InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Wicked ❯ I Hunger for You ( Chapter 3 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Chapter 3: I Hunger for You

Kagome was acutely aware of the tense silence in camp when she got back from her morning ablutions, and her brow furrowed with worry as she looked at her friends with concern. What could be wrong?

“Um... does anyone want to tell me what's going on?” she questioned, slightly hesitant – uncertain she wanted to know the answer.

Koga's voice came out of the silence first. With a dark look at the large inu standing across from him, he gritted his teeth, and said, “I will be taking my leave, now, Kagome – I wish you all the best in your hunt for Naraku. Stay safe.” With that, he bowed to her, then taking one last glance around the camp, he took off, much slower now without the shards, but still fast enough.

With a slightly pained sigh, she watched until he was out of sight, then took in the still uncomfortable silence amongst the rest of the group. “Okay... Koga's gone, but that still doesn't answer why everyone's just staring at each other.”

Finally, after a few more moments of silence, Mattaki answered her question, turning to watch her through darkened gold eyes. “I will be traveling with you and will be your protector from now on, nisou.”

Kagome's eyes widened momentarily, and then she looked down at her feet, an embarrassed look on her face. “My lord-” she frowned as she realized that they didn't even know his name, “-you don't need to offer that, you know. I understand why you did-” a quick glance at Inuyasha, “-but... I don't want to take you from whatever you want to do now that you've got your life back.”

A slow sweep of midnight lashes against his cheeks, and a husky voice rumbled out, “One thing that you will very quickly find, miko, is that I never do anything that I do not want to do. And the name is Mattaki, by the way.”

She blushed a little when she realized that he'd picked up on what she was thinking so well, but then pushed all that aside. With a quick glance around at a group of people all carefully watching as the strange male offered to be her protector, she frowned again, wondering what had gone on in her absence.

Miroku's voice pierced the silence next, as he carefully said, “His help would undoubtedly be greatly useful and appreciated on this spider hunt, Kagome.”

Inuyasha growled at that, still pissed that he couldn't stop what was happening. Despite the fact that Kikyou was back, he didn't want to give up his place as Kagome's protector to anyone else. He still wanted her by his side – but only one woman could be there, and that was Kikyou, now. It had to be – because of their past. He felt a fool in that moment as he realized what he'd never really considered before – Kikyou being brought back had taken any chance he had with Kagome, and he wasn't ready to give that up... if he ever would be. This whole mess was really going to hurt – especially as he knew that he was going to be forced to watch another male take over and seduce her affections - and her - away from him.

He stared at his father bitterly for a moment, then scowled and looked away, avoiding both Kagome's concerned gaze, and Kikyou's uncertain one. “Feh. Do what ya want – but whatever, we need to get moving. Naraku's only going to get more powerful the longer he has so much of the jewel – there's no telling what he'll come up with next.”

Mattaki grunted to himself as he watched his youngest son through narrowed eyes – it was evident that the pup was fighting himself over this situation, and there would come a showdown, sooner or later between the two – he was far too involved with Kagome to just let her go to another male, whether he had Kikyou or not.

Not that he was overly concerned, of course – the whelp was nothing for him to worry over, though he was immensely powerful for his half-blood status, he was nowhere near the power and strength that he, as the Inu no Taisho, was. And he would not lose his miko to the boy, at any rate – as he'd already said several times, the onna was his, and would be completely his, very soon. There was nothing any of them could do to stop that.

With a slow, inward smile of satisfaction at that thought, the daiyoukai turned his gaze back to Kagome, dismissing everyone else as inconsequential. “You, little miko, will stay near me at all times – I like not this Naraku, or his designs on you. He will not be allowed the chance to lay his hands upon you, this I promise you.”

Kagome shivered as she stared at him wide-eyed, some distant corner of her mind shrieking in irritation at being ordered around, but somehow, she was unable to voice that upset. She felt as though she was being taken over by a strange, almost frightening fascination with the male – and his sheer size and overwhelming presence – and masculinity – somehow made her feel small and feminine.

It should have been disturbing, but she couldn't, somehow, bring herself to care. For the first time, she felt tiny, and dainty, and the sheer, aggressively protective vibes the male was giving off on her behalf was actually making her feel safer than she'd ever felt before. So she simply sighed, nodded towards him, and fell into step beside him as the group began to move out.

The rest of the group clustered together a bit farther back as they all began to murmur amongst themselves at the strange events of the last twenty-four hours – all except Inuyasha, who was simply getting angrier and angrier. When his father had started issuing orders to Kagome, he'd snickered to himself, thinking that the older male was about to get his head chewed off for doing it – but Kagome had only smiled, and done as she was told.

That proved that something was going on, in his opinion – to hell with that bastard's denials that it wasn't a spell – it had to be. Kagome had always been in love with him, there was no way she'd just fall into someone elses arms without some kind of dark magic being played out – let alone act the way she was acting.

And he vowed he'd figure it out and put a stop to it...

One way or another.

-wWw-

“Tell me, miko... what disturbed your dreams so much that you reacted the way you did?”

Kagome started, her eyes widening, almost in a panic. Oh, my god, I can't tell him what I was dreaming! I can't even believe what I was dreaming – and why is he even asking me something like that? Was it so obvious to everyone? she wondered, with shame and embarrassment. But it felt so good... and so right... something whispered from deep inside her. Her brow furrowed, then... because that voice was right – it had felt good, and right.

Too right.

Her mind flashed back to her dreams of the night before – and her cheeks heated with the remembrance of it all. Flashes of the things that the silver-haired male had done to her willing flesh once more played through her mind, and she instantly felt her body responding once again – until she clamped down hard and shut those dreams out of her mind. She couldn't allow herself to get so aroused – especially as the male in question was walking right next to her!

Refusing to look at him, she didn't answer his question, instead saying, “My name is Kagome, my Lord – please, call me by that. I'm only a miko by accident of birth, not by training.”

He chuckled, a dark, sinful sound that had Kagome shivering, liquid heat pooling in her belly. “So, no answer to my question, eh? And why is that, I wonder?” he asked softly, a knowing expression on his face.

Kagome flashed a quick, shy glance at him, blushing deeply at the look in his eyes. She felt like a mouse under the gaze of a predator – and was uncertain as to why. What was this gorgeous male after?

“My dreams are my own, my Lord.”

“Ah,” he smiled, “but perhaps they are not, nisou. Did you ever think of that? Some things are much better when... shared.”

Her brow furrowed at his words. What's that supposed to mean? “Why do you say that?” she asked, confused.

“Is it not so? There are some things that are not meant to be experienced alone, after all.”

Blush deepening to scalding, she looked down, keeping her gaze fixed on her feet. “Please speak plainly, my Lord – what are you talking about? Because I have the feeling you're after something specific – and I don't know what it is.”

Mattaki laughed at that – she really was all too innocent. For now. “Do not worry so, Kagome – and please, if I must call you by name, then so must you return the favor.”

Narrowing her eyes suspiciously, she pondered for a moment whether she should continue questioning him, then decided against it. She had the feeling that he would say nothing more – it was apparent that this one did nothing that he did not want.

With an inward smirk, Mattaki allowed her to fall silent, losing herself in her thoughts once more – knowing with absolute certainty that her thoughts were all centered on him. That was part of what he'd done when he'd claimed her while she was unconscious – he'd spoken straight to her sub-conscious mind, bypassing her higher reasoning self – he went right to the source of any and all instincts that she possessed.

In that way, the claim would affect her much faster, causing her mind and desires to turn to him immediately – with her affections soon following after. It was, as he'd said, his youkai calling to her... and she was answering back – even if she didn't yet realize it.

He could hear the whispers and low conversation coming from the rest of the group walking behind them, and though Inuyasha seemed to be of the opinion that they were far enough back, and being quiet enough that he wouldn't be able to hear them, he was wrong – his hearing was far superior to that of his son's.

He could hear perfectly well what they were speaking about.

Listening intently, he was amused – they were all speculating on his reasons for returning – and taking and turning over every word he had spoken since he'd appeared in their midst. Their suppositions were actually entertaining – but fell far short of the truth.

And Inuyasha was vowing, over and over, to never let him have Kagome – swearing to their companions that he'd find a way to break what absolutely had to be a dark spell cast on the miko. Mattaki shook his head – the boy was stubborn – and selfish. And foolish, as well – he would allow no one to take what was his away.

Not even his son.

It was interesting to listen to the monk of the group, however. The man was shrewd, despite his hentai tendencies. Of course, Mattaki had his own hentai tendencies... though they were confined to one female, and one female only – and he was a bit more discreet than the monk.

He was pulled from his thoughts by Kagome's voice. “Can I ask you a question?” she asked, looking up at him with those wide, innocent blue eyes of hers.

“You may – though I do not promise to answer,” he said softly.

“How did you come back to life?”

He hadn't, in all truth, expected that question, though perhaps he should have, since he'd told everyone else a little of how he'd come back – when she was away from the group.

“As I mentioned to the rest of your friends,” he glanced at her, “I was brought back by desire... many different desires, truth be told.”

Kagome leveled bright eyes on the male walking beside her, running them consideringly over his strong form. He was like nothing she had ever seen – in her world, or in his. This male was legendary, even in her time, there were legends of the great dog general, but she had never thought to have a chance to actually meet the person behind the legend. The strange thing was, he seemed larger than even his own legends made him out to be. It was more than apparent that he was obscenely powerful...

“Naraku is going to have a fit when he realizes that you're around, you know,” she said, her voice sobering, as the knowledge of what that would mean began to soak through.

Mattaki hummed thoughtfully, looking up into the bright morning sky for several seconds. “It matters not. When he attacks, I will destroy him – I have other things that I wish to take care of, and he is in my way.”

With a nod, Kagome chuckled. “He's in the way of a lot of people, that's for sure. But like I said earlier, you don't have to stick around and take care of me – if there's somewhere else you need to be.”

“There is no where else this one needs to be, little onna.”

She looked surprised. “But you just said-”

He settled a finger over her lips, effectively cutting her off as she startled in surprise. “I said there are things I need to take care of – not that I have other places to be.”

She looked taken aback, though she didn't say anything, since his finger was still against her lip. Her eyes widened in shocked surprise, though, when he smoothed that finger along the curve of her full bottom lip slowly, followed by his eyes. It was a miracle that he didn't trip, as they were still walking – though Kagome was about to, with the way her knees went suddenly weak.

“No... everything that I need to take care of is right here where I am. Do not be concerned that I will leave, Kagome – for I will not.” He pulled his finger away, then, and continued walking as though nothing had happened – though Kagome faltered in her pace for a moment.

Why... why did he do that? she thought to herself, bringing up a finger to trace the path his had taken, not even noticing the silence behind them – or the look from the large male beside her. She was terribly confused, but she couldn't deny the attraction she had to him - and that made no sort of sense. But every time she tried to convince herself of that, a voice would come and argue the point.

Something was telling her that she should be attracted to him – that it was right, and good.

But what about my feelings for Inuyasha? All this time I've wanted to be with him – and yet, as soon as this guy comes along, I forget about him? Even though it really doesn't matter about that, since Kikyou is now alive again. And that's another thing – why doesn't it hurt when I think of that?

I don't understand any of this. I should be in tears, and grieving, and yet... I'm not. I don't feel any pain at all.

Plus, his answers seem strange – what did he mean he was brought back by desire? Desire for... what?

“Tell me, Kagome – where do you go when you drop into the well?”

His voice caught her off-guard, as lost in her thoughts as she'd been, but the nature of his question caught her even more by surprise, and she stuttered, uncertain what to say.

“W-what? How do you know about that?” she gasped finally, once she'd managed to get her mind around his question.

“Do you not remember what I said last night? Did I not say I had been following you?” he asked, with a predatory smile. “I know many of your secrets – and theirs, for I have followed you for many months.”

She was floored for a long moment, and then what he was saying kicked in. She actually had forgotten that – and hadn't taken in what that meant until just now. She stopped in the middle of the road in complete shock. “It was you!” she squeaked out, her finger coming up to point at him accusingly. “All this time, it was you!”

His brow rose with amusement, as he looked at her, then at the rest of the group that had also come to a halt to watch with interest. He turned his gaze back to the little miko after a second or two. “What was me? You must be a little more specific, miko.”

“You were the one I sensed has been following us since we came back from the other realm – since Inuyasha got the Adamant Barrage from Hosenki!”

Mattaki was surprised at this, but pleased. It meant the connection between them was deeper than he had even hoped – for none of the others had noticed anything... nor should they have. He had been a formless spirit, with no evil intentions against any of them.

But she had felt him. Inwardly, a dangerous smile began to take shape. This boded well for him...

“So you felt me did you, little miko?” he fairly purred. “All that time, you knew there was something out there, following you. I am surprised.”

When Inuyasha heard that, he immediately started ranting. “What? You mean you knew something was out there, and you never said anything?!” he shrieked. “Stupid wench! What if it had been something sent by Naraku?”

She turned on him, suddenly irate. “Oh, stuff it, you baka! While knowing something was out there made me uneasy, there was no evil intent, and so I didn't feel the need to tell you about something you obviously didn't notice! You wouldn't have believed me, anyway, only shouted about how I was imagining stuff!”

Inuyasha flushed as their friends and Kikyou tittered at her words, knowing she was right. Even his father, the smug bastard, looked amused.

“No evil intent, huh, you baka bitch?” he yelled, in reaction to his embarrassment. “Shows what you know, since this bastard has every intention of running off with you and fucking your brains out!”

Kagome went white with shock, and then flushed a deep crimson with embarrassment. “Wh-what?” she whispered, eyes widening as she stared at him for a moment, then turned to look up at the daiyoukai that was merely watching, one brow cocked. “What does he mean by that?” she asked him, and he held her gaze calmly, then smiled dangerously, dark need flaring in his golden eyes.

“He means that I hunger for you, little miko... and that I will soon fulfill that hunger is a given.”