Chapter Six
Miroku and Sango clung to the firecat as Kiarara tried desperately to
relocate the hanyou's trail. A neko's nose was not nearly as strong as an
inu's, but as it was all that they had, it would have to suffice.
The monk found himself shaking his head in frustration. Inuyasha had
run out of their sight almost 20 minutes ago. He thought that they would
have caught up with the hanyou by now, but obviously Kagome was a bit
farther away than they had assumed.
Kiarara let out a low growl to inform her passengers that she had
once again found his scent. Because Inuyasha ran with a pace full of leaps
and bounds, it was often erratic and difficult to stay on track.
Sango felt her stomach tighten as they once again raced forward, hot
in pursuit. Leaves rustled in the breeze of their own creation, and color
flashed by. The taijiya had no idea where Inuyasha had suddenly gotten his
speed from. She could've sworn that he couldn't move that fast, but maybe
it was because she and the others were so tired.
Miroku's grip on his staff tightened as Kiarara plunged downward
toward the forest floor, still following the hanyou's scent. He was
behaving himself for once, even though Sango had never looked so tempting.
At least not in the past hour. Her lower lip jutted out in a pout as she
lost herself in her thoughts. The monk felt his hand twitch in response,
yearning to grope her.
But he wasn't too keen on getting knocked off of Kiarara's back right
now while they were flying through the air, so he restrained himself and
held on for the ride.
"Houshi-sama?" Sango asked in a voice barely above a whisper.
Miroku started at hearing her voice, violently snapping out of his
naughty thoughts. Recollecting himself before Sango could notice though he
responded.
"Hmmm?"
"Do you think that Kagome's alright?"
Miroku was a little startled by Sango's question but chose not to
show it. In all honesty the same thought had crossed his mind quite a few
times since the previous night. After all, Lady Kagome was a powerful miko
and a lovely young girl. There was no telling what could have happened
while she was lost in the forest.
"I'm sure she's fine Lady Sango. If she wasn't Inuyasha would have
sensed it and alerted us."
Sango still appeared a bit doubtful. She chewed on her lower lip as
she once again drifted into the world of her thoughts. For surely not the
first time that day, she found herself praying to kami that the younger
girl was still safe.
'I hope we find her before anything happens.'
************************************************
Kagome, still shuddering from the aftermath of her fear, finally
found the courage to lift her eyes to meet Inuyasha's. He was on his knees
before her, his molten amber orbs staring straight at her. She could see
the flickering flame of his fear beginning to fan into a fire of anger in
their depths.
She flinched as she thought of the insults to come, but kept her gaze
steady. She didn't want Inuyasha to know that she felt guilty, as if she
had done something wrong by saving this youkai's life. But something had
compelled her to. Something that not even she could explain.
Inuyasha's eyes finally focused. They narrowed in confusion and rage,
burning holes into Kagome's own as she continued to return his glare,
though hers was not as challenging as his own.
"What the hell was that for wench?!" Inuyasha managed to snarl
through gritted teeth. He was still to shocked to yell, but it wouldn't
take long before he would have that blessed ability back again. Then
Kagome was REALLY going to get it.
Kagome still continued to meet his eyes for a few minutes, her
sapphire orbs begging to understand some cryptic message that he just
couldn't. Finally she lowered her head so that her bangs shielded her eyes.
"I don't know."
'She doesn't know?!' Inuyasha's mind screamed, rage finally breaking
down all barriers. 'She doesn't know?! She throws herself in front of my
blade and she doesn't know why?! Why the hell would she want to save some
youkai scoundrel like this?!' Inuyasha's inability to comprehend the
situation frustrated him to no end. Kagome frustrated him to no end.
Couldn't she tell that he cared for her? He always protected her,
even at the risk of his own life, and yet she still had no idea of how he
felt about her! Instead of realizing that she was his, she went around
saving all these male youkai like Kouga and this guy, who ended up wanting
her as their mates. Couldn't she tell how jealous that made him? How much
it hurt him to see her care for strangers apparently more than she cared
for him?
"What the hell do you mean you don't know wench?!" Inuyasha yelled,
his voice miraculously returning to help him vent his anger. "You throw
yourself in front of my kaze no kizu to save some youkai that just tried to
kill me and you have no fucking idea why?!?"
Kagome winced at his volume and harsh language, but did nothing to
defend herself. In truth she thought that Inuyasha had every right to be
angry with her. Ruefully she admitted that she would probably feel the same
way had the tables been turned.
"I'm sorry Inuyasha, I just don't know why."
"I heard you bitch! And that answer isn't good enough! You have to
have some fucking idea as to why you did that or you wouldn't have done
that!"
Kaogme didn't answer and Inuyasha took that as a cue to carry on.
"This bastard is the youkai that attacked you. I can smell him all
over you! Don't try to deny it!" Inuyasha yelled, getting carried away by
the current in his river of fury.
Kagome's head snapped up at his words, her blue eyes darkening. "I
told you Inuyasha, I was NOT attacked!" She yelled, her voice confident,
showing that she was telling the truth.
Inuyasha drew back as if struck. "You weren't?" He finally managed to
ask in a pathetic attempt to respond. If Kagome wasn't attcked then why did
she reek of this kitsune? Inuyasha's eyes widened as he jumped to
conclusions, forgetting for a moment that the scent on her was not nearly
as strong as it should've been had the fox actually touched her.
"No Inuyasha, I wasn't," Kagome replied, her voice now calm.
"Well then what the hell happened?" the inu demanded, growing angry
again as he replayed all the worst possible scenarios in his mind, mainly
ones where Kagome and the silver haired stranger were romanticly involved.
Kagome began to grow a little nervous under Inuyasha's relentless
golden gaze. 'Should I tell him?' she asked herself as her eyes began to
dart to anywhere but the hanyou in front of her.
"Well?" Inuyasha growled again as the girl in front of him began to
fidget. Deciding to have a little mercy on her, the half demon back away a
little to sit cross legged about 5 feet in front of her. He didn't move his
eyes away though.
As soon as there was a little more distance between them, the miko
visibly relaxed. For a moment both forgot about the strange kitsune lying
behin Kagome as the ningen girl opened her mouth to explain what had
happened.
Kagome hurried through her explantion of how she had gotten lost and
wandered around looking for her comrades, barely making it through without
stumbling over her words she spoke so quickly. Everynow and then she was
interrupted by a "Feh." or a muttered comment of, "Stupid wench." Finally
she came to her meeting with Youko Kurama.
There she hesitated.
Inuyasha immediately attacked her verbally when she stopped, "Keep
going wench! You're not done yet!"
Kagome bit her tounge to stifle the urge to sit him. Then she
continued:
"While I was in the clearing, I felt a shard nearby. It turned out to
belong to the kitsune that you attacked. He didn't use it though..." A hint
of wonder snuck into her voice as she recalled the event. "He didn't seem
to want to harm me at all. It fact, he seemed to be
quite...well...interested in me." At this Inuyasha covered a possessive
growl with a disgusted, "Feh!" Kagome shot him a glare but other than that
continued on without further acknowledgement of his rude behavior.
"He and I talked for a while. He told me that his name was Youko
Kurama and he had taken the shard from a goup of weak youkai that had tried
to attack him. Somehow, while we spoke, he took the shikon shards that I
had around my neck. I didn't even know what had happened until he was about
to leave."
Inuyasha jumped to his feet prepared to skin the still unconcious
youkai alive in order to retrieve the shards from his body. Kagome stopped
him though with a simple gesture as she lifted the delicate chain which
held the shards from her her neck and dangled it for the inu to see.
"He tossed the necklace back to me, and he added his own shard to
it." She offered in explanation as she showed Inuyasha the extra shard, as
if in proof of the act.
"Feh. He still tried to kill me wench. And you haven't explained why
you saved him."
Kagome's attention was drawn back to the limp figure behind her as
she glanced over her shoulder as if to make sure he was still there.
"I told you, I don't know why Inuyasha. But something about him..." A
dazed expression crossed Kagome's face as she continued to gaze at the
kitsune, one hand coming down to caress the silver locks that splayed all
over the ground. That all to familiar little green monster was creeping up
on Inuyasha as he watched her. He growled deep in his throat, but Kagome
seemed not to notice.
"Something about him tells me that he's not a bad youkai." She
finally finished as she turned back to face Inuyasha. Her fragile hand
remained on Youko's hair, but the placement of them now seemed more
accidental than before.
"So, you spared his life on something as little as intuition? What if
he had regained conciousness while you were in front of my blade? He
could've killed you then and there and there would have been nothing I
could do about it." Inuyasha argued, a little shocked that he had
acknowleged how helpless he would've been in the situation, had it
occurred.
A night breeze floated through the woods, playing with Kagome's hair
as it passed. It helped to cool the flush of embarressment that was
beginning to show on the miko's face. But her cheeks visibly burned all the
same.
In all honesty Kagome was feeling extremely foolish at the moment.
Especially sitting there under Inuyasha's superior stare. What if Youko had
tried to kill her? What if he wasn't the enigmatic, yet harmless, creature
that she assumed him to be? She hated how Inuyasha could bring up all those
valuable points in a matter of seconds. It always made her feel so naive.
"I don't know Inuyasha." She whispered as she turned her head away
from him, her eyes once again falling on the silver tresses splashed
against the forest floor.
Inuyasha, though he tried to be gruff and uncaring, could see how
stupid Kagome was feeling at the moment and decided to take pity on her.
Standind once again, he held out a hand to help her up as well. Her
sapphire eyes looked up at him, wide with surprise and confusion.
"Feh." Inuyasha huffed, turning his head away, but keeping the hand
extended.
Out of the corner of his eye though he saw Kagome smile thankfully.
Taking his hand in her own she stood, still regarding him with a bit of
puzzlement, but grateful that he had let the subject drop. Inuyasha could
barely contain his chest from swelling in pride. It never ceased to amaze
him how pleased he became with himself when he did something right or made
the ningen girl smile.
Suddenly his head snapped to the surrounding trees, all his attention
focusing on the scent that he had caught coming towards them. Kagome tensed
and unconciously clung to his arm, scooting closer to him as one hand moved
over her shoulder, prepared to grab her bow any moment.
The youkai scent drifted towards him again as the breeze strengthened
and Inuyasha visibly relaxed. "Its Miroku and Sango on Kiarara," He quickly
explained as he shifted away from Kagome and prepared himself in a
triumphant pose to greet his comrades when they arrived.
Eager and blinded by anticipation, neither heard the soft moan that
came from behind them as a certain thief stirred.
**************************************
Youko opened his eyes slowly, moaning softly in pain as he did so.
How could he have been so careless as to attack like that? It was
completely out of his nature! Once his eyes were completely opened he
realized that he had made yet another mistake as they were met with the
vision of the inu and ningen onna standing in front of him.
Stifling the groan that threatened to make itself known when he
shifted his weight a little, Youko kept his eyes on the two. It appeared
that they were waiting for something, or someone. Though he didn't really
want to stick around to find out, the kitsune knew that he had no choice in
the matter. His back was killing him from that blow into the tree. Barely
any youkai alive could hit him hard enough to knock him out with one blow
like that.
It was just his luck that the ningen happened to be somehow involved
with the one that could.
Youko's vision, blurred from the throbbing in his head, was now
clearing along with the rest of his senses. He immediately smelled the fast
approach of a firecat along with...two more humans? In too much pain to
really wonder about it, he shifter his attention elsewhere.
The ningen.
His eyes immediately fell to her long legs, and without really
noticing what he was doing, they began to slowly move upwards, until, with
a barely contained gasp, he realized that when the night breeze blew just
right, he could see right up her kimono. What did she where under that
thing? He wondered at the piece of cloth for a moment until he forced
himself to move his eyes away.
She was nothing more than a ningen. Albeit and interesting one, but
still a ningen.
And the reason why he was in this situation in the first place.
Curse his curiosity.
The girl, Kagome, and her youkai companion continued to ignore his
state of awareness as they waited expectantly for the approaching group.
Youko couldn't help but inwardly chuckle as he began tally the number of
times he could have killed them by now. His youki was quickly returning to
him and his enhanced healing attributes were already taking care of his
injuries. He was almost like new.
He could've left right then and there and they wouldn't have noticed.
But for some reason he wanted to hang around.
He didn't know why he was still alive, but as he was, it meant that
they weren't interested in killing him. At least not yet. And perhaps if he
stayed a few more moments, he would gain some information about the shikon
jewel and the mysterious girl who seemed to possess half of it.
"You do know that I could've killed, skinned, and eaten you by now?"
He asked in a cool voice, causing Kagome to jump and Inuyasha's to whirl
around, Tetsusaiga drawn.
Kagome was a little slower, but soon she too faced him, one of her
hands resting on Inuyasha's arm in almost a soothing fashion. Her blue eyes
sparked a little in annoyance as she looked at him, but he thought that he
could detect a little bit of relief in their depths as well.
That was surprising.
Was she concerned for him?
"Youko Kurama, nice to see you're awake now." Kagome replied with a
smile, plainly ignoring his previous comment. Her hand tightened its grip
every so slightly on Inuyasha's arm when the handsome kitsune picked
himself up, dusting his body off. Flexing his fangs suggestively, Youko met
the inu's enraged amber gaze. He could tell that the other youkai wanted to
slit his throat and cut him into pieces.
The feeling was mutual.
Kagome cleared her throat loudly to interrupt the staring contest
that was taking place. Neither moved, but Inuyasha's ear twitched at the
sound. That caught Kurama's attention. Ears on his head?
Youko's eyes unwillingly darted to the sight and the inu let out a
small yelp of victory. The demon didn't even notice though as realization
dawned on him. Only certain types of extremely powerful kitsune's could
retain their animal ears. An inu possessing them only meant one thing.
He was a hanyou.
That was definately a big blow to Youko's pride. A mere half-breed
had defeated him in battle with a single blow. It was the ningen's fault.
For some reason she distracted him so. If he had been focused he would
never have lost. If it wasn't for her he wouldn't have even attacked that
hanyou in the first place.
He turned an accusing glare to her.
Kagome jumped a little in suprise to be the subject of such a angry
stare for no apparent reason. What had she done to offend him? Inuyasha,
noticing the look in the foreign youkai's eyes and at whom it was directed,
growled low in his throat and tightened his grip on the Tetsusaiga.
"Wench, why did you spare his life again?" Inuyasha growled as he
stepped in front of her, blocking her from the kitsune's eyes.
Kagome herself couldn't answer that now as the words seemed to get
caught in her throat. For a moment she thought that she saw a flicker of
pain in the kistune's eyes when she didn't reply, but it vanished so
quickly that she was forced to blink and wonder if it was ever there at
all.
Youko could tell that without Kagome's support the hanyou was going
to try to cut him down any moment now. He was disappointed that the ningen
could't articulate any reason as to why she had spared his life, but
whether it was at her for not being able to do so or at himself for making
her change her mind about him, he wasn't sure.
Preparing for the fight that he knew was to commence, Kurama bared
his claws and flexed them dangerously. He watched with amusement as the
hanyou began to sniff the air in confusion when he masked his scent once
again. He would like nothing better than to even the score with the mutt.
Kagome felt Inuyasha's muscles tense as he got ready to leap at
Youko. She knew it was now or never. Luckily her voice agreed as well, and
miraculously found its way back to her.
"Inuyasha, SIT!"
Youko watched in unmasked shock as, before his very eyes, the hanyou
slammed into the ground in a blur of red and silver. You defunately did not
need to have youkai hearing to catch the curses that ensued.
Unwilling to voice his question, yet curious all the same, he brought
his golden eyes to meet Kagome's. The annoyance that flashed in those ocean
depths surprised him, but he didn't look away.
"He has a subduing charm placed on his necklace." Kagome finally
supplied with an exasperated sigh. She had no idea why she was still being
friendly with the fox. She should have purified his ass by now for
attacking Inuyasha and then having the nerve to glare at her like that when
she had saved his life.
Why she didn't just shoot him right now was beyond her.
But she knew that she couldn't.
And to make matters worse, HE knew that she wouldn't.
As soon as Inuyasha's subduing spell wore off, the inu was back on
his feet, unwittingly turning his back to his opponent as he moved to yell
at Kagome. Youko growled at the insult. That was the second time that day
that that had happened to him! Inuyasha however, only smirked when he heard
the noise and realized what it meant.
"Bitch! What the hell was that for?!" He demanded, continuing to
ignore the bristling demon behind him.
Although Kagome never realized it, Youko immediately knew what it
meant when Inuyasha called her by that name. And for one reason or another
he found himself really disliking it. It brought back all the jealousy that
he had been feeling as he watched them embrace, and then the frustration
that a mere human girl was arousing that green little monster in him.
However, only one thought remained clear in him mind.
'How dare that half-breed call her his!'
A/N: A female dog is a bitch. When Inuyasha calls Kagome a bitch he's
actually saying that she's his. Of course she doesn't know that because she
thinks its an insult and Inuyasha's not exactly willing to explain it all
to her.
"SIT! My name is KAGOME! Use it!" The miko yelled as once again
Inuyasha hurtled into the forest floor, making a crater in the shape of his
body.
"As for why I did that, I told you. Youko Kurama did NOT attack me in
any way shape or form and I still firmly believe that he doesn't intend to.
Therefore you'll just have to get over your bloodlust because you're NOT
killing him!"
Youko's eyebrows shot up at her words. It amazed him that she could
be so trusting. Especially after he had already displayed to her that he
could steal her shards without any effort. But it also made him feel a
little warm inside to think that she did infact, trust him.
After all, no one trusts a thief. It was surprising to find just how
much he had missed the feeling of acceptence.
His eyes narrowed.
He didn't like how this girl was so easily evoking all of these
emotions in him.
Suddenly his ears perked up.
The forgotten Miroku and Sango emerged from the surrounding forest in
a graceful bound from Kiarara. Having sensed a foreign demon presence when
they were still a ways away, both humans were already prepared to launch
their attacks as soon as they appeared. What meet their eyes when they
arrived was the final prodding they needed to jump into a full scale
assualt.
There on the ground before them was Inuyasha, struggling against
injuries not visible from their view point to rise. Kagome stood
protectively in front of him, trying to act as a barrier against a silver
haired youkai, who with narrowed eyes, looked particularly malicious.
Things are not always what they appear to be.
Almost before Youko could react, hiraikotsu was whistling through the
air, aimed for his head. He just barely dodged it as it soared past.
Retaliating quickly he bent his knees. Then with a powerful push he was off
the ground and airbound...
...Until something large and heavy struck him from behind.
Falling to the ground he landed in an uncermonious heap at the base
of a tree. Getting a sparce glance at the object that had hit him. He
groaned in anger at himself. How could he not have noticed that the weapon
was a boomerrang? One thing was for sure, this was not his day.
'Stupid ningen girl!' His mind screamed as he leapt to his feet,
quickly recovering and ready to attack.
"WAIT! STOP!" Kagome yelled.
Inuyasha and Youko's ears flattened themselves against their owner's
heads as they snapped their eyes to Kagome to glare at her. Out of pure
reflex, Kiarara and her passengers ceased their actions and turned
questioning faces to the miko.
Seeing that she had everyone's attention, and feeling slightly
embarressed from it, Kagome seized the opportunity to storm over to Youko.
Without a word she grabbed his hand as a furious blush colored her cheeks.
"Youko is my friend. DO NOT KILL HIM!" She scolded through clenched
teeth.
Then, without any any explanation what so ever, she turned on her
heal and dragged the speechless youkai behind her into the forest.
Kiarara descended to the ground as soon as the young girl was out of
sight and allowed her mistress and the monk to alight. Transforming into a
kitten, she jumped into Sango's arms, burying herself into her chest and
purring loudly.
Miroku and Sango stared at Inuyasha expectantly, who in turn look
extremely pissed off.
"Feh! Stupid wench!" Was the only answer he supplied them with. Then
he turned and began to gather firewood. Taking it as a sign to make camp,
and honestly not knowing what else to do, the others followed suit.
Kagome was going to have a lot of explaining to do when she returned.