InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Way Back When ❯ Chapter 6

AN: Wow, I'm finally back! I hope you good people didn't give up on me! Sorry to keep you waiting so long. I've decided to officially change the rating of this story to PG-13. There will still be some citrus, but nothing severe. Any lemons (and there will be more than one lemon, but not until the story progresses) will not be plot important, will take up their own chapter, and will be posted on Mediaminer.org. Anyways, here it is: Chapter 6!

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or any related characters.

~*Chapter 6*~

The sunlight filtering through the folds and cracks of the tipi was not what had awoken Kagome. She wasn't really sure what was. She was nicely warm, against the uncomfortable cold that attacked her face and feet. A shirt infused with the smell of pine and something unidentifiable covered her from her neck to her knees. Kagome curled up, trying to protect her exposed skin from the biting chill.

It had been so long since she was allowed to sleep; and while the ground wasn't the most comfortable bed in the world, she could easily fall back to the land of dreams. Her eyes were drifting shut when something was abruptly dropped on her head, causing her to shoot up and squeak in alarm, swatting away the disturbance. Amused laughter drew her attention to the white haired boy from the night before. She narrowed her eyes in annoyance. Keep her awake will he?

Darting her eyes around the small enclosure, she came up at a loss for things to throw at him. Well, she could always throw a rock, but she didn't really want to hurt him, just get that annoying grin off of his face.

"Just what do you think you're laughing at?" she asked him snippily. It didn't matter if he understood her or not, she was going to vent her frustration some way; and what better way than talking to someone who couldn't understand you and wouldn't know if you were insulting them?

"Tsubaka ma towe, souwe hibiki na gastoma," he said. Well, apparently he figured that little bit of comfort out too.

'Or not,' she thought as he pointed to her chest. Kagome looked at him in confusion and then looked down.

"Kyaaaa!" she screamed as her state of tattered 'undress' was revealed to her. For undress it was; she was practically hanging out of her shirt, it was so torn! She grabbed the discarded shirt she was using as a blanket and clutched it to her bare abdomen.

That boy was standing there, laughing so hard that he was gulping for breath while he leaned most of his weight on his bent knees. That's it; she didn't care anymore if the damn rock hurt. She picked up the largest one she could find - which was pathetically small- and hurled it at his head, aiming for one of those fuzzy ears.

She missed horribly, and ended up hitting him on his bare shoulder, but it had vaguely the same effect. It didn't knock him unconscious, but it did get his attention; enough so that he saw her enraged face when she pointed to the doorway, screaming "Out!"

Still chuckling quietly to himself, he sauntered out of the tipi, throwing a jaunty little wave over his shoulder with a quick "Ki'htwa'm ka-wa'pamitin," in a wretched singsong voice.

Well, the nerve of him! He didn't even know her and he was already ridiculing her!

"Stupid men that think they're better than everyone else… I didn't even deserve that… let alone provoke it in any way…" she grumbled to herself as she looked over the bundle that had been dropped so unceremoniously on her head.

The bundle consisted of several garments made out of some sort of animal hide. There was a- what she supposed was a dress that hung from her shoulders by two narrow straps and reached from just below the armpits to the middle of the leg. There was a decorative flap on the top, along with two detachable sleeves that could be laced onto the straps of the dress to keep in place. There was also a pair of leggings, made out of the ubiquitous hide, which slipped on and could be laced in the back to keep them up. They went up and ended just below the fringe of the dress. To complete the ensemble, there was a pair of moccasins that were made out of the animal skin. The seams were on the outside, with one piece of hide forming the sole and top. Another strip worked as the tongue piece. All in all, it was a deceptively comfortable outfit. The hide was extremely soft and didn't chafe anywhere it shouldn't. It was much more comfortable than modern cloths ever were, and she wondered who gave up their cloths for her. One last piece caught her eye. It was a long strip of cloth with two feathers at each end. One feather was a shiny, lustrous-looking black, and the other was a nearly perfect white pinion from a large bird. They were beautiful, and she loved the way they shined, even in the dim light of the tipi. She wrapped around her waist and tied it in a knot at her hip

Finding no more reason to stay inside the tipi, Kagome peeped around the flap to see the white-haired boy running quickly between two horses and attaching several bags and other various things to them. A few feet away there was that boy that had spoken to the dog-eared stranger trying to offer Sango a bundle similar to the one Kagome had received. Sango was vehemently refusing to even touch the thing, and the boy was looking increasingly frustrated.

Now why hadn't Kagome noticed Sango's absence in the tipi? Probably because she forgot about her in the embarrassment of 'the incident' as she had dubbed it.

"Sango!" she called out and quickly walked over to the older girl's side. Sango looked up and a brief look of disgust crossed her face at seeing Kagome, but it was quickly redirected toward the bundle that was hanging in the black haired boy's limp arm.

"Kagome, maybe he'll listen to you. Tell him that I refuse to dress myself like a savage," she said while turning her back on him. The boy sighed again and ran his fingers through his hair.

"Sango, it's not so bad; they're actually comfortable," Kagome tried to reason with her.

"Just because you don't have morals, doesn't mean I don't," she spat and walked away.

Kagome's mouth hung open in surprise and all thought fled from her mind. No one ever thought she didn't have morals- she was a good girl! She did well in school and was nice to everyone, and didn't dress too badly, and fed her cat, and was respectful to her mother, and didn't harass her brother too badly.... And Sango accused her of having no morals because she didn't want to be practically undressed in front of people? Well, that was her problem! Sango could rot for all she cared, and if she got caught in branches and her skirts got waterlogged again, than she wouldn't get much help from her!

Kagome could feel the stinging of tears behind her eyes, but held up the floodgates. It was all very stressful- falling down a well, having her life threatened on more than one occasion, being dragged for miles through clinging bushes, and the thought of never seeing her family again weighed heavily on her mind. She would only need one more prick and her careful dam would collapse.

Kagome shook her head at her silliness. Now what kind of person cries at such a trivial thing as a person snapping at you? Obviously Sango had been through some hard times as well, and could be given some leeway; but that didn't mean that Kagome couldn't make the best of the situation. She would try her best to get back home and-

The feeling of a hand on her rear end made all thoughts fly out of her head.

"Kyaaaaaa!"

~*~

Inuyasha was packing the horses with mostly Miroku's belongings, seeing as he was going through the extremely vexing task of getting his charge to wear some decent clothing. How did women wear all of those layers? Didn't they trip up at all? It must have been unbearably hot in the summer heat, too.

He dashed to the second horse and secured a leather strap more tightly when a satchel of Miroku's talismans started to slip.

"Stupid houshi. Can't even tie his stuff on right before he goes off chasing some female ass..." Inuyasha grumbled. Well, now the only thing that had to be taken care of was the tipi. The wooden poles could be thrown into the woods; and the skin covering would be used to line the floors of the cave system they used in their southern home, so that would have to be folded up. Inuyasha didn't have much to pack up himself. Some furs that he had managed to save; just in case he needed to trade for anything- he had to use some of those the day before to get real clothing for the women. There was a painted rock that Kikyo gave him once that had the flower of her namesake on it. Other than that, there wasn't much. He used his claws to hunt, so he didn't need spears or bows and arrows, like the human members of the tribe needed to use.

As a warrior of the tribe, he didn't really own anything. If someone needed extra cloths, then he was expected to give up some of his clothing. If he didn't have any clothing to spare, then he was expected to give them any fur that he had. Not to everyone, though. There were other warriors that even had their own favorite families to help. Inuyasha used to have an impressive collection of food, furs, horses, and other items; but preparation for the long trek south depleted every warrior's supplies to nearly nothing.

The furs he managed to save he had to trade carefully for the women's clothing. Five months ago he had gone on a four-week-long hunting trip and had come across a monster of a moose. The damn thing took all day to skin, and slowed him down considerably going back home. It had provided the entire tribe with enough meat for a few days; but its hide was a precious find. Inuyasha had spent days preparing the stupid thing until it was almost as soft as deerskin. Since he had no woman of his own, and Kikyo was decidedly busy, the task had fallen to him if he didn't want to give the skin away. He was able to get Miroku to trade the hide for the two outfits for the women, but it still didn't get much. Only the plainest of dresses, leggings, and moccasins were available for trade. Inuyasha considered the trade lucky, and if the women wanted to decorate their cloths themselves, then it would just be making them more productive.

As Inuyasha mulled over his thoughts, he was oblivious to the snubbing that Kagome got, and the groping that happened not two minutes later. Only Kagome's shriek alerted him to her peril. Inuyasha sprung around the horse and was in time to witness Kagome clobber the shaman over the head. She looked down on him, as he sat there rubbing his head, with a fearful look and a fire in her eyes. She ineffectually started to scream and rant at the dazed pervert, forgetting that he didn't understand a word of her shpeal in her rage, but her basic message getting across all the same.

Inuyasha stalked over to Miroku. Not only was he not supposed to touch Kagome, under the tribal laws; but he was just not supposed to touch any woman like that! He reached the dazed pervert and gave him his own beating.

"You stupid ass! What the hell do you think you were doing? If I ever catch you doing that again, brother or not, I'll skin you alive!" He shouted. His yelling was enough to stop Kagome and have her observe the exchange with curious, yet still alarmingly angry, eyes.

"Inuyasha, I was merely comforting the lady," Miroku pleaded, but Inuyasha didn't buy it.

"Comforting my ass! Don't you ever touch her like that again! I don't care what you do with the other woman, but leave this one alone!" he raged.

"Maa maa, Inuyasha. Consider me thoroughly chastened," Miroku said, trying to calm down the infuriated hanyou.

"You better be," Inuyasha growled and then turned his attention to Kagome.

He walked over to her and took Kagome's arm to lead her back over to the tipi. He picked up an empty bag and handed it to her while he went inside and gathered up the various things littering the floor of the tent. There was only his belongings now- Miroku's having been taken out earlier. He gathered them up and brought them outside. Kagome was still standing there, looking mildly confused.

Walking up to her, he kneeled down and placed the items on the floor. He motioned for her to kneel down as well and then began the vexing task of trying to tell her what he wanted her to do.

She was quick, she understood right away, after only making several motions of putting stuff in the bag, and pointing to her. So while she packed the bag, he collapsed the tent and untied the wooden posts. He hefted the three large poles and the seven or so smaller branches that made up the frame of his home for the last six months, and with a little remorse, carried them over to the forest line and dropped them in the woods.

He returned to find that Kagome had finished packing the bag and was straightening out the tent covering for folding. It was far too heavy for her to fold alone, though. It was made up of about twenty buffalo hides. This surprised him; he thought she would be useless unless directed specifically, or as specifically as one could be with hand gestures. He quickly hurried over and together they folded the hide into a long roll that would be carried by the packhorse.

~*~

By the time Kagome and her white-haired stranger had finished packing everything, the dark haired man was still busily trying to get Sango to wear some new cloths. Sango was lecturing him, looking the indignant part of the unwilling captive all too thoroughly for Kagome to appreciate, and he was looking very strained as he struggled to remain calm. Needless to say, Sango was not making it easy.

A look of annoyance passed over Kagome's face and she marched up to Sango.

"Sango! I don't care if you don't want to wear it, I don't care if you bloody well want to burn it, but hold it and if you want to stay in those God-awful skirts, then don't make it the rest of our problem. Those cloths are yours for now, and they were kind enough to let you have them," she yelled, grabbing the bundle from Miroku and thrusting it into Sango's hands.

"Kind enough to give them to us?" she repeated in shock, "They kidnapped us! I will not give up my morals and wear heathen clothing," she argued.

"They," she said, pointing between the two men, "did not kidnap us. That other guy did. They have been nothing but hospitable to us, and all you can do is act like a condemning tyrant," she scolded, tapping her foot and putting her hands on her hips in irritation. Sango got a furious look in her eyes, but stifled it and stiffly walked away from Kagome, still carrying the bundle of cloths.

"Mino-Kisika'w," a voice and a tap on her shoulder alerted her to the presence of the dog-eared man behind her. "Ji kamaki-an'son," he said and gestured for her to follow. He brought her over to a horse and stood there like he expected her to get on.

"Api," he said, and when she only shifted nervously, picked her up and settled her on the horse. Kagome yelped and clung to the horse's neck. After all, she still didn't know how to ride, and the height from the ground was a very long way down. After that, it wasn't long before they set out. The white haired man walked next to Kagome's horse, and after some convincing- and another tongue lashing from Kagome, which seemed to have no effect- Sango got on the second horse and the other boy followed.

So, it was in silence that they two men led the girls to the rest of the tribe.

AN: I'm not too sure I like the ending of that, but it'll do for now. I may change it, but I wanted to get this chapter out to you as fast as possible because of how long ago I updated. I'm actually writing it again!! And I'll change my profile to say that I'm writing this story again.

There have been some new developments in the plot, namely that I am less ignorant of one particular tribe's customs than I was three days ago. Inuyasha's tribes will follow some of the customs of the plains Cree tribes, and wear similar cloths. The language that they speak (and you won't be seeing it for much longer as Kagome starts to learn it) is a mixture of Japanese, a Cree tribe in Quebec- around the James bay- language, and some words I made up. I'll translate the Cree language that I used, but not the made up words or Japanese. And that's it!!

Translations

Mino-kisika'w = It's a good day

Api = Sit (I had a blast when I found this one out- and no, Kagome is not going to have a subduing spell)

Ki'htwa'm ka-wa'pamitin = I'll see you again

P.S- I have the insanely bad habit of switching tenses right in the middle of a sentence, or throughout a paragraph. Well, just know that I do. I would appreciate it forever if anyone is willing to be my beta reader. The only thing is- you can't have a hotmail account. I can't send emial to people with hotmail. My computer is screwed up that way. Anyway, if anyone is interested please email me!! Thank you!!