, wasn't she?

In that case, maybe she shouldn't be around him anymore.

It felt as though she was a kid planning to run away from home. With grim excitement she walked into the living room and open the closet of coats, digging around for a cell phone. Finding a Nokia she'd seen him with on occasion, Kagome ran into the bathroom and ran the shower, searching her memory for Sango's phone number.

A click, and then she heard a voice.

“Moshimosh?”

“Sango?”

It was silent for a moment. Then, “who is this?”

“Sango,” Kagome said weakly, trying not to speak over the water, “it's me!”

“Kagome…chan?”

“Yes!” Kagome whispered, “It's me!”

“Kagome! What happened today! That Inu-something or other just took you and ran off! Are you ok?”

“InuYasha,” Kagome corrected, “and yes, I'm ok. The thing is…do you think…I don't know…”

“What? Do you want to meet?”

“Actually…I don't think I can do that…and come back?”

“What?!” Kagome heard Sango cry, “what the hell is he doing to you, Kagome-chan?!”

“Nothing!” Kagome assured her, “I promise, he would never hurt me!”

“I don't understand what you see in this guy,” Sango muttered, “he seemed like a jerk and I only knew him for about ten seconds.”

“He's a jerk,” Kagome agreed, nodding to herself, “but he really cares about me. He protects me, I know that he never wanted any of this to happen…”

As the words came from Kagome's mouth, she realized something.

She liked him.

“Sango…?”

“Yeah, Kagome?”

Kagome took a shuddering breath, tears stinging her eyes, “do you think I could come over to your house for a while? You live along right? Do you…do you mind?”

“Is it because of InuYasha?” Sango asked, her voice noticeably worried, “do you just need some time away from him?”

“Yeah,” Kagome answered, twisting her hair around her finger, “I think…it would be best if I left for a bit. Is it ok?”

“Of course, Kagome-chan. Do you have paper and a pen? I can give you directions from the station.”

“Just a moment.”

Running quickly into the kitchen and looking through a door, she found a pad of paper and a pencil. Coming back into the bathroom -with a quick glance at the hallway-, she gripped the phone and listened as Sango gave her directions to her humble abode.

^.^

About an hour and a half later, Kagome had folded up all her clothes and other possessions, slipping them quietly into the bags she'd bought them in, placing them near the door. She was still for a moment, listening for the sound of InuYasha's door. Realizing that he wasn't going to come after her this time, she smiled slightly, and opened the door.

A/N:

Here's the next chapter, fresh from my old MacBook! As some of you may be able to tell, we are getting into the thick of the story! As a special thanks, if you ask me questions in the reviews I will answer them in the next chapters as they pop up! If I'm really excited, I might give you a little preview for the next chapter at the end of every release! I will be very busy starting August 8th, so be ready to see bi-weekly and monthly releases again.