InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ What am I? ❯ The Reaction ( Chapter 8 )

Sango laid herself down by her friends, she was exhausted. The sun had just come up and Miroku and Kagome were still unconscious and Inuyasha was still not back. That worried her. Inuyasha usually hung around if Kagome was injured, and he had gone missing.

Things didn’t add up at all.

Sango was sure of one thing, Inuyasha was hiding something. He had been acting stranger than usual, if that was possible. Inuyasha had been unnecessarily rough with Miroku, and Sango worried over the swelling that was now on the Monk’s face. Sango leaned down to get a closer look, it looked like Miroku’s eye may not even open.

Sango couldn’t blame Inuyasha, with the picture Kagome and Miroku posed, she couldn’t be sure she wouldn’t have tried to wake him up in the same manner. Sango shook her head free of the image that her brain supplied. It would not do to think about that. They were feverish and sick.

Sango reached a hand out to brush his hair from his face. As soon as her hand made contact, Miroku moaned.

Sango jerked her hand back with a flaming face, embarrassed to have been caught touching him. “M-Miroku?”

She was rewarded with another groan. “Miroku… wake up.” This time when she touched his shoulder, she didn’t get embarrassed. She was excited, he was waking up!

One eye popped open and Sango realized with a wince that she was right, the other eye wouldn’t open for him.

“My head…” He rasped out as he struggled to raise himself into a sitting position while clutching his head in one hand.

His voice sounded dry, Sango reached for the water as she spoke quietly, “Inuyasha hit you.”

He had caught sight of the cup and was stretching to grab it, but he seemed to freeze as she spoke those words. “And you’re… alright?”

Sango looked at him, confused. “You and Kagome were the only one’s that got sick, of course I’m alright.”

The drink must have overridden anything else as he snatched it from her and gulped it down in one breath.

The door rustled and Sango looked up.

“Go get some sleep before I have to haul your ass outta here.” Inuyasha all but snarled in her direction.

Sango was slightly taken aback at his tone, but stood her ground. “I can sleep right here if I need to.”

“Like hell you will.” Inuyasha narrowed his eyes at her, not once looking at Miroku.

Kirara took that moment to stand and move to Sango. She mewled slightly before walking to the door and looking back, waiting for Sango to follow.

Shippou, who had been jarred awake when Kirara moved, rubbed his eyes and glanced at Inuyasha.

“Take the runt with you.” Inuyasha growled.

“Inuyasha-” Sango’s tirade was stopped by a hand on hers.

Miroku.

“Sango… please.” There was this look… Sango may have been able to decipher it if it weren’t for all the swelling.

She nodded, defeated, and with one last glance at the still sleeping Kagome, picked up the protesting Shippou and walked out the door after Kirara.

Miroku was the first to speak. “Sango…”

“Doesn’t know a damn fucking thing.” Miroku’s head shot up at the venom in Inuyasha’s voice, ready to speak again but not knowing what to say to the hanyou. A prick on his unswollen cheek caused him to trap an unsuspecting flea beneath his palm.

Suddenly he knew what to say. “Don’t blame Kagome.”

“Acutally,” Myouga spoke up after reinflating himself on Miroku’s palm, “Neither of you are to blame.”

Though that’s not stopping Inuyasha from being pissed, Miroku thought as he saw the blood dropping from his clenched hands. Miroku didn’t blame him.

“Something tells me that you know more than you’re letting on.” Miroku winced as the words left his mouth, it hurt to talk.

“An aphrodisiac. There are still traces in you blood.” Myouga spoke as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “A youkai aphrodisiac to be precise. The price of such a potion is high, making me wonder as to the sanity of the person that gave it to you.” Myouga started rambling.

“Myouga.” Inuyasha growled.

“Ah yes, my apologies Inuyasha-sama.” Myouga cleared his throat. “As I was saying, this is supposed to be only for consumption by youkai. Though I am happy to say that you two have taken it well.”

That statement did not go over well by either of the males in the hut. Inuyasha roared and shoved his fist through the wall.

Miroku harshly squeezed Myouga, “Happy? We’ve taken it well?” He ignored the pain in his jaw and clenched his other hand, trying to relieve the impulse to smash the flea until his heart no longer beat. “Are you blind?”

Inuyasha had already turned around, though he wanted to kill something, anything. Inuyasha noticed that Miroku also had blood dripping from a clenched hand. Strangely that made Inuyasha less inclined to want to hurt the monk. Miroku was just as angry about the situation as he, and the monk rarely got angry.

“P-please!” The flea rasped out.

Miroku loosened his hold, only by a little.

“The last and only known time that a human ingested this aphrodisiac, they were dead within hours!”

This made Miroku drop the flea, quickly looking over to Kagome.

Myouga, recovering from his fall quickly, spoke. “She will be fine, I am assuming your spiritual powers assisted in your recovery.”

Miroku looked down, fists clenched. Kagome did not deserve what happened to her, not Kagome.

“There is one thing that I am curious to know.” Myouga said slowly, noticing the aggressive posture of both males. When neither said a thing, he continued. “To ward off any unwanted pairings, the aprodisiac strengthens an attraction that was already previously there. It is actually mainly used to increase the number of couplings of a mated pair can achieve while the female is fertile. Though it can be used otherwise. I assume that Kagome would not have been affected if she had been alone with young Shippou. It is the properties of the potion, it would have stayed dormant until it found a suitable-”

“Myouga.” Miroku warned, though if his face wasn‘t already black and blue, it would have been white. He risked a glance at Inuyasha, only to find the white haired hanyou watching him intently. Miroku let out a breath. Come clean, his mind pushed him, Inuyasha needs you to be honest now.

“There was a bet.” Miroku started shakily, stopping when Inuyasha sat in front of him, eyes narrowed. Miroku took a shaky breath in and it went back out jagged. “It’s my fault. It was supposed to be a game… we had been going back and forth several times, trying to stump each other with a guessing game… then I bet her… that she wouldn’t be able to stump me, that I would guess it right.”

“What the hell did you bet her?” Inuyasha forced out when Miroku paused, claws digging into the wooden planks of the floor.

“A kiss.” Miroku closed his eye as he heard a woosh of air that signified Inuyasha’s fist closing in.

It never hit.

Slowly, Miroku opened his functioning eye to feel Inuyasha grab the front of his robes. I wonder who dressed me… was the thought that escaped his frozen mind.

“Keh!” Inuyasha shoved him back away. “Figures.”

Miroku blinked, and waited a moment before talking again. “I didn’t think she would accept, but she must have felt confident enough that I wouldn’t guess. So she accepted. Needless to say, she lost. It’s my fault Inuyasha… if I’d had known this would happen, I wouldn’t have-” Miroku stopped, looking lost. “Inuyasha listen to me, Kagome… she’s-”

A groan from Kagome cut him off. Inuyasha got the strangest look on his face, but one thing was clear: Inuyasha did not want to see Kagome yet.

Miroku reached out and grabbed Inuyasha’s haori. “Don’t leave her.”

Inuyasha looked torn, on one hand, his friend was giving him advice. On the other, this was the same man who had touched her, had…

He yanked his hand away and tried to summon back his anger.

But Miroku had seen it, the pain in the hanyou’s eyes. “She needs you.” He whispered as they heard her stir once more. He didn’t want her to hear when she woke up. “Be strong for her, just a while longer… her innocence is gone and I can’t comfort her… you didn’t see her… when she realized what had happened…” Inuyasha’s eyes sharpened and Miroku thought he was going to strike out with his fists again. “She acted just like a woman does after she’s been raped…”

Inuyasha brought his fist back once more, but didn’t follow though when he saw the anguished look on Miroku’s face. Damnit, Inuyasha thought, I want to hurt him, but I can’t.

“I need to go.” Miroku’s voice sounded hollow as he stood up and walked out of the hut. The word rape running through his mind. He knew, he didn’t really rape her, but the end result was the same. She hadn’t really wanted to be with him, hell she wasn’t ready to be with anyone. I should have been stronger, I should have prevented it.

Inuyasha watched him go, not wanting to turn towards her. Half a minute went by before she spoke.

“Inu… Inuyasha?” Her voice was quiet and full of fear. She was terrified… of him. He smelled her tears.

He squared his shoulders and took a breath, he did not want to comfort her, yet he wanted to. She betrayed me, a dark voice in his mind spoke. Yet he knew she hadn’t meant to.

Inuyasha knew in his heart that Naraku was behind this. He was trying to split the group apart. Kagome had been used by Naraku.

With that thought, he turned to her.

She had backed herself up against the wall, knees to her chest and a blanket up to her chin. She was shaking from head to toe and tears were streaming down her face.

She was truly terrified.

That completely unwound him. He rushed to her and gathered her up, digging his face into her hair. He held her tight, comforting himself with her warmth. He breathed in her scent, letting it wrap around his senses. He felt her latch onto him in relief and heard and felt the sobs that racked her body.

“I’m sorry… I didn’t…” He heard her muffled voice and he held her even tighter.

“It’s not your fault.” He said gruffly next to her ear, blinking when he felt his eyes grow moist. He realized it was true, it wasn’t her fault. So he said it again, and again. Each time he said it his heart lifted a little bit. So he said it over and over, each of her sobs fueling him to repeat it until he felt like crying in joy. In comforting her he comforted himself. It wasn’t her fault, he thought as she stilled, succumbing to sleep. It wasn’t her fault, he thought as he shifted his blame and anger. It was not Miroku’s fault, though Inuyasha figured he had more of a hand in it than she. No, it wasn’t their fault, but it still didn’t make the pain go away. It hurt less, sure, but it still hurt.

Inuyasha took another deep breath of her scent before sitting his back against the wall and adjusting her so that she looked comfortable.

He would kill Naraku.