InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Way Back When ❯ Chapter 5

AN: Hey all! I don't really like the way the last chapter ended. I might go back and change a few things. Sorry about Kag's mom and everything, but no one really goes into what she must be feeling when her only daughter suddenly goes missing. It's a little sappy, but how would you react? Anyways, the not-anticipated-by-too-many-people chapter 5 is here! Enjoy!! ^~^

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or any related characters. I wish I did, but that's life and Rumiko Takashi has a better life than I do. *pout*

ON WITH THE FIC!

~*Chapter 5*~

There is nothing like a complete shock to wipe your mind of any coherent thought. Eventually, your body comes out of shock and starts to carry out the task it has been asked to do, while the brain stutters, whines, and rages like a child. When the brain reconnects itself with the body, it often finds itself in the middle of a task that it has not noticed its body was doing. Inuyasha was in just such a situation. While his brain has been reeling in the shock and absolute unfairness of his father's latest scheme, his body had, quite traitorously, gathered up the unconscious girl and headed towards one of the two unassembled tents in the encampment with Miroku tagging along. As Inuyasha was setting his new charge down, his brain decided that it was tired of whining to itself and wanted to whine to someone whom it could at least direct it's whining at, if not have the target actually listen to it.

"Miroku," Inuyasha said in a quiet voice. He didn't want his father to come in and yell at him for yelling and not taking his responsibilities seriously, plus all of the combined yelling would wake up the exhausted girl lying on the floor, and he didn't want a distressed girl to deal with also. "What the hell just happened?"

"Well, you were there weren't you? We have to care for these women now."

"No duh, numbskull, but why do we have to? Dad brought them here, dragging then through all seven kinds of hell by the looks of them, and he just dumps them with us?" whined Inuyasha.

"According to your father, he hasn't laid a hand on them the entire time, although how he managed to keep his hands off of such fine women is beyond me," began Miroku.

"F***ing lech," Inuyasha muttered. "What does that have to do with us having to take care of them?" he asked. Miroku was the current Shaman after all, and he should know stuff like this.

"When this tribe used to attack other tribes, sometimes prisoners were taken. The rule was, that the first to touch a prisoner had claim to them, and only they could touch them. Then, they could do whatever they wanted with them. Sometimes prisoners were used as gifts, sometimes as slaves, some were young enough to be integrated into tribal customs and eventually became a member of the tribe. Other tribes apply this custom to villages of the settlers when they raid one," Miroku recited.

"But that was years ago; our tribe doesn't do stuff like that anymore; so why would my father take them as prisoners and stick them with us, especially two of the invaders!" Inuyasha said, gesturing at the unconscious girls, and snarling with disgust.

"I know as little of his motives as you do, who can say why your father does things?" Miroku said as he pulled off the ruined outer skirt that his charge wore. She was shivering with cold and had some pretty nasty scrapes on her ankles, and her arms. "Inuyasha, will you go pay a visit to Kikyo and get some salve to treat the girls' injuries?"

"You want me to leave you alone, in a tent with two helpless women, while I go and try to explain to Kikyo why I need salve for an injured woman that I have to treat?" Inuyasha asked, giving Miroku a look that clearly said that he was not in the mood to play Miroku's little games. He was as all hell that his father had tricked him and he was just barely holding on to his temper. If Miroku didn't leave now, Inuyasha was liable to cause the Shaman some serious harm.

Miroku understood the look and held up his hands in a placating gesture. "Fine, fine; I'll go and get some," he said, and walked out of the tent grumbling something about touchy hanyous, and how he didn't get the respect he deserved.

When Miroku left, Inuyasha turned his attention back to the two girls. The one on the right, Miroku's woman just lay there, breathing lightly as she slept. She was one of the dirty invaders, traipsing all around the land like they owned it. Inuyasha curled his lip in disgust and looked at his charge. She had long wavy hair that went to her mid back, crusted with mud from her long journey. Her cheeks were bright red with cold and smeared with mud and... Was that blood? Inuyasha leaned in to look at her face. 'No, it's not her blood,' Inuyasha thought, and muscles that he didn't know he had tensed relaxed.

She looked different; and smelled different too. She didn't smell like the other girl, like she lived in one of those 'villages' they were always filthy and packed with humans. She smelled like a grove of apple trees, just before a storm. Inuyasha roamed his eyes over her body, looking for injuries. Her cloths were basically non-existent they were torn so badly, giving view to a delicate waist. He was getting lost in her scent, slightly tinged with unwashed body as it was. It was mesmerizing. Even Kikyo didn't enter his thoughts as he stared at the girl's stomach and breathed in her perfectly original smell.

He was quickly brought back to reality as she shifted and her cold hand made contact with his exposed foot. He quickly jerked it back in surprise. 'Damn! That's cold!' he thought nervously. He removed his shirt, the cold not affecting him, and draped it over the freezing woman. The shirt, infused with his body heat, quickly warmed her up and stopped the small tremors coursing through her body.

A few more moments passed, filled only with the breathing of the three inhabitants of the tent, before Miroku reentered the tent bearing a pot of salve and several rolls of bandages.

"What did Kikyo say?" Inuyasha asked. Miroku grimaced at the name; he didn't like her very much.

"I didn't tell her that you had a woman to take care of," Inuyasha shot him a glare, but Miroku smirked right back. "I said that Inutaisho needed some."

"Whatever," snorted Inuyasha. Miroku's eyes slid to the covered form of Inuyasha's woman.

"Feeling a bit more tolerant, I see," Miroku said slyly.

"Shut up, you, and hand me those bandages," Inuyasha said impatiently. Miroku set down the pot of salve in between the girls and sat on the opposite side of his charge. He tossed Inuyasha some bandages, and began to unravel one of his. All was silent in the tent as each went about their newly acquired tasks. Miroku decided that the slight rustle of cloth wasn't enough noise, so he struck up a conversation.

"I hope you remember what tonight is," Miroku said.

"What's tonight?" Inuyasha asked, not looking up from where he was cleaning a rather nasty cut on his charges knee. Actually, this conversation would be more amusing than Miroku intended.

"Don't tell me you forgot already in only a half hour," said Miroku. "You honestly don't know?"

"The night that I finally get tired of your ranting and bash you over the head with your staff?" Inuyasha asked testily. Miroku gave a soft chuckle and continued to wrap his charge's arm, delighting in the silky smooth texture of it. When Miroku didn't do anything but laugh, Inuyasha wondered what he was thinking. 'What was happening before Dad came?' he thought. "Oh, shit." Inuyasha cursed. Miroku laughed out loud at his friends cursing, finding great amusement at his expense.

"This is just f***ing great. Why do I have to do that stupid dance? I hate dancing!" Inuyasha whined.

"Inuyasha, it's tradition," Miroku explained as he started to clean up the unused bandages. "Everyone in the tribe is counting on you to lead the traditional parting dance."

"Why do I need to dance for the Spirits, hn? Most of those customs are based on superstitions, anyways," Inuyasha grumbled.

"Most of the tribe believes in those 'superstitions,' as you put it. It would upset them if you didn't do your duty," said Miroku evenly. Inuyasha pouted for a bit, glaring at the pot of salve as if it were the cause of all of his troubles. He had to do it. There was no way out of it. His father had stopped doing it years ago; he didn't like doing the dance any more than the boys did. He was the chief, and he knew that it was hard work and planning that got them south every year. The dance might help with their luck, but when it came down to it, the dance was useless. Miroku and Inuyasha had been splitting the burden, though. Inuyasha danced to go south. Miroku danced to go north.

"Damn duty," Inuyasha grumbled. He got to his feet and gathered the medical supplies in his arms. "I'll bring these to Dad. You go and... do something. If I catch you in here, there'll be hell to pay," Inuyasha growled.

"Whatever do you mean by that Inuyasha?" Miroku asked, holding his hands up in an innocent manner. "I have nothing but concern for these fair women."

"Like hell you do. I don't trust you with them. Out," Inuyasha insisted. Miroku shook his head and ducked under the flap of the tent and went outside to go and spy on the bathing women of the tribe who were not yet claimed. Inuyasha turned and eyed the two girls, making sure that they were still asleep and warm, before he too ducked under the flap of the tent to go see his father. He wanted to talk to Kikyo, and tell her everything before she found out from someone else, and things got out of control. He needed to have a few choice words with his father too.

~*~

Inutaisho sat quietly in his tent, dressed in new cloths and thinking while he munched on some diner. Cold venison, blech. But it was the only thing to eat at the moment, and if he didn't want to go out and hunt for something fresher, then this would have to do. He was mostly waiting for the inevitable explosion from his son. When he actually gathered his wits he was sure that he would be quite angry; he always was when he was duped. But it was for his own good. If Inutaisho let things keep going the way they were, Inuyasha would be asking permission to mate Kikyo soon, and that couldn't happen.

Heavy footsteps outside alerted Inutaisho to Inuyasha's approaching presence. And sure enough, Inuyasha blew into the tent not ten seconds later.

"You have a lot of explaining to do," he spat.

"I have to explain nothing," Inutaisho replied regally, crossing his arms and turning up his nose.

"Why the hell would you dump that wench on me like that?" Inuyasha asked angrily, sitting down and facing his father. He set down the medical supplies with calm movements that were at odds with the anger in his voice.

"You needed more responsibility, and I made sure that you got some. Do you have something better to be doing with your time?" he said, nodding at Inuyasha and taking up the salve for some minor gashes on his hands and face.

"As a matter of fact, I do. If you wanted to give me more responsibility then why didn't you assign me some work to help with the march? I have stuff to do and I don't want to be bothered by any responsibility towards that wench!" Inuyasha fumed.

"The only thing you do all day is hang around Kikyo. Have you even seen what you two look like to anyone else? She barely lets you touch her," Inutaisho snorted as he daubed salve on his face.

"I don't care what I look like to anyone else, and neither does she; and leave Kikyo out of this, she has nothing to do with this!" Inuyasha spat.

"She's the main reason why I found you the girl. I don't want you to go any further in your relationship with Kikyo," Inutaisho replied solemnly.

"What!? You can't keep us apart!" Inuyasha yelled.

"I know that, and I have no intention of trying. However, I have every confidence that I won't need to for very long," Inutaisho said. Inuyasha wasn't expecting an answer like that, so it took him a few seconds of blinking to sort out the confusion.

"Keh, you're wrong," Inuyasha replied sullenly and abruptly got up to leave. He hoped that his father didn't notice how hollow those last words sounded; and for the life of him, he couldn't figure out why they sounded hollow to him.

~*~

Inuyasha's next stop was Kikyo. Then he would have to go find Miroku and get some help with that damn costume he had to wear for the dance. There was a large fur cape, lots of feathers, and paint involved, so it was impossible to do alone.

Inuyasha found Kikyo near her mule packing the bags that surrounded it, getting ready for the march tomorrow so that everyone could leave early in the morning. Her familiar scent of medicinal herbs reached him. He liked that scent, but it was something he had to get used to.

"Kikyo, we have to talk," Inuyasha called out to her once he was in her hearing range.

"What about, Inuyasha?" she asked. Inuyasha closed the distance between them and looked her in the eyes.

"Why don't we sit down?" he said. Kikyo nodded and went to go and sit near some of her bags where she could lean against their impressive bulk. Inuyasha sat next to her and faced her.

"I wanted to tell you this before you found out from someone else and took it the wrong way," he began.

"Inuyasha, I have work to do. What would I take the wrong way?" Kikyo asked impatiently.

"You know that my father came back earlier today, right?" she nodded, "Well, he brought back two women with him. And before he told me anything, he had me carry one of them into the camp, because she fell, and was unconscious. Then my father oh-so-graciously informed me that since I touched her first, she was my responsibility and I had to look after her.

"Why would you have to do that?" Kikyo asked, a slight frown covering her features.

"Miroku says that when our tribe raided other tribes, prisoners were taken; and the first person to touch had claim on them. My father used that against me," Inuyasha replied sullenly.

"Well, if it was years ago, then shouldn't that custom not apply anymore?" Kikyo asked, coloring her voice with hurt.

"I thought of that, but my father can reinstate any custom he wants to suit his purposes. If I tried to pull that, he's probably say something like 'Now I say that the custom applies to these two women and you, and you have to do what I say because I'm your father and you have to listen to me,'" Inuyasha said, worry creeping into his eyes. He reached out a hand to try and comfort Kikyo, but she immediately busied herself with rearranging the contents of the bag she was leaning on. 'I never noticed it before. Does she really not let me touch her?'

"If there's nothing we can do about it, then there's no use fighting it. I just don't want her taking up too much of your time. I'd miss you too much," Kikyo reasoned sweetly. Inuyasha smiled and shifted closer to her. He pulled her close and leaned her against his chest, running his fingers through her unbound hair. She stiffened, but slowly relaxed into his hold and sighed contentedly. They just sat there in comfortable silence for a few moments, Inuyasha's hand trailing lazily through her hair. Then Kikyo broke the embrace and looked at Inuyasha.

"Well, I have to get back to work. And you have to go get ready for your dance," Kikyo said. She was tempted to giggle, but she didn't.

"Did everyone but me remember that stupid thing was today?" Inuyasha asked irritably.

"Apparently, don't tell me that everyone packing didn't remind you," She said, looking sideways at him as she reclosed her pack.

"Fine, I won't. I'll see you later," he said and walked off.

Kikyo sighed as she watched Inuyasha walk off. She didn't like the idea of him spending time with another woman; but there was nothing for it. If Inutaisho insisted that it was his responsibility, then there was nothing that any of them could do about it. She just hoped this wouldn't interfere with her plans.

~*~

Kagome shifted under a heavy weight. Something was draped over her, and it was nice. It made her warm and she wanted to stay like that. She hadn't been warm in a long time. She wasn't that comfortable though. Something was digging into her side. With a sigh, she got up and felt around. Damn, stupid rock. Waking her up from her nice, warm sleep. Someone had given her their shirt; probably the same person who bandaged her. Her scrapes didn't even hurt anymore.

Kagome looked around to take stock of her surroundings. Sango was on her left, still asleep. They were in some kind of tent, it was kind of big, and it could probably fit two more people comfortably. As Kagome's mind continued to shake itself free from the last dregs of sleep, she became aware of a rhythmic beating of a drum; and it was rather dark and boring in the little tent, so she decided to go and see what it was.

She stepped out under the flap used as a door and looked around. The only significant light came from the large bonfire about a hundred feet away from where she stood. A mob of people were gathered around it cheering and clapping, and stomping in harmony with the beat of the drums. It was quite mesmerizing. There was someone moving around the fire in circles, too. She couldn't quite see him, though. She saw a flash of white hair. 'Is that... no, he's too short to be him,' she thought, thinking of her 'rescuer.' Although, he hadn't done too bad of a job.

She continued to watch the man dancing around the fire. He executed turns and jumps, and kicks, and spins that was just... perfect. He was perfect, a lean, muscled body that was shaded exquisitely in the firelight. He moved with a grace that Kagome had never seen before; swinging his arms to the beat and occasionally shouting out something. He continued to dance, and Kagome continued to watch, utterly engrossed in studying his features. You couldn't quite tell from this distance, but it looked like there wasn't something quite right with his head. There were two spots where it could be matted hair? Kagome had no idea, so she turned her eyes to trail down his muscled body; confident that no one would catch her staring.

She was so engrossed in watching the man dance that she didn't really notice when the music stopped, and he stopped dancing. He stood at one point, facing the fire. He said some stuff in a different language that Kagome had heard her rescuer speak and shout in. Actually, she was pretty sure that on the rare occasions that her rescuer spoke, he was cursing, but enough about him.

The mob started to disperse after a while. Kagome watched as someone wearing purple and black, and holding a staff, walked up to the dancer. He said something and pointed to her direction. Kagome started. She was sure that she hadn't been noticed. The boy looked over to her and his jaw dropped. The other boy laughed, and was rewarded with a bonk on the head. The white haired boy took off parts of the strange costume he was wearing and tossed them at the boy in purple. Then he stalked over towards Kagome where she was hidden in the shadows.

He reached her and she could see that his face was very red. Either he was blushing furiously, or he was just flushed from dancing and being so close to the fire.

"D'a manoke shi souwe?" he asked. He received a blank look, and repeated the question. He was looking at her expectantly and it was making her uneasy. What if he knew she was staring? She was uneasy anyway; being so close to something that she was sure couldn't be real.

"Uh... um... I don't really understand what you're saying," she managed to say. Now he was the one giving her blank looks, then he smacked his forehead.

"Ski da mo taketsuwa," he grumbled. He grabbed her arm and led her into the tent. Poor Kagome had no idea of what was going on. What was he doing? Where was she? Who was he? Movement at the top of his head caught her attention. Are those dog ears? It had to be from the lack of sleep she seemed to be getting. Plus the fact that she was probably delirious from lack of food. People don't have dog ears; but he did. Maybe she was imagining it.

The dog-eared boy led her into the tent and brought her down to the place where she was sleeping. He pointed to her spot and said "Api."

Kagome glanced nervously. She still remembered Sango's warnings on how the Native Americans liked to rape the women that they took. She didn't know much about them in the first place, either. But he didn't look particularly menacing. Only slightly annoyed, and his face was still colored red. He grabbed her arm and pulled her down. Then he took the shirt that she had discarded and tossed it into her lap. When she didn't do anything he heaved an annoyed sigh and scooted over to another side of the tent where there was a pot of something and several rags that Kagome had not noticed before. She watched as he took a rag and cleaned off the paint that was on his shoulders, face and arms.

Inuyasha could feel her eyes on him the entire time. He was feeling very self conscious since Miroku had laughingly pointed out that the girl had been watching him dance nearly the entire time. He just knew that his face was still colored red. And the fact that she was still staring at him made him uneasy, and the whole situation was awkward.

He finished cleaning the paint off. That stuff itched like hell if he kept it on too long, and if he didn't clean it of within a couple of hours, he got an unhealthy looking rash. He turned around and locked eyes with the girl. She started and quickly dropped her gaze to the shirt in her lap. Now that was odd. Her face quickly heated and the red was clearly visible all the way down to her shoulders. Inuyasha laughed and some of the awkwardness he felt slipped away. She looked up when she heard him laugh, a puzzled look on her face. He shook his head to indicate that it was nothing. He wished that he could just talk to her. She obviously didn't speak the language of the tribe. She probably spoke the language that the invaders spoke. He'd have to teach her to communicate. Damn, this was going to be a handful.

Inuyasha sighed and scooted around to get comfortable. It was his tent after all, and Miroku's. He should be coming back in a while, right after he put away that damn foolish costume.

"Oi, Sqwa," Inuyasha said, calling the attention of the girl to him. She looked up with a frown on her face, and pointed to herself and said, "Kagome," Slowly and clearly. She had to put up with her rescuer calling her that. She assumed that it was a derogatory name, considering that he only called her that when she was walking too slowly and he had to "hup, hup" her along.

Inuyasha assumed that she was trying to tell him her name. Well, she didn't have to say it like he was stupid; after all, he had done nothing to make her assume that. Although, his father might have. Inuyasha got an evil smirk on his face and he looked her in the eye.

"Squwaw," he said. She shook her head and said, "Kagome."

"Squwaw."

"Ka-go-me!" she said, raising her voice. She didn't like that smile, and she knew that he understood her perfectly well. He laughed and pointed to where she was sitting.

"Winote," he commanded. She just shook her head and looked confused. The boy heaved a tortured sigh and pushed her shoulder until she was lying down. "Winote." He said again. Then he scooted a couple of feet away and lay down himself. It had been a long day for Inuyasha. All of the events of the day were weighing heavy on his mind and he just wanted to let them all float away with sleep. He expected it to take hours, like it usually did, but the sweet scent of apples drifted across his nose, and he fell asleep in only a matter of minutes.

Kagome, on the other hand, lay awake for quite some time. She was very aware of the boy sleeping next to her and she scooted away a bit. She was unused to being so close to a boy and the fact that she was attracted to him make her even more skittish. She lay, thinking about her family. They must be worried. She wished she could get back to them, but she didn't see that happening anytime soon. It took days to travel to where they were. Maybe she could ask to go home, once she knew how to ask. Soon, the rhythmic breathing of the boy and Sango soon lulled Kagome into a restful sleep.

AN: Woot! That was twice the length of my other chapters! Just to make it up to you for taking so long to update. Sorry all! I had a hard time getting my lazy ass into the computer chair to type. Anyways, I can't promise a set date for the next chapter. There has to be a lot of fluff before I go deeper into the plot. Kagome has to learn some of the basic language, Sango and Miroku have to meet, although, you won't be seeing much M/S fluff. I just can't write it and make it worth your while to read, sorry. Well, my sister is getting impatient because she wants to use the computer, so I'll have to say byebye for now. Byebye!!! ^~^