Chapter Seven
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Youko, not completely sure of what was going on, and curious to find
out, allowed himself to be dragged away by the ningen. In all honesty she
was stronger than he had expected her to be as she was a woman.
"Youko is my friend! DO NOT KILL HIM!" Those had been her words. The
kitsune's eyes narrowed once again. Did she mean those words?
Friend?
Was it actually possible to be so naive and trusting?
Or was this girl just putting on an extremely complex act to lure him
into some kind of trap?
Though he would have perferred to believe the latter, Youko found
that he could not. Glancing down at the girl from the corner of his eye, he
was surprised to see that a faint blush was still present on her cheeks as
she pulled him onward.
Finally, once they were considerably far away from her companions,
Kagome stopped. Turning, she smiled at him in an apologetic manner but
couldn't find the words to speak.
So Youko Kurama did it first.
"Are you going to hold my hand all day or will you release it?"
The blush returned as Kagome dropped his hand like it had burned her.
Taking a couple steps back she gave a little nervous laugh as she began to
play with a lock of her hair.
"Sorry about that." She finally managed, not meeting his golden eyes.
Youko didn't know if he should be amused or disgusted by her
suddenly girlish display. He chose the former and allowed a smirk to pull
at his lips. Kagome didn't notice this though she stared pointedly at the
ground.
"You do know you are foolish." Youko stated, his voice calm as if he
were addressing the weather. The miko's head snapped up, anger flashing in
her sapphire eyes. Not giving her the chance to respond, Youko continued.
"I could have killed you and stolen your shards quite a few times by
now."
The anger died away when Kagome realized that the youkai wasn't
actually insulting her. Then the latter of his words sunk in. Her hand flew
to her neck in reflex.
The shard necklace was gone.
Again.
Her eyes narrowed accusingly as she attempted to stare down the
kitsune. Though Kurama would never admit it, the ningen had the uncanny
ability to make someone feel extremely uncomfortable with just one angry
glance.
But he didn't look away.
"Give them back now." Kagome ordered, her voice flat and serious,
leaving to room for arguement.
"Why should I?" Youko countered, beginning to feel the thrill of a
possible challenge from engaging in an arguement with this girl.
"Because if you were really going to steal them then you would never
have given them back to me in the first place." Kagome replied simply, her
smile returning to her face.
Youko was silent.
She had a point.
He hated to lose.
Barely succeeding in hiding his poor sportsmanship from his face,
Kurama dangled the necklace out for Kagome to take. The miko however, only
held out her open palm, waiting expectantly for him to return it to her
himself.
A growl threatened to make itself known.
If she were anyone else, Kagome would have been lying dead on the
forest floor in a puddle of her own blood, surrounded by her severed limbs.
No one ever dared to talk to Youko Kurama in such a manner.
'Then why don't you kill her?' That nagging voice in the abyss of his
mind was back again.
'Go away.'
'She is nothing but a ningen. And look how stupid she is. It would be
all too simple to kill her and take her shards.'
'...'
Without noticing, Youko dropped the necklace into Kagome's
outstretched hand as he fought the need to tear his brain from his skull.
He knew that that little voice was right.
Or at least it should have been.
Youko clenched his fist by his side. Why DIDN'T he just take the
shards. That had, after all been his initial goal. That was all that his
spirit was after.
But now there was this girl...
How the hell was it that she could make him act his way.
"Hello? Youko-kun? Anybody home?"
The feminine voice stirred the youkai from his thoughts. Confused by
the strange phrases Youko's eyes settled on the ningen's form. 'Anybody
home?' What was that supposed to mean.
'Wait...Youko-KUN?'
"What do you want girl?" He demanded, his voice back to that icy tone
that he was accustomed to using when addressing others.
'What the hell did she mean by Youko-kun? Does she honestly think
that we are friends?' Youko's eyes narrowed as he awaited both his mental
answer and the ningen's repsonse to his question.
'Are we friends?'
"I'll pretend that you have some decency and you actually called me
by my name. I was asking..." Kagome trailed off when she noticed that the
demon wasn't paying attention to her. It almost looked like he was absorbed
in some kind of mental conversation.
Frustrated that he was ignoring her AGAIN, Kagome decided to take
desperate measures. She had to do something that would definately catch his
attention.
'...'
Her mind drew a blank.
"Ahem!" She cleared her throat loudly, hoping that it would have the
desired effect. Youko's eyes focused and he raised one brow as he watched
her expectantly.
"Why did you try to kill Inuyasha?"
The kitsune was taken back by her forwardness, but he was determined
not to show it.
"Of what concern is it to you?" He responded coolly. For some reason
he found himself hating using that tone with her.
Kagome was a little hurt that he was acting so cold around her now.
What had she done to offend him? Though she didn't really know him at all,
she felt that he was acting strangely. This couldn't be the way that he
normally acted, could it? After all, he wasn't Sesshomaru.
"It's my CONCERN because Inuyasha is my friend!" She retorted, her
hands resting on her hips. She, oddly enough, felt like her mother standing
that way.
The hands moved as she crossed her arms in front of her chest
instead.
Youko did not answer at first. Instead he stared back at her.
Challenging her to demand an answer from him. She didn't though, and he
didn't respond.
"So you're just going to ignore me?" She all but yelled. Youko was
proud of himself for not allowing his ears to flinch at her volume.
"No ningen I'm not. I have no obligation to tell you."
"I saved your life!"
Youko's fists clenched, his razor claws extending, cutting into his
palm as he restrained himself from just striking down the girl before him.
She made a valuable point, and he really didn't like that. Normally he
would be able to talk himself out of anything.
Of course he normally threatened the demon's foolish enough to argue
with him with death.
Why was this girl any different.
His spirit was soaring though that she was near him and so were so
many of the shards. 'Damn soul!'Youko cursed bitterly. His need for larceny
had gotten him into this whole thing, but something wasn't letting him
steal.
Life is cruel.
"Well fine. Don't tell me." Kagome finally huffed, her lower lip
jutting out in a pout. For some reason Kurama was imagining himself
nibbling on that lip. Thankfully Kagome turned away from him before he
could act upon that urge.
Walking away, a slight sway in her hips that Youko couldn't help but
notice, she motioned over her shoulder for him to follow. He growled
indignantly in his throat at the belittling gesture, but decided to follow
anyway. The ningen was just to stupid to know how insulting she was being
at the moment.
'Or she's doing it on purpose!' The goddamn voice was back to nag.
'Silence.'
For once the voice obeyed.
***************************************
A small fire crackled cheerfully in a haphazard pit.
The smell of cooking rabbit meat floated to his nose.
Inuyasha didn't even notice.
The flames danced happily, deliberately defying his bitter mood. The
hanyou had half a mind to douse them and just eat his dinner half raw.
But then Kagome would be angry and she would just make him make
another fire so that she and the others could finish cooking their food.
'Stupid fire.'
Inuyasha's fingers tapped impatiently on his arm, as he sat cross-
legged before the fire. His eyes bored into the flames, as if willing them
to stop their happy dancing. Sango glanced at him, worry evident in her
eyes, as she turned the spit that the rabbit he had caught was roasting on.
The hanyou never saw.
Miroku was over in front of one the nearby trees. He appeared to be
meditating, but he was actually watching Inuyasha's fingers.
tap. tap. tap.
It was beginning to get irritating.
The monk's eyes shifted to Sango as she leaned forward to pet
Kiarara.
Better.
tap. tap. tap.
It was almost like he could actually hear Inuyasha's annoying
fidgeting. He could see the fingers rising and falling in his mind. He
closed his eyes. They were still there.
'Baka hanyou.'
"Inuyasha." Miroku called out, his voice light and airy, not
betraying how vexed he actually was. He couldn't even enjoy the view of
Sango for kami's sake. "If you are so worried about Kagome-sama, why don't
you go follow her?"
Inuyasha's eyes left the fire to bore new holes through the houshi's
skull. The fingers continued tapping, though the pace was now more rapid.
"And what the hell makes you think that I'm worried about that
wench?!"
Miroku stared pointedly at the fingers.
Inuyasha followed his gaze.
The fingers stopped moving, though claws were revealed that glinted
dangerously in the firelight.
"Feh! I'm just concerned about the shards. If the youkai steals them
then the bitch is going to be in a lot of trouble! It'll waste valuable
shard hunting time to go after him and take them back."
Miroku raised his eyebrows. Inuyasha clamped his mouth shut as he
realized he was rambling.
Sango smirked, but because she was still petting Kiarara, no one
noticed.
"Feh!" Inuyasha declared defiantly, demonstrating once again the
multiple uses of his favorite word. He jumped to his feet and began to pace
back and forth.
Miroku sighed and leaned back against the tree, his eyes almost
entirely closed as he watched Sango from beneath his lashes.
Sango.
Inuyasha...
Sango.
Inuyasha...
'Baka Hanyou!'
"Inuyasha. If you don't cease your pacing and finger tapping and
fidgeting all together than I'm am going to be forced to bind you to a tree
so that you can't move at all!" The houshi finally cried out, exasperated.
Inuyasha opened his mouth to fling one insult or another, but a stern
glare from the other man told him that the monk was serious. The mouth
snapped shut and Inuyasha leapt into a nearby tree, well out of reach from
Miroku's demon wards and ofudas.
tap. tap. tap.
Had Miroku been a lesser man he would have screamed in his
frustration. As it was he forced himself to look on the bright side. His
eyes fell once more to Sango's behind.
'At least the tapping is muffled by the leaves.'
**************************************************
Youko followed Kagome for a little longer, only because he was
curious to see if she was actually returning to her companions.
'So you're not following her to make sure that she gets there safely?
You're not protecting her?!' The damned voice yelled at him mentally.
Youko's eyes narrowed almost inperceptably as he continued to walk
confidently forward. He didn't give the voice the pleasure of responding.
Youko's kitsune nose could smell Kagome's friends now. His ears
twitched as he heard the hanyou leap from somewhere, most likely a tree.
Inuyasha's scent was getting stronger. He was coming to see them.
'See Kagome. Kill you.'
Once again Kurama ignored the voice.
"Kagome." He said quietly, knowing that she would be able to hear him
but the hanyou would not.
Hearing her voice being said in such a low, seductive tone, the miko
stopped dead in her tracks and whirled around. Her sapphire eyes looked up
into his golden ones questioningly.
"I shall be leaving now. I do not wish to fight with your half breed
companion again. If I do, I will kill him."
Her eyes narrowed and flashed angrily. Youko allowed a small smirk.
Unleashing his scent so that the hanyou would be able to detect his
presence, the kistune leaned forward and grabbed Kagome. One hand cirlcled
her waist and the other slid behind her neck, forcing her head to tilt
upward. Before the miko knew what was happening or could protest, Youko's
lips were on her own in a passionate kiss.
Her knees felt like they were going to give out beneath her, but
Kagome couldn't move. She couldn't even react as the youkai forced her
mouth gently open with his tongue and began to explore its hidden crevices.
It was her first kiss.
Kagome's mind began to clear out from the haze that had befallen it.
She slowly began to register what was going on. Her eyes, which had
instinctively shut when Youko's face had neared her own, jumped open and
widened as they were meet with his golden orbs, already peering into her
own.
Youko could smell Inuyasha's pace double when he had smelt the
kitsune. He knew that the hanyou would be there any minute. Almost
reluctantly he pulled away from the startled girl in front of him. He
couldn't deny that he was slightly disappointed that she did not respond.
Kagome's cheeks were stained with a faint blush and her chest was
heaving as she caught her breath. Her lips were beginning to swell a little
and were partially opened, begging the fox demon to taste her again.
Then she regained her senses.
One small hand came up in a flash, aiming to strike the kitune's
cheek. Youko caught it effortlessly. An arrognant smirk decorated his face.
"You jerk!" Kagome gasped, her breath steadily returning to her.
Youko knew that if he did not depart soon than he would not only have an
enraged hanyou on his hands, he would be deaf as well.
Deliberately holding her eyes, Youko slowly pulled her hand down so
that it was just millimeters from his lips. His smirk widened as he caught
something in her scent.
"Don't lie Kagome. Your scent is screaming that you liked it." The
hand around her waist tightened, bringing her closer to his chest. "It
says that you want more."
Kagome's hand jerked fiercely, trying to break free from Kurama's
grasp. He chuckled at her futile efforts and pulled the hand down by her
side. Then his lips crashed upon hers once more, though much more briefly
before he pulled away.
With a blur he was gone. Leaving Kagome alone in the middle of the
woods.
She could still hear that taunting chuckle.
"You bastard!" She yelled out, knowing that though she couldn't see
him, he could most likely hear her. Even if he couldn't she didn't care. It
just felt good to yell those words aloud.
Her lips were still throbbing. Her fingers rose to carress the skin.
Upon touching them she realized that they were slightly swollen.
'Oh well, maybe no one will notice.' She thought, shifting her weight
so that her right hip stuck out.
'That was one hell of a kiss.'
She smirked smugly as her other hand carressed the shard necklace.
There was one less piece.
She knew that the kitsune was not very far away.
SNAP!
The sound of a twig breaking behind her, pulled Kagome out of her
thoughts as she whirled around to see what it was.