InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Youkai Forest ❯ 6 ( Chapter 6 )

Chapter 6

As Kagome walked through the forest with a sleeping Shippo safely tucked into her backpack, she thought about the past few months while hunting for shards. "Boy, am I exhausted. Why is it that every time we come across a demon that has a jewel shard, it tries to steal the ones I have?....These past few months were really monotonous, but at least we managed to get the last shard...." Kagome paused in mid thought, before smiling at one memory and murmured, "I wonder how Sesshomaru and Rin are doing?"

"You shouldn't worry about him. He's a demon so he'll be fine," Miroku interjected, matching his pace to hers. "I'm sure that he's healed now and is taking good care of Rin."

Kagome sighed, "I know, but I still worry. It was very strange that Sesshomaru got hurt badly enough that his wounds weren't healing."

"What do yo mean?" Sango asked, coming up along side of Kagome; quirking an eyebrow she murmured,"You never mentioned that to us before."

"I'm sorry, but it slipped my mind after I got into another argument with Inu-Yasha, "Kagome replied while absently blowing a strand of hair from her eyes.

Sango placed one hand on Kagome's shoulder, reassuringly, "You're a good healer, Kagome. I'm sure that with everything Keade has taught you, Sesshomaru should have made a full recovery." Grinning, Sango continued, "Besides, if he's anything like Inu-Yasha, he's probably too stubborn to die."

Kagome chuckled, quietly, "You know....I think you're right. Both, Sesshomaru and Inu-Yasha have that in common!" Sango giggled uncontrollably at Kagome's comment, but then rolled her eyes at the hanyou's predictable comeback.

"WE DO NOT, WENCH!" Inu-Yasha yelled, growling and walking backwards.

"What did you call me?" Kagome growled, fist clenched at her sides as her eyebrows lowered in displeasure.

"Keh! I called you a wench, bitch!" Inu-Yasha replied, completely oblivious to Kagome's twitching eyebrow.

"SIT!" the miko yelled while crossing her arms and glaring down at the hanyou.

*WHOMP*

"Bitch! Why the fuck did you do that for!" Inu-Yasha yelled from deep within the Inu-Yasha shaped crater.

"Don't call me that!" Kagome growled while Sango and Miroku watched the whole performance with long suffering expressions.

"Inu-Yasha, maybe you should be nicer to Kagome-sama and then you won't get sat as much," Miroku suggested as he leaned over the crater.

"Yeah!" Shippo chirped as his head emerged from Kagome's backpack. He had been sleeping until Inu-Yasha had started yelling. Now, Shippo was thoroughly annoyed at the hanyou; crossing his arm in an authoritative manner he continued with his nose in the air, "If you were nicer to Kagome then you'd probably would have finished the mating ritual by now!"

"WHAT!!!!" Inu-Yasha screamed, completely embarrassed by the fox kits comments. His face flushed six shades of red while his mouth decided to get ahead of his brain, he screamed, "HOW THE HELL DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THAT AND WHY THE HELL WOULD I WANT TO MATE WITH A BITCH LIKE HER!"

"Grrrrrr," Kagome growled; her anger getting the better of her, she fisted her hands while her hair covered her eyes. What Inu-Yasha had screamed, had hurt. Sniffling, she gritted her teeth, she counted to ten to contain her anger, but it didn't work as she finally snapped, "SIT!!!"

Miroku winced as Inu-Yasha hit the ground harder than he normally would have. "Kagome must have unconsciously put more power behind that command...she must really be angry," he murmured. Leaning against his staff he shook his head at the stupidity of his hanyou friend. He knew that every time Inu-Yasha got flustered or even when someone mentioned his budding relationship with Kagome, he would start insulting her and lose what ground he had previously gained. Suddenly, Miroku stiffened, "Sango, I sense a demon heading this way....wait...there appears to be two and one of them is very powerful."

"I think we'd better break this up before Inu-Yasha gets his back broken," Sango replied before turning towards the arguing couple. "Kagome, I think you should....." she stopped when she noticed it was already too late.

"Bitch!" Inu-Yasha yelled as he lifted his face from the dirt, scowling.

"SIT,SIT,SIT,SIT,SIT,SIT!" Kagome yelled, furiously. "I'm not a bitch, wench or any other name! My name is Kagome!...KA..GO...ME! Say it right or the next time you'll get to see America when I'm done S-wording you!"

"Ooooowww! I think you broke my back this time, bitch!" Inu-Yasha mumbled, before catching wind of the scent of demons nearby and heading closer. "Shit! I can't get up until this spell wears off!" Frantically, Inu-Yasha tried to push himself up off the ground, growling and cursing for a good five minutes. Suddenly, he heard several gasps of surprise; raising his head, Inu-Yasha managed to peer out of the crater to see a elephant sized white dog demon barreling strait towards Kagome. "Fuck!" Inu-Yasha cursed; he could barely feel his legs, and he knew that he'd be able to stand in a few more minutes, but that wasn't soon enough before Kagome got seriously hurt,"KAGOME LOOK OUT...RUN!!!"

"Huh?" Kagome frowned and glanced around the clearing. "I don't see anything, Inu-Yasha." Suddenly, the ground beneath their feet started quaking. "What the ....it's an earthquake!" Kagome cried while frantically windmilling her arms to maintain her balance. Before Kagome knew what had happened, she was bowled over by something white. "Ieeeeeeee,"She landed on the ground with a thud,"ooof!" she grunted as the wind was knocked out of her. "Unnnnng!"She murmured as she started regaining her senses, she felt something warm and wet licking her cheek.

Seeing a demon on top of her friend, Sango pulled her bone boomerang from her shoulder and stepped closer to Kagome to get a better angle for her attack. Before she could attack, Inu-Yasha rushed right in front of her screaming, "Get the hell off of her!" while headed straight for the dog demon with claws poised to rend and shred it to pieces."DIE!!"

"Dammit!" Sesshomaru growled as he raced through the forest in pursuit of Rin, he could smell his brother and his companions just up ahead. He had just reached the entrance to the clearing when he heard his brother scream, "DIE!!"

Sesshomaru reacted without thinking; eyes bleeding red, poison dripping from his claws, he acted on instinct and lunged, tackling his brother in mid air. They rolled several feet before stopping with the western lord on top. His demon blood raging, Sesshomaru's icy mask cracked; snarling viciously at his younger brother, the western lord bared his fangs and tried to tear out Inu-Yasha's throat while Inu-Yasha was pinned to the ground, "You will not hurt Rin, half-breed!"

Inu-Yasha stopped struggling, but kept a steady pressure on his brothers arm and chin to keep his throat from harm. He blinked in confusion as Sesshomaru's words struck a direct hit, "W...waaaaa?" Frowning, the hanyou glanced over at Kagome from the corner of his eyes to see that the demon wasn't hurting her, but licking her face. It's tail was wagging in happiness, the demon..."Rin?" he thought in disbelief; continued her ministrations while letting yipping happily. Glancing back at his brother, Inu-Yasha screamed, "That's RIN?.....how the hell did that happen!"

Sango, Miroku, Shippo and Kagome couldn't help overhearing Inu-Yasha, blinking in disbelief, they gasped, "That's Rin!"

Kagome, though, took it a bit further and exclaimed, "Awww! I think she's cute!" Rin yipped with joy as she heard Kagome and proceeded to frantically show her affection by giving the miko a tongue bath.

Sesshomaru noticed that Inu-Yasha had relaxed, decided that Rin was safe and got off of the hanyou. Hearing Rin's yip of excitement, his eyes faded into their normal golden hue while he glanced over to see the tongue bath commence. Rolling his eyes in exasperation and standing, Sesshomaru groaned inwardly before speaking, "Rin. Inu-Youkai do not do that to humans."

Rin froze in mid lick and whined questionably, "Why."

Hearing her reply Inu-Yasha snickered quietly. He noticed Sesshomaru's long suffering expression and the fact that Sesshomaru's remaining hand was pinching the bridge of his nose. Grinning, Inu-Yasha broke into a fit of laughter at his brother's predicament, "Why...haha!"

Sesshomaru ignored the laughing hanyou, sighing audibly, he said, "Rin, It is not proper demon behavior for an Inu-Youkai. Most often, you will end up crushing the weak human to death. Now, get off of her and be careful to not put any weight on her while you are getting up."

"Yes, Sesshomaru-sama!"Rin barked in agreement, before carefully putting her weight on her front paws and rising to a sitting position. Kagome sighed as Rin's weight lifted off of her legs. Quickly, she pulled herself out from under the pup and backed away a few feet to get a better look at her. Finally, after a few minutes of inspection, Kagome turned her attention towards Sesshomaru and asked, "How did Rin turn into a demon?"

Sesshomaru thought about whether or not to answer, but then remembering that he owed the miko a favor for curing him of the strange poison, he replied, "This Sesshomaru does not know. However, I was on my way to see Bouksano to see if he would know the cause of this."

"Who the heck is that?" Inu-Yasha asked, his ears twitching in curiosity. Kagome echoed Inu-Yasha's question,"Yes, who or what is Bouksano-sama?"

Growling in annoyance at his brother's lack of knowledge, Sesshomaru ignored Inu-Yasha and continued, "Bouksano is one of father's old friends. He is a tree demon and he would know since he's been around for over one thousand years."

"Then hopefully he will know how this happened," Miroku replied while watching Rin's demon form from the corner of his eye. He could see her fidgeting as her attention became focused on Inu-Yasha's twitching ears. Deciding that he should say something, Miroku cleared his throat, "Ahem, ....Inu-Yasha, could you stop twitching your ears?"

Growling at the monk, Inu-Yasha snarled, "Why the hell are you concerned about my ears?"

"Well, I.....," Miroku began to reply, but sighed as a streak of white bounded past him to land directly on top of his hanyou friend.

*POUNCE!*

"AAAAAAAAA! Get off a me!" Inu-Yasha screamed from under several hundred pounds of demon puppy. As the hanyou took a breath to curse out the pup, he suddenly heard the sound of his friends laughing at him. Glaring at them, Inu-Yasha screamed,"Shut up! It's not funny!"

"Hn, on the contrary, little brother. This Sesshomaru thinks that this is very funny," the western lord replied, smirking. He had noticed Rin's sudden move and had wondered what had caught her attention. Now, seeing that she had focused on his brothers ears, he smiled inwardly as Inu-Yasha was crushed under several hundred pounds that belonged to his ward.

Sesshomaru's reply caused everyone to laugh harder. Kagome fell on her butt, clutching her stomach and laughing. She managed to gasp out a reply, "Y--you....hahaha...c-can't....hurt...Rin,....hehehe...s-s-she's...only...a ...ch-ch-child, Inu-Yasha!....hahahaha... I-it was re-really...funny!"

"Growling loudly, Inu-Yasha screamed," Shut up!" Then, turning his attention towards Rin, he glared at her and growled, "Get off me!"

Rin, ignored Inu-Yasha's barking and proceeded to give him a tongue bath, tail wagging in excitement. Inu-Yasha was completely freaked out and yelled, "Oh, Gross!...Sesshomaru! Get her off of me!"

Smiling, Sesshomaru gave a snort of laughter and decided that he'd had enough of listening to his brothers whining and said, "Rin. Get off of him and change back, now."

"Yes, Sesshomaru-sama!" she yipped before she was surrounded by a pink sphere of youkai. Slowly the ball of light shrunk and when it completely disappeared, it revealed a white hared Inuyoukai child sitting on top of Inu-Yasha's chest. Grinning down at the Inu-hanyou, Rin cocked her head and chirped, "Hello! Inu-Yasha...Rin's name is Rin!"

Scowling, Inu-Yasha secretly admitted that he liked the child, but refused to show it. He could feel his lips twitching and tried to hide the smile that was trying to appear and replied, "Feh!"

Ignoring his brother for the moment, the western lord turned towards Kagome, "Miko. This Sesshomaru requests to have a word with you. It is a matter of honor. You have my word that I will not hurt you." Then, he turned and walked into the forest, making sure he was far enough that Inu-Yasha couldn't hear their conversation.

Nodding her head, Kagome replied, "Sure," and followed him.

Miroku turned towards Inu-Yasha and asked, worriedly, "You're not going to let her go with him are you?"

"Yes. He could hurt her, Inu-Yasha," Sango whispered, giving the forest where Kagome had disappeared from sight a probing glance.

"Feh!" Inu-Yasha grunted and crossing his arms, he sat down on the ground and replied, "I know my brother and when he gives his word, he means it. Kagome will be fine."

"If you say so, Inu-Yasha," both Sango and Miroku replied, settling themselves on the ground to wait for their return.

Stopping in another clearing, Sesshomaru remained silent as he tried to decide the best way to broach the subject. He didn't want to lower himself, but he knew that he had to pay his debt to the miko for saving his life. Sighing inaudibly, he turned and faced Inu-Yasha's wench and broke the silence, "This Sesshomaru owes you a debt of honor for saving his life. For that, you may ask anything of this Sesshomaru, so I may repay that debt."

Kagome froze, completely shocked at his words. Several minutes passed as she tried to process this latest development before she noticed Sesshomaru's impatient glance. "Oh, um....I see. I was happy to help, since it would have been a shame to leave Rin unprotected and she really seems to care for you," Kagome murmured as she tried to think up a way for the Western Lord to repay her. Finally coming to a decision, she hesitantly replied, "To repay your debt to me, I ask that you and Inu-Yasha start acting like normal loving brothers should. I'm sure your father wouldn't have wanted you two to fight over the Tetsaiga. Also, I ask that you help us in our quest against Naraku."

Sesshomaru winced inwardly. He really hated the idea of showing affection towards his brother, but he knew it was his responsibility to take care of his brother. His father had wished it so as he lay dying from his wounds. In his anger over the loss of his father, Sesshomaru had chased his brother away. He really didn't hate his brother, but the hanyou could be annoying...."Just like all little brothers are." the thought ran briefly through his mind.

Sighing in defeat, Sesshomaru nodded and replied, "Very well. This Sesshomaru will help you defeat Naraku and....I will not kill my brother....even though he deserves it for being ill mannered."

Kagome grinned in happiness, "Great!" Clapping her hands once, she turned back towards the way they came. Pausing, she glanced over her shoulder and said, "I know Inu-Yasha can be a pain, but he just needs to learn some manners....after all, no one taught him how to behave. He was out here all alone and trying to stay alive."

"Hn," Sesshomaru replied, noncommittally before following her back towards the clearing to inform the rest of the group that he would be accompanying them.

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AN: "Hi! I've had several people ask me about the rating. Well, I'm leaving it as an R rating because it is going to get really bloody in the upcoming chapters. The first eight chapters are leading up to where I want to go....kind of to set the stage; if you will. Also, yes, there will be lemon scenes later in this fic. I just need to do a few things first to Inu-Yasha and the gang in order to lead up to the special fight scene.

Thanks for all of the reviews! Wow, I'm impressed. This is the first time I've reached 60 reviews in such a short time. It's appreciated!!!!"