#like if she believed if she still had a chance with Inuyasha she would probably try a little harder

[diivineray]

Can’t believe it’s 2024 and I still get angry at kagome’s petty jealously towards kikyo

This woman is not a threat to you. She literally can’t move , she’s been hurt and yEAH inuyasha is gonna wanna make sure she’s okay and get her to safety.

He saves you like a bILLION times you sPARE to let him help his first love. They are over. Girl get over yourself 😭😭

[clearwillow]

Shared this teaser with patrons last month and I wasn't originally planning to post it elsewhere but decided that yeah...I guess I probably should to prove I'm trying to write? It's finished, but I'm still working on editing with my beta. It also still doesn't have a name cause every title I think of has been used or doesn't really fit it.

Anyway here's a look at it.

Inuyasha would give her looks, and she was positive that he knew she was silently going off the rails, but he never brought attention to it. Kagome appreciated how he’d changed in this regard; back when they were teenagers he wouldn’t have hesitated to make a deal out of her prolonged silence. It had usually led to a fight, and she’d used the beads unnecessarily. Luckily that thought shifted her focus. “Do you still have the beads of subjugation?”

“Yup.” Inuyasha reached under the collar of his shirt and pulled out the string of dark colored beads. “What brought this on? Do you want to see if they still work?”

There was no suspicion in his voice, no sign of anger that she’d even mentioned the accessory he’d been forced to wear since the day they’d met. Only curiosity. Kagome still shook her head furiously. “N-no, of course not!”

He got up from the table and came to sit on the floor next to Kagome’s chair. “Well, I’m curious. Go ahead,” he urged.

“S… s-sit?” Kagome winced, expecting to feel the floor vibrate from the impact of Inuyasha hitting it…but there was nothing. Inuyasha continued to sit there, and there was a glimmer of disappointment in his eyes. “Inuyasha? Did…did you…want to be –”

“Keh! Hell no,” he chuckled humorlessly. “But I thought there might have still been a chance that they had their power after all this time. I had a feeling that when Kaede went to join Kikyo that the spell would break, but I couldn’t bring myself to test it. I don’t know if I could have handled it if I knew for sure.”

Kagome reached out and nudged him to lay his head on her leg. Slowly, she brushed her fingers through his hair. “You wore them all this time and never once tried? Why?”

“It was all I had left of you,” he whispered. “If I found out I could take them off…it would have been like I was throwing away the last connection I had to you.”

How many times could a heart break? Kagome wasn’t sure she wanted to know, but it felt like hers had again. “I took advantage of their spell too often. I wouldn’t think you’d want to remember that.”

“You saved me with these on a few occasions, don’t forget. The other times I was being stupid, and believe me when I look back on those memories, I want to kick my own ass. We were both wrong, but we were too stubborn to admit it.”

“Do you want to take them off?” she asked. Inuyasha looked up at her with a hint of panic and she quickly added, “We could display them? I won’t make you get rid of them, Inuyasha. I just thought that you might want to keep them where they can be seen and you could put them on whenever you’d like.”

Inuyasha visibly relaxed, resting his cheek on her thigh once again. “Yeah…yeah, we could do that.”

“No rush, of course.”

“Of course.”

They sat in silence after that, and Kagome continued to run her fingers through his hair. She hadn’t expected Inuyasha to change his view of the beads, but then it had been a long time since he’d been made to wear them. The way he’d looked at her moments before made her dinner turn over in her stomach. She hadn’t meant to upset him, and she certainly didn’t want to make him throw away something he’d come to cherish. Seeing his reaction must have been what he was seeing in her eyes earlier.

[lostinfantasyworlds]

For the writers truth and dare game 😁

🪲,🍄,🪐

Hi Liz!!! Thank you so much for the asks!!! ❤️ 😁 🥰

🪲 ⇢ add 50 words to your current wip and share the paragraph here

I'm so bad at coming up with stuff on the spot so I'm going to cheat a little and use something I jotted down last night (which is probably more than 50 words 😆). This is for my main WIP, which I have talked about before but am not going to name so I can be all secretive and mysterious🤣: ------- "Do you have any informants in Hawaii?" Inuyasha asked.

Miroku seemed taken aback, but recovered quickly. "Actually, yes. One of my oldest confidants, Hachi, spends most of his time island-hopping. Why?"

"Could you -- Is there any chance he could -- Or you could ask --"

"Aw, are you trying to ask me for a favor?" His stupid blue eyes lit up like a child, and Inuyasha's hands balled into fists. "This must be important. You can do it, use your words."

Fuming, Inuyasha's cheeks burned, which he covered up by punching his annoying partner in the arm. He so badly wanted to tell him to forget it, since Miroku was pretty much insufferable when gloating. But since this was likely his only shot to help Kagome while they were gone, he took a deep breath and swallowed his pride.

"Do you think you could ask him to keep an eye on someone for me?"

"Stalking, huh? I didn't take you as the type."

"Fucking what -- no! I just...need to know she's safe. Alive. Nothing more than that."

"Oooh...she? This keeps getting better!"

Inuyasha's eye twitched, calling on every last bit of restraint he possessed not to knock the shit-eating grin off of Miroku's stupid face.

"Can you do that for me or not?" he ground out.

Miroku seemed to realize just how close he was to getting his ass beat, because his expression turned serious. "You just want a visual confirmation of safety?" Inuyasha nodded. "How often?"

"Whenever he can manage it...once a week, every few days, whatever."

"I believe that can be arranged. I'll ask him...on one condition."

"For fuck's sake, what?"

"That you tell me what the deal is with you and this woman."

Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "Why are you like this?"

🍄 ⇢ share a head canon for one of your favourite ships or pairings

I feel like Inuyasha and Kagome would probably move pretty fast in their relationship once she returned through the well. I imagine them being engaged and making out all over the place within the first few weeks. After all that time apart thinking they'd never see each other again, and since Kagome's decision to return is the ultimate show of commitment anyways, I think they'd want to make up for lost time and just go for it. That being said, I don't imagine them having sex the same day she comes through the well or anything like that. But I also don't think it'd take them a really long time to cross all of those milestones off their list. Somewhere in the middle, like a few weeks to maybe a couple months. I love reading fics that explore all of the different possibilities though, and can get behind almost any explanation/head canon.

🪐 ⇢ name three good things going on in your life right now

Work is slower than it's ever been at the moment, to the point where I have had days and days of absolutely nothing to do while working at home and still getting paid (I'm salaried). My bosses have shockingly not tried to give me any busy work (there really isn't much else to do since our work is entirely project-based), so I've had a lot of time to catch up on my life and do fun things lately. It is the ultimate luxury and very rare, so I'm soaking it up while I can because once things get busy again my entire life will go back to revolving around my stupid job.

My mental health has finally reached a stable place, and I've been feeling pretty good overall. After years of depression and anxiety, it's a huge relief to feel back on solid ground again.

Our house is coming together slowly but surely. We are just about to paint the room we're currently renovating, and then just have to do flooring and we'll have another space finished and ready to use!

I have a lot to be grateful for right now, things are good 🥰

Thank you again for the asks!

From the Writer's Truth & Dare Ask Game

[shinidamachu]

I need some Inuyasha as a great father (more like DILF, amirite?) headcanons, can you help me out?

I'm here to serve!

• It isn’t until they’re happily married for at least one or two years that the possibility of children are brought up.

• At first, they took that time to relearn each other, enjoy their company and make the honeymoon phase last a little long. They did spend three years apart, after all. There’s so much time to make up for, so many catching up to do before they’d even think to throw a kid into the mix. Plus, being a modern woman, Kagome would know how to avoid pregnancy the best her new circumstances allowed and how important that time alone is for a newly-married couple.

• They never actually had the child talk because Kagome just assumed that’s where their relationship would naturally lead to, given her motherly tendencies and Inuyasha’s history of ultimately giving her everything she wants. For his part, Inuyasha knew she wanted to be a mother someday and he'd be lying if he said he never indulged the fantasy of fathering her children. However, he has serious trouble wrapping his mind around the idea that, in reality, Kagome would still be up for it if he were to be the father. He could never dare to ask of her more than she has already given him. Be that as it may, it was not a big deal because it was not a dealbreaker. Nothing was.

• But with time, Kagome would have noticed how good Inuyasha is with Hisui and the Mirsan twins. How his relationship with Shippo had developed from a sibling banter to a makeshift paternal relationship. How people like Shiori and Bunza would look up to him like he was some kind of movie hero. How every kid in the village seemed to adore him despite his grumpy demeanor.

• And Inuyasha would have noticed the way Kagome would look at him whenever he so much as interacted with a child, the way her smell would spike significantly.

• She, of course, was the one to make the first move, jumping him one night, after they had spend the whole day stuck with babysitting the Mirsan children and popping the question.

• Inuyasha was relutant. There was a part of him that was adamant on making her happy and even believed having babies would make him happy too. On the other hand, he was terrified. Terrified of how her body would react to childbirth, of if her spiritual powers would accept his demonic energy. But mostly, about what would happen once the baby was born. The last thing he wanted was for Kagome to go through everything his mother had to go through. Or for another kid to face the same prejudice he did. Besides, he grew up with no father figure whose steps he could follow. He didn’t know how to be a father.

• Kagome assures him that they won’t have a baby until they’re both ready and on the same page, that they have time and that Inuyasha will be a great father.

• Inuyasha believes her.

• Then it is him felling some type of way whenever he sees Kagome around kids. And something deep inside desperately wishes to find out what would their children look like, what would it be like to hold and take care of someone born from their love.

• Finally, he caves.

• Inuyasha wants a big family, considering how lonely his childhood was. Kagome finds it pivotal for their first-born to have a sibling, since she had Sota and their relationship was one of the most important things in her life. That’s why they’d have two children minimum, preferably a boy and a girl. However, giving how dangerous and uncomfortable childbirth can be, especially without the perks the modern era provides, I don’t think they’d have more than three.

• Naturally, Inuyasha relies on Miroku for advice and the latter is more helpful than not. Except for the times Inuyasha asks or says something that makes it way too easy for Miroku to mess with him. Like the time he told Inuyasha that if he doesn’t get Kagome whatever food she craves while pregnant, the baby will be born looking exactly like that food. And Inuyasha believed him.

• And if you thought Inuyasha was protective of Kagome before... oh boy! He’d be almost overbearing, but Kagome would see it as endearing. Most of the time. Sometimes, though, a woman has got to have her privacy. He also becomes more attentive, more gentle, sweeter.

• After their first child is born, Inuyasha gets a makeover of sorts. He’s always borrowing the Fire Rat to Kagome and the baby anyway, so he figured it’d be more practical to just pass the clothes on to them already and get something new for himself.

• It’s white.

• Inuyasha becomes taller, stronger. And often lets Kagome experiment with his hair with braids, top nots... and ponytails.

• Old Myoga is the first one to notice the resemblance. And it’s true. He’s the spitting image of Toga. Former enemies and allies often mistaken him for Toga and Kagome thinks the look on their (and Inuyasha’s) face is hilarious.

• Sesshoumaru does not care for it (I stole this one from @heavenin--hell).

• Inuyasha hates his human nights even more because now his vulnerability also means he might not be able to protect his family as he usually would (Together Changed by @goshinote and @lostinfantasyworlds inspired this one). Plus, the black hair and lack of dog ears confuses the baby, who cries and fusses for a good while until realizing it is, in fact, Inuyasha holding them (this one I saw in an adorable fanart I can’t find).

• But since he needs way less sleeping than humans and he spends the New Moons up anyway, Inuyasha gets a lot of quality time with their infant at night, which allows Kagome to actually get a good night sleep unless the baby is hungry.

• The Beads of Subjugation get dooled and chewed on. A lot.

• A little contest takes place between Kagome and Inuyasha about what the first word of their first child would be, with Kagome going for “dada” and Inuyasha going for “mama.”

• Kagome wins.

• Inuyasha’s fighting style changes. He still says some snarky remarks, but now it’s more to push his opponent‘s buttons down so they would get sloppy than anything else. After all, he has a child to think about and provide for now. He doesn’t have the luxury of gambling with his life anymore. He has a home to come back to and therefore won’t be taking any chances (credit to @born-for-eachother for this one).

• And so he becomes more lethal on the battle field. Pragmatic. Objective. Calculating. Decisive. Cold blooded. Much like... Sesshomaru.

• He had never been more offended on his life than the day Sango pointed this out to him.

• When the kids grow up a bit, Inuyasha and Kagome start to tell them bedtime stories, with the PG version of the story about how the met and defeated Naraku being their favorite.

• Kagome tries to be a reliable and calm narrator while Inuyasha exaggerates the events and the voices, almost always breaking objects of their house in the process.

• After hearing one too many times about the Beads of Subjugation, their child tries to “sit” Inuyasha. Of course it doesn’t work, but he still makes a big deal out of throwing himself on the ground every time they say the word just to hear them laugh.

• The first actual toy Inuyasha buys them is a ball, just like the one he had as a kid, at the same time accomplishing a childhood wish through them and ensuring that they would always have someone to play with.

• Kagome is more protective of their physical state while Inuyasha is more protective of their emotional one (see Fist Fight by @omgitscharlie)

• Inuyasha goes to Totosai and asks him to make a weapon out of one of his fangs to each of their children once they get old enough for it. Not necessarily a sword, just something of their choice and that better fits their personality.

• He would be a just father, doing his best to show no favoritism, treat his children equally and make sure no one felt overlooked or unloved.

• But truth be told, if one of their babies turn out to be a daughter, he would definitelly let her get away with almost anything, no matter how much of a gremlin she is. Daddy’s little girl would have him wrapped around her tiny fingers.

• Life never treated Inuyasha kindly. From a very young age, it was kill or be killed. It wouldn't be too far off for him to think the exact same thing could happen with his kids, therefore he tries to prepare them, to tough them up so they can take it.

• And I believe this sentiment would be significantly amplified with a son, because it would involve the whole “suck it up”, “men don’t cry” and “man of the house” aspect of it. The “it is your duty to protect your mother and sister when I’m gone” too, especially because he couldn’t protect Izayoi himself.

• It’s “tough love”, but it’s love nonetheless. And in the right dose, which I believe Inuyasha manages to nail, it can be very important for one’s development and growth.

• But it’s hard to imagine him being as tough with a daughter. Probably because he sees so much of Kagome on her that the mere idea of seeing her cry simply breaks him.

• Kagome would actually have to step in when it comes to disciplining and saying “no”, because he simply wouldn’t have it in him to do so.

There’s actually a really nice post by @keichanz I reblogged a while ago discussing precisely that, but I can’t find it to save my life (should I start to properly tag my reblogs? No, it’s a lot of work and I’m right not to).

Anyway, that’s all I got for now.

Peace out.

[avidoro]

Edit: Guess I’ll put this in here since everyone is just glossing it over to look for the negative parts. I never said you couldn’t ship SessRin. I never said I was anti-SessRin. I know I tagged it as such, but it isn’t because of my opinion. I have friends who ship SessRin. I love those friends. What I mean by these statements is that the community in general is toxic because of the people in it who have caused problems for others. Like, for example, the person who felt the need to jump me about my personal ship because it wasn’t with Rin when I wasn’t even talking about a ship. Or the people who harassed the English voice cast to the point that even they were calling the SessRin community toxic. Or the people who are fighting to have any Sesshoumaru shipping blog deleted if Rin isn’t involved. I am capable of peacefully sharing Sesshoumaru with other shippers if they could be civilized. But since they aren’t, then I feel like I have the right to speak my mind. And those of you who feel the need to fight me about it are just proving my point because you’re so worked up that anyone could have a different opinion that you absolutely have to argue. That being said, I also stated that I would never have said a word about this if it weren’t for the fact that Rin is underage in Yashahime. Sunrise is trying to lie about how much time passed. They clearly didn’t do their own math. And while I’m fine with SessRin shippers who ship her as an adult, I will not tolerate the people who justify her being underage in Yashahime. Also to those trying to argue about Yashahime being canon, I would love to provide the evidence to the statement I saw, but it’s gotten lost in the sea of people arguing about the show being canon. It was something along the lines of her saying the story wasn’t canon or wasn’t hers but the three girls were and that she was washing her hands of InuYasha and other’s could do what they wanted with it. Which kind of implies it’s not canon but she doesn’t care. If I find it again I will definitely share it. But if Rumiko steps up and actually says the show is canon, then I’ll accept it as canon. But that doesn’t mean I’m okay with Rin being underage. But go ahead and continue to comment with your ridiculous arguments. New edit: @tiny-foots​ It’s not what I saw but I was provided this where Rumiko stated InuYasha was complete within herself meaning the story was done. She left it up to Mr. Sumisawa to write. Take it as you will, but I see that as her giving the okay for a fanfic to be officiated. But I don’t see it as canon. I suppose that can be left up to interpretation. But my personal belief is that it’s not canon. Even before all this I never even saw the original anime as canon.

I am going to start off by saying that I always said I would never be anti-ship. But if this is what it's come to then I am completely against what is happening right now.

Let's just pretend my OTP isn't actually my OTP right now. What I ship has nothing to do with this. In fact I am a multi-shipper, so don't even think about that. This is beyond more than my personal shipping opinions. InuYasha was my comfort series during a very rough time and Sesshoumaru is my favorite character because of his massive character development and redemption arc. He is an astounding character.

The fact that Sunrise has "officially" (I refuse to say canon because it's not canon. Rumiko said so. Fight me!) paired him with Rin is the most disturbing and disgusting thing they could have possibly done. Again, I am not against people who do ship them. If that's what they enjoy then that's fine.

HOWEVER!

The SessRin community is toxic AF! They have been for a long time and now they've been given a reason to really be horrible people. And that's only one reason why I'm disgusted by this entire thing. And mind you, since Yashahime isn't canon anyway, I wouldn't have cared as much if they hadn't done it the way they had. Let me break this down for you. I'm going to list why SessRin is unhealthy, toxic, and morally wrong and I'll even list some of the justifying arguments shippers have tried to use to support it and explain why they're wrong too.

Pairing Sesshoumaru with Rin destroyed his character development and redemption.

Sesshoumaru's father had a strong desire to see his son learn compassion. Toward everyone! Humans and youkai alike. He learned that lesson through both a human and a youkai. Rin and Kagura. These were the characters who were meant to teach him to be compassionate toward others. By pairing him with Rin you have taken away that compassion that he learned. It's like sticking a giant middle finger up to all the humans he was supposed to learn to respect and say he only tolerates Rin and no one else. There goes his redemption! Way to go, Sunrise!

SessRin was never meant to become a thing.

Rumiko went out of her way to create a bond between Kagura and Sesshoumaru as well as Kohaku and Rin. It's clear who we were meant to ship them with. These characters were placed as a barrier between Rin and Sesshoumaru to avoid an improper ship. SessKagu is the ONLY canon Sesshoumaru ship.

No child in their right mind grows up to fall in love with the man who raised them from childhood.

And if they do then they need to seek counseling because that's not healthy. A normal child would grow up to view that man as her father.

And how about these lame and unjustifiable arguments that SessRinners are throwing out.

"He waited until she was an adult! She's 18!"

Do some research. She is not 18! Look at the the facts that have been compiled. She is 15 MAX. She's underage!

"This was normal back then!"

No it was not! Again, do your research! Nobility groomed children to be wives, yes, but it wasn't normal. Even then the girl wasn't bedded until she was an adult. Also, would you portray a black person, in media, as an abused slave in 1800s America by your story's "good guy" and say it's okay because it was normal back then?  I don't think so!

"They were meant to be together! It was a given! It was clear!"

Again, no it wasn't! Kagura was placed in the story for this purpose! She was in love with Sesshoumaru and he was falling in love with her. They are the ONLY canon Sess ship!

"Well, you're forgetting about the original series being about a 15-year-old girl getting with a 50+ year old man!"

There are so many reasons why this is an illogical statement. - InuYasha and Kagome met when they were mentally the same age. Sess and Rin met with he was mentally a young adult and she was EIGHT! - Kagome and InuYasha didn't have an official relationship until she returned from her time after three years... WHEN SHE WAS 18! - Every moment in the original story where Kagome was in an inappropriate situation she got mad and did something about it! She didn't just giggle and let the men around her ogle or touch her! - And my personal opinion, I also believe InuYasha and Kagome’s relationship was toxic anyway, so don’t try to hold that one over me. There’s a reason I’m a multi-shipper.

And one of my favorites, even from pre-Yashahime

"NO ONE is shipping child Rin with Sesshoumaru!"

Yeah? Go do a Google image search, you sickos. Edited to include this little treasure in the comments:

Who’s putting words in her mouth? She stated, in an interview plain as day, that Yashahime was not canon! She didn’t write it. An official publication does not canon make! Not to mention “the woman who changed him” is such an incredibly vague statement. If it was meant to be Rin, she’d have just said Rin. As mentioned before, she was very adamant about pushing the Kagura x Sesshoumaru ship. And Kagura definitely changed him. Was it not his compassion toward her specifically that regained his arm and gave him a sword? I’m pretty sure “the woman who changed him” was meant to be a vague statement because the canonical intention was just to leave it open to interpretation and is probably meant to be some random village woman who bonded with Sesshoumaru and ultimately completed his change.

And if, by chance, she did mean Rin, she didn’t say it was canon. Just that she was his wife meaning that is who Sunrise set as his wife in the show. Think about it? She was answering the question of “who had his children in Yashahime.” If she meant Rin, she was avoiding spoilers and giving a hint to who Sunrise chose as his wife. That’s not saying she would have picked Rin, herself. She didn’t write it. So it seems to me that you are the one putting words in her mouth.

Now tell me, if your best friend from grade school who was adopted told you when she was a teen or even an adult, "My dad's hot. We decided to sleep together." would you not find that disturbing? That's SessRin right now.

Also:

HANYOU NO YASHAHIME IS NOT CANON! THIS IS PER RUMIKO TAKAHASHI HERSELF! DO NOT TRY TO JUSTIFY THAT SESSRIN IS CANON NOW BECAUSE IT ISN'T! IT'S JUST AN OVERGLORIFIED AND POORLY WRITTEN FANFICTION!

ONLY THE MANGA IS CANON! OG SESSHOUMARU IS THE ONLY SESSHOUMARU!! That being said, I still say if you do happen to be a SessRin shipper, then you do you. Enjoy what you want. But what is happening right now does not give you a right to justify any toxic behavior that your community is expressing. Again, I wouldn’t even be mad if Sunrise hadn’t portrayed Rin as still being underage. I won’t stand to see people justify this!

[keichanz]

Mistake

kay so i really don't care if some of this doesn't make sense because this is the first thing i've written in a while that i don't absolutely hate. well this version at least. ending up scraping the first draft because it just seemed wrong and went in a different direction. im glad i did cause im happy with it.

anyway i realize that this may not get much feedback because i took a different approach to it, aka the entire pov is from an OC but i can't bring myself to care too much because i wrote this purely for myself. got inspired, started writing, and i actually liked the content i was writing. end of.

btw the oc doesn't refer to inuyasha as a half-demon because he's unaware he is one and i was too lazy to delve into those waters anyhow.

also for the sake of this oneshot pls dont look too closely at the ranks of diplomat and ambassador. i was too lazy to put much research regarding positions of power so just...go with it.

inspired by @stillunderyourbed​'s art that can be found here.

It was…quaint. Smaller than what he'd expected. The housing structures looked subpar, there didn't appear to be any wooden walkways, and he could detect the distinct odor or fish in the air with hints of manure. There even seemed to be a perpetual dust cloud hovering at about waist high, thickening from the numerous carts, wagons, horses, and villagers kicking up dirt as they went about their daily lives. Already he felt like there was a layer of dust caked on the inside of his lungs and he wasn't even inside yet.

All in all, it was your typical countryside village, home to simple folk that made a living off of fishing, farming, and trade. The diplomat sneered in disgust. For being the rumored home of the creature strong enough to destroy the despicable Naraku, the village was…less than impressive. And to say that he was underwhelmed would be a vast understatement.

Shifting atop his mount, a chestnut gelding that had been his faithful companion for the last four years, Takeji frowned as he surveyed the sight before him. It was early afternoon, so men were out working in the fields, women were chatting amongst themselves as they laundered clothing at the river, and children were running about, playing and laughing while dogs barked at their heels. He could see the great red torii gate and the stone staircase that led to the shrine and he could hardly refrain from rolling his eyes.

The village was obviously poor, possibly even teetering on the edge of poverty, and instead of feeding themselves for a good long while, they decided to construct that monstrosity. He would never understand the minds of simple common folk. Daft. All of them.

Barely keeping himself from scowling, Takeji reluctantly climbed off his mount and forced himself to move forward into the pathetic excuse for a village. Already he knew he would have to burn his expensive attire; there would be no getting the dust and stench out of it after his ghastly visit. A visit he had not wanted to make, but being a highly revered and prestigious diplomat, it was his duty to travel to far off lands in hopes of establishing a profitable relationship that would ultimately benefit his homeland.

Although, looking around and fighting against the urge to retch at both the nauseating stench and the mere sight of all the unwashed villagers milling around, Takeji wondered not for the first time why he even bothered to accept this task. True, it was said the slayer of Naraku did hail from here, but surely having his homeland associated with this hovel would garner nothing but loss. So why had he agreed to come?

Oh, yes, he mused, grimacing as he stepped over a large manure pile right in the middle of the road. Because apparently, being all chummy with the nation's hero will allow us to have him at our beck and call, because who doesn't want a powerful demon capable of slaying the most evil demon in all of existence as an intimidating presence during negotiations, and let's not forget he alone would be equal to about one hundred soldiers in battle.

Rolling his eyes, Takeji tied his mount to a hitching post, withdrew his satchel with all the necessary paperwork, and set about finding this Inuyasha fellow. He'd been told the demon wore scarlet robes, carried a sword at his hip, and had white hair so no doubt he would stick out like a sore thumb amongst the droll browns and grays of the common folk, which suited him just fine. The sooner he was done, the sooner he could leave because there was no way he was staying even a second more in this village than he had to. Even if the next inn was hours away, he'd make the journey; the inn here was probably as unclean and riddled with bed bugs or something. Ugh. How vile.

Shrugging the satchel over his shoulder, Takeji bit back a groan, sighed, and hadn't even made it a single step before the sound of screaming froze him in his tracks. He gasped and immediately started looking for the danger, body tense, preparing to hop back onto his steed lightning fast and make a hasty getaway.

But as he looked around with wide eyes and a frantically beating heart, Takeji couldn't help but notice that he was the only one that appeared to have heard the sound of terror. The villagers were just continuing to go about their day, calm as you please, either severely deaf or completely uncaring. Takeji was beginning to wonder if he was perhaps hearing things when it happened again, a high-pitched sound that he realized with dread belonged to a child.

Takeji gaped. A child was in danger and nobody cared?! What kind of village was this?! Another shriek pierced the air, and Takeji made a decision. Very well; if these imbeciles weren't going to do anything about it, then he himself would see to the danger. While by no means a swordsman or warrior, he did have some weapons training he could fall back on for this precise reason. Traveling alone was dangerous, and you never knew what you would encounter.

Resolved, the diplomat set his jaw, unsheathed the dagger at his waist, and darted toward the direction the screams were coming from. He meandered between houses, hoped over lazing dogs, dodged startled villagers in his path, and he came into a small clearing by the forest's edge. The sight that greeted him was…not what he expected.

Coming up short, Takeji watched with a befuddled frown as one child chased around two other, slightly older looking children. One might think they were playing a game of sorts, and the diplomat started to believe that was indeed the case…until the one doing the chasing, clad in red, suddenly jumped high into the air, over the heads of the other two children, and landed before them with hands raised.

Hands, Takeji noticed with growing dread and disgust, tipped with claws on each finger and he quickly realized what exactly was happening. That wicked little demon brat, that creature was toying with those helpless children! It was keeping them trapped, preventing them from running away by leaping over their heads and blocking their route of escape! They screamed, the demon child laughed, and so potent was his fury, so enraged was he for the fact that the villagers apparently did not care about what was happening right beneath their noses, Takeji failed to notice the wide smiles on all three of the young one's faces. The blood pounding in his ears prevented him from hearing the gleeful giggles as the two human kids scrambled away from the one clad in red, and without another thought, Takeji moved.

"Run, children!" Takeji ordered as he hurled himself into the clearing, dagger raised as he charged toward the demon brat with a baleful glare. "I will take care of his filthy animal!"

All three children froze in place, eyes wide as Takeji inserted himself between the two human children - twin girls, he idly noted - and the demon spawn that dared raised its claws toward them. The brat stared up at him with big brown eyes and it - she - actually looked confused. Takeji scowled. He would not fall for such a ploy.

"I will not allow you to harm them," he spat and pointed his dagger at her. The child blinked at him and then looked behind him at the two girls who still had not taken the chance to flee. In shock, perhaps? Stunned? No matter; they were safe, so long as he stood between them and the threat.

The demon child made a face and started to walk around him, completely disregarding the weapon trained on her, but Takeji shifted and stopped her once more. He heard the two behind him whispering as the spawn looked up at him once again, this time frowning at him with narrowed eyes. And was that a growl he heard? He snorted. Was she actually trying to appear threatening? Pathetic.

Scowling, Takeji lifted a foot, placed it on her stomach, and shoved. The demon gasped as she stumbled back and then landed on her behind with a small grunt. He heard a gasp from behind him, urgent whispering, and then hurried scrambling. A glance over his shoulder told him they'd finally gotten wise and ran away. He nodded. Good. Now he could deal with this vermin without innocent eyes to bear witness.

But as he stared down at the pathetic sight before him, Takeji wondered maybe if such measures would even be necessary. The beast was still lying where she had fallen and was staring up at him with wide eyes brimming with…wait. What? Were those tears? Oh, you have got to be joking.

Rolling his eyes, the diplomat scoffed at the pathetic play for mercy and careless waved his dagger at her. The child actually flinched and followed the blade with her gaze, wariness clear in her eyes. Well. It appeared her self-preservation instincts have finally kicked in.

"Cease your theatrics," Takeji drawled, unimpressed. "They do not fool me. Now lucky for you, demon spawn, the pathetic sight you project has made me decide to spare your life. Your tainted blood is not worthy enough to soil my blade, so I will say this only one and you would do well to heed this warning, beast."

Hardening his stare and curling his lip into a sneer, Takeji spat, "Leave this place at once and do not return. There is no place for the likes of you, an abomination that preys on helpless children. Now get out of my sight, afore I kill you on principle. Your vile presence disgusts me."

The child grunted and Takeji watched, stone faced, as she got to her feet. Then to his surprise the little demon balled her hands into fists at her sides and glared at him, but the effect was ruined by the tears he could clearly see brimming her eyes. He cocked a brow, unmoved. She sniffled once, twice, and then to his utter surprise and bafflement, her face suddenly crumbled, her lower lip trembled, and she promptly burst into loud tears before spinning on her heel and running away.

"P-Papaaaaaaaaaaa!"

Takeji frowned. Papa? Were the brat's kin nearby, then? Body tense and weapon raised, he waited, prepared to either fight or flee - because he wasn't a fool and knew when he was in over his head - but when no demons came bursting out of the tree line, Takeji slowly relaxed.

Bewildered and more than a little annoyed at the whole debacle - what a waste of time! - the diplomat scoffed in derision as he turned to watch the little demon brat scurry away. And then right at that exact moment, a figure donned in red dropped to the ground seemingly out of nowhere and Takeji felt a wave of relief sweep through him. Finally! This had to be his demon quarry.

Nodding, Takeji stepped forward and opened his mouth to call out a greeting—

And then froze in his tracks as the greeting abruptly died on his tongue. Because the little demon girl, the one he'd just pointed his weapon at and shoved to the ground, ran straight to the figure robed in red and Takeji could do naught but watch with a growing sense of horrified dread as the older demon knelt down to take the child into his arms.

All color promptly drained from his face and Takeji suddenly felt sick to his stomach. He glanced behind the pair and he was somehow not at all surprised to find the twin girls from earlier glaring at them and holding onto the skirts of their mother with a monk garbed in violet robes beside her. They too were staring at him in a not so friendly manner, but upon returning his gaze to the two demons, Takeji numbly thought that if looks could kill, he would surely be dead by now.

Because the demon robed in red - which was now unmistakably the child's father and none other than Inuyasha, the demon he'd come here for - was glaring absolute murder at him and it was obvious that he was. Not. Pleased.

Takeji swallowed and unconsciously backed up a step. With one small hand fisting her father's robes, the child had the other pointing an accusatory finger at him as she no doubt recited to him their earlier…ah, exchange. Inuyasha said nothing in response, but he didn't need to. The deep, nearly subsonic growl that erupted from his mouth, complete with fully bared fangs in a truly fearsome snarl, told him very clearly of his thoughts on his daughter's mistreatment by him.

Which, if Takeji had to guess, were not very Takeji-friendly. At all.

Somehow managing to fight against the urge to flee, Takeji swallowed hard as Inuyasha pushed to his feet and stalked toward him with that same murderous look on his face. Something told him, perhaps some deeply rooted self-preservation instinct, that if he even tried to run right then, it would not end well for him. So he remained where he was and tried valiantly to control the trembling in his body as he slowly, very slowly, tucked his dagger back from whence it came.

Inuyasha stopped in front of him and Takeji cleared his throat before attempting a placating smile, but it looked more like a grimace than anything. "Ah…I assume you are…In—"

One second Takeji was staring into the scowling features of one pissed off dog demon. The next there was a bright flash of light and then he was staring at the business end of a very large and very sharp sword. With the tip just a hair's breadth away from his nose, Takeji gasped sharply and stumbled back a step out of instinct.

Sweet merciful heavens! How—?

"Usually I'd ask who the fuck you are," the demon growled, his eyes twin slits of baleful gold. "But honestly, I can't really bring myself to care enough to know the name of the asshole who threatened my daughter when she was doing nothing but playing with her friends."

Takeji blanched for the second time and he could actually feel himself breaking out in a cold sweat. He fucked up. Oh dear god he'd fucked up so bad—

"There's—there's been a misunderstanding," Takeji tried in a voice higher than usual, raising his hands up in what he hoped was a placating gesture as he eyed the very sharp point of that blade. "I—I admit I've made a grave mistake—"

"Shut the fuck up and tell me why I shouldn't gut you where you stand," Inuyasha hissed, lips feeling back off his fangs in another fierce snarl. With his ears pinned back and those golden eyes glaring absolute death at him, the demon made quite the menacing picture. Takeji had the brief, if a bit ludicrous thought, that perhaps the demon Naraku perished from the sheer animosity that was coming off of the silver-haired demon in waves.

Swallowing once, twice, Takeji realized that he only had his quick wit to get him out of his certain predicament. So bracing himself, he opened his mouth—

"He's from the continent, Inuyasha. You can't hurt him."

Startled hazel eyes swung toward the source of the voice but amber eyes stayed locked on their target, the only acknowledgment of the voice a flick of an ear.

The owner of the voice the human diplomat could only presume was the child's mother, as the child in question was standing behind her legs and was actually smirking at him. He frowned.

"You're from Shenshi," the woman remarked and Takeji swung his gaze back to her. "Right?"

Though her expression wasn't openly friendly, it wasn't exactly unfriendly either, however the human diplomat still felt he needed to tread carefully. Because while her face didn't betray anything, her stare was hard and her mouth had tightened into a thin, flat line. She had one hand on her daughter's head while the other clutched a longbow, and belatedly he realized she had a quiver of arrows slung across her back. He barely held in a flinch as he realized this was one of the demon's companions that had assisted in slaying Naraku, possibly the young woman in which Inuyasha held a more meaningful relationship.

A much more meaningful relationship, if the child currently glaring daggers at him was anything to go by since she was more or less living proof of it.

Wonderful. So he'd gone and threatened the only child of two of the most powerful beings in Japan. Clearly he'd stepped over the wrong grave and pissed somebody off.

Clearing his throat and aiming a strained smile toward the woman who was still awaiting his reply, Takeji nodded once. "Ah, y-yes, my lady. I'm—"

"The diplomat Ambassador Sharaku sent to convince Inuyasha to join his ranks so he'd have the support and protection of 'The Great Slayer of Naraku.'" The woman raised a delicate brow at him. "How am I doing so far?"

Takeji had the good grace to look a mite sheepish. "Ah…well—"

"You can't kill him, Inuyasha," she repeated and Takeji thought she sounded disappointed. "If he goes missing, the ambassador will send his troops to find out what happened or if he returns injured, it could be taken as an insult and you can imagine what would happen after that. You would risk mine or Moroha's life like that, and you know it."

Inuyasha growled but said nothing to refute her words, so Takeji assumed he agreed.

"He threatened her, Kagome," the demon spat, inching the blade closer to his throat and Takeji flinched. "Called her a fucking animal, shoved her down, and waved a goddamn dagger in her face! You can't honestly expect me to let that—"

"Papa," the child - Moroha - suddenly said, successfully stalling her father's angry tirade. A quick glance revealed the girl, still sticking close to her mother, was staring at the older demon with big brown eyes, bright with the threat of tears as she worried her bottom lip. And evidently the sight was enough to calm the raging storm of Inuyasha's fury because he grimaced, released a low growl, and then Takeji watched in stunned amazement as the massive sword suddenly transformed into a rusty katana before it was sheathed at his hip.

With a weapon no longer at his throat, Takeji could breathe a little easier and he released a breath he hadn't even been aware he'd been holding. But then he sucked it right back in when Inuyasha suddenly stepped in close and got in his face, a low, threatening growl leaking past rightly clenched teeth bared in another snarl. Golden eyes bore into his own, filled with a lethal warning that had the human male's back straightening and his blood to run cold in his veins.

"You listen carefully, asshole," Inuyasha hissed, glaring so heatedly it was a wonder Takeji didn't burst into flame. "Don't you dare think that my wife's words have any sort of sway over my decision to spare your pathetic life. I'm not scared of your weakling ambassador and I sure as hell ain't scared of his little human army. No, the only reason that I let you live is because I don't want my daughter, the one you foolishly threatened when she had done nothing wrong, to see me sully my hands with your disgusting blood when I reduce you to nothing more than a bloody smear on the ground."

Takeji paled and swallowed thickly. That particular image was…not pleasant.

Inuyasha watched the color drain from his face. Satisfied, he sneered before saying in a growl filled with sinister promise, "Now get the fuck outta my village and if you ever touch my daughter again, I'll gut you so fast you won't even have time to fucking scream."

Then with that, Inuyasha leveled him with one last dark scowl before spinning on his heel and stalking away, a clear dismissal. Neither mother nor daughter even spared the frozen human male a glance as Inuyasha paused to pick his daughter up into his arms before striding away, his wife close to one side and his friends on the other.

From over his shoulder, Takeji could only watch in a mixture of shock and befuddlement as the little demon girl named Moroha smirked and then stuck her tongue out at him, safe and sound in her father's arms.

Left standing in a state of numb bewilderment, Takeji blinked, looked down at himself, and had the passing thought that it was a very good thing he'd decided to wear brown trousers that day.

[lavaffair]

Tongue Tied

Inukag Fluff Week Prompt: Secret/Stolen Kisses

Ao3 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/33168943

Miroku stared at the half demon with raised eyebrows as he growled impatiently.

“How long does it take for two women to get ready?” It sounded more like a complaint than a question, and the raven-haired man chuckled.

“Inuyasha, this happens every time, why do you seem to forget this?”

Inuyasha huffed in frustration. “It just doesn’t make any sense.”

An annoyed, muffled voice interrupted the men in the living room. “Inuyasha, shut up! Miroku, baby, we’re almost done!” His girlfriend, Sango, called from behind the door. She and Kagome were getting ready for their night out.

A dumb grin immediately appeared on Miroku’s face at the pet name Sango called him. His girlfriend of four years, they have been in this successfully established relationship for a long time. Inuyasha had no idea he would have ever seen his best friend be so loyal to one woman. He was happy for them, no doubt about that, and he was glad there was someone in the world that made Miroku happy.

Miroku was such a huge playboy back in college, and it was not until they both met the girls that Miroku’s main focus turned to Sango. It was an overnight change, a switch that had gone off in his head at the sight of her. Suddenly no other girl mattered, with pointless one-night stands and aimless flirting meaning nothing to the guy.

Back then, Miroku’s mission was to somehow get Sango to agree to go on one date with him, and she would refuse every single time. It was entertaining honestly, and he and Kagome would place bets on the sidelines to see what would happen. The winner would treat the other to a meal of their choice, and the stakes only got higher as Sango’s feelings started to get more obvious.

Eventually, she cracked and agreed to go on a date with the persistent man. They were casual for a while, with Sango being not very confident in how true Miroku was with his feelings. Though, he proved himself every time. And as they spent more time alone together, Inuyasha and Kagome’s friendship only became stronger.

For Inuyasha, it was a big deal, although he would never admit it. He was never great with women, and he was stuck around Miroku most of the time watching him flirt with a random girl every night. He was not the best influence, and Inuyasha was not going to take dating advice from a guy who never took dating seriously.

Kagome was his friend and an incredible one at that. She was always there for him, and he found it really easy for him to talk to her about things he had never told Miroku. At first it scared him; being so open and honest to a person was new to him, but Kagome calmed him. She brought him reassurance and safety, and it engulfed him in a warm aura that he had not felt since his mother was alive. She meant a lot to him, and he was grateful for the events that happened in order for their friendship to grow stronger.

Which, of course, had led them to secretly dating each other for the last month and a half now.

“Aw, baby, they’re almost done.” Inuyasha teased with a shit-eating grin.

Miroku laughed, “You’re just jealous you don’t have a beautiful woman calling you baby my friend.”

Inuyasha chose to ignore the jab and smirked in return. “So I can get whipped like you? I’ll pass.”

The bedroom door clicked open, revealing the two girls who had been hidden behind it dressed to the nines. Sango looked great dressed in dark blue pants that shimmered every time she moved and a halter top with the same color. The top had a crossing design that wrapped around her waist and went underneath her bust. Although, it was the girl beside her that grabbed all of Inuyasha’s attention, and it was incredibly difficult not to make it obvious.

Kagome took his breath away with every second that passed, her wavy raven hair cascading downward and framing her face as if she was a painting. The dress she had on had his body temperature rising at a steady rate. The way the satin material melted into her curves had his heart skipping a beat. It was olive in color, and Inuyasha made a mental note to buy her more clothes in green.

He felt like he was going to die, and he could not do a thing about it except stand here pretending like he was not staring at the most beautiful person in the room. Kagome was having a hard time restraining herself as well, seeing Inuyasha dressed up a little more than usual while still staying true to his comfort and fashion had her mouth-watering.

They had to control themselves. This was not the time. They both agreed to keep this a secret for now, only because they wanted to test out the waters before announcing it to their best friends. As nosy as they were most of the time, it was a miracle that they had yet to find out. The new couple wanted to enjoy their private time together. Besides, it made things a lot more fun. Miroku and Sango would l find out eventually, with it probably being a lot sooner than later since Inuyasha and Kagome were realizing that they definitely could not go back to strictly being friends.

The attraction was there, deeply welled into the ground with no chance of coming loose. Their friendship had blossomed into something they both had not expected, and it took a long time for Inuyasha to come to terms with it before he came clean to Kagome. He was a nervous wreck that day, but so was she, and when he had laid out his heart to her she was right there with him. It was surreal for the two of them, which is why they decided to keep it a secret for the time being. Everything was very new to the pair, as they had not planned on ever falling for each other in the first place.

Quickly, Inuyasha played it off and groaned, “Finally! You guys took forever.”

“Thanks! You look great too. You dress up nice.” Kagome fired back, but he could tell it was just a gimmick.

Sango, on the other hand, rolled her eyes. “It must be so nice to put on a pair of pants and a shirt and call it a day. Maybe even cologne if we’re so lucky.” She smirked, “Kagome and I, on the other hand, love to go all out. We’re hot already, so we don’t have to, but we want to.”

“Yeah, we all agreed we’d go out dressed up for once! We never do this as a group, and it’s going to be fun!” Kagome chimed in. Her smile was contagious, and it was taking everything within him to not launch himself at her and kiss her.

Miroku cleared his throat, “Well unlike someone over here, I think you both look wonderful.” He walked over to Sango and slowly slid his hand down to her bottom, “I think your butt looks great in these pants.” That earned him a slap to the hand.

“Ever the charmer.” Inuyasha retaliated.

“Let me praise my woman in peace.” He said as he feathered his girlfriend's cheek with kisses.

Kagome stuck out her tongue in mock disgust, “Ugh, Inuyasha, let’s go before they decide to bail on us.” She grabbed her bag and walked out in front of him, secretly allowing his eyes to look at her as he followed her out.

Their friends were quick on their tail, and out of the door, finally making their way to Miroku’s car. When they had all sat down inside, Kagome felt around for her phone and realized she had left it inside.

“Wait! I gotta go back for my phone. I left it on the bed!” She yelled.

“Ugh.” Inuyasha complained, “You’re so forgetful. I’ll go with you.” He unclicked his seatbelt to get out of the car, “We can give these two some alone time.”

Kagome giggled and wiggled her eyebrows at Sango, “Have fun. We won’t be long!” She scurried out of the car.

The journey back to the apartment felt endless as the couple felt the tension build between them. As soon as they were both out of sight, their hands met and entangled with one another. They walked in silence, the air felt too heavy between them to spare even one word to one another.

When Kagome turned the key to let them both back into the apartment, Inuyasha's hands were on her quicker than the flash, his lips crashing into hers before she could even get the door closed.

“You little liar.” He whispered into her mouth. “You left your phone on purpose.”

She kissed him back, her arms wrapping around his neck in an attempt to bring him closer. They were both smiling into the kiss as they savored finally being alone together.

“Did I?” She kissed his nose, “What if I actually left it here? You did say I’m forgetful.”

Inuyasha looked at her with awestruck eyes, taking her in completely before kissing her again. “I don’t believe you.” He kissed her face all over, leaving no inch of skin without a touch from his lips.

He left her in a fit of giggles while he continuously kissed her all over, making sure to leave some around the ticklish spot on her neck. “ They're gonna get- haha suspicious if we-“ More giggles, “-Take too long!” She let out.

The half-demon slowed down, kissing her forehead and nose before withdrawing. “It’s not my fault you look so good in this dress.”

“Hmm. If I remember correctly, you didn’t say that when I first walked out.” She teased, “But I do remember hearing you tell Miroku that he’s whipped.” She raised her brow.

Losing the battle, he pressed his lips against her plush ones once again. “Well, he is.”

She laughed, and he took in the beautiful sound. “You sure you’re not talking about yourself?”

He could not take his eyes off her lips, pink and a little swollen from their shared kisses, her big brown eyes, and the freckles that danced on her nose. “Oh no, definitely not.” He lied.

That earned him another giggle from her, and he wanted to keep kissing her so that he could get her to keep laughing. “I wonder who’s the liar now.” She tapped his nose with her finger, earning a little nose scrunch from him. “Now if you excuse me, I need to go get my phone. Sango’s probably spammed texted me by now!”

With one last kiss, Inuyasha let her go into her bedroom to find her cellphone. It was exactly where it was, right on the bed with five texts from her best friend. Although, that will not be the story she tells when they get back into the car.

***

The bar and lounge were packed as any normal bar would be on a Friday night. There were people sitting on the stools right by the bar, as well as the tables and couches that were spaced throughout the room.

The group of four were lucky enough to find a couch with a table and claimed it as theirs before someone else could take it. The music was blaring loudly in the building as the group of friends were figuring out food and drinks for the night. They had agreed on a bar and lounge because clubs are rowdy, don’t have any food, and Inuyasha cannot handle them whatsoever. However, he can definitely handle a bar and lounge. It was a plus that they also sold food along with their drinks.

Inuyasha and Kagome, seated side by side, did their best to fight the urge to hold hands. Unfortunately, they were not seated at a table where they could get away with it. Their hands were on full display, and therefore, could not interact the way they wished they could. Their best friends, on the other hand, were already showcasing their relationship to everybody in the room.

“Alright, what are we getting to eat?” Kagome spoke up, a slight jump coming to her the more she got excited about their orders.

Just as much as he loved to eat, so did his girl, and every time she was able to eat he noticed that she did a little dance in her chair from excitement. She never noticed how often she did that, and he quickly realized how cute it was that she did.

Sango looked through the menu with her best friend, “We have to get wings. I don’t make the rules, I just enforce them, and wings are part of tonight’s menu.”

Miroku laughed, “Babe, get whatever you want. Kagome, the same goes for you. We’ll pay for the tab.”

Kagome scoffed, “You guys always pay! Let us do it for once.”

Inuyasha nudged at her, hoping no one noticed how he poked at her thigh. “Not a chance. It’s not up for debate.”

“Agreed.” Miroku continued, “All you ladies need to do is sit there and enjoy your night.”

Sango rolled her eyes, “We’re paying next time! No excuses.”

Kagome flexed her arm to show off her strength, “We’ll arm wrestle next time and the winner pays! Meaning, Sango and I will pay.” She smirked.

Inuyasha raised his eyebrow, “Did you forget I’m stronger than all of you?”

“Mmm, you wouldn’t dare beat me.” His girlfriend struck back, a playful smile present on her face. All he wanted to do at that moment was kiss it away.

“Haha!” Miroku laughed, “She’s got a point.”

While the girls continued to check out the menu, Inuyasha let his hand linger closer to Kagome’s exposed thigh. It was not much, but to him it was something. This allowed him to remind himself that she was all his and vice versa. They could not be openly affectionate yet, but it was getting harder and harder to hold back.

Once the girls put in their food orders along with everyone’s desired drinks, there was nothing else they could do but wait. The night was still young, and normally the little dance floor in the middle of the room did not get packed until people were drunk. If the girls chose to dance, they would have to wait.

“Alright, so, what are we doing after this?” Sango asked, her voice rising an octave higher to attempt to speak over the music.

“What?” Inuyasha asked, “We’re already at the spot we planned to come to, and you wanna go somewhere else?”

“Inuyashaaaaa,” Kagome dragged on. “Don’t be such a party pooper.” She smacked his cheek playfully, a low growl immediately vibrated deeply in his chest. His girlfriend could not hear it, but oh boy could she feel it, and she was reveling in the effect she had on him.

It was not fair, and suddenly he wanted nothing more than to take her away and kiss her senseless again, he wanted to bask in her warmth and in the comforting sound of her giggles.

He already wanted to go home.

He relaxed and raised an eyebrow at her and put on his best-annoyed face. “I’m not a party pooper, Kagome.”

“Au contraire! My friend, you never want to stay out past 2 AM because you’re tired.” Miroku laughed.

“Face it, dog boy, you can’t hang.” Sango teased.

Kagome watched him pout, his annoyance extremely clear on his face, and all she could do was giggle at him. She understood why he hated staying out so late, seeing as how he worked so hard at the shop and knew he was very tired from his job. She knew he knew that they were just teasing him, but he was still going to complain about it.

“Tch. I’m gonna go get the drinks, maybe you guys will get tired after a few shots.” He stood up and made his way towards the bar, his broad back on full display for Kagome to see. She really could not believe how lucky she was, scoring someone so handsome and attentive like him.

Would she admit that it drove her a bit mad that other girls had their eyes glued to him when he walked to the bar too? No, not unless he asked her to. But it did bother her.

Quickly, she shot out of her seat, alarming her friends from her sudden burst. Sango looked at her concerned, and a little confused.

“I’m just gonna go help him out.” She lied. “Four drinks isn’t easy to carry back.”

“Don’t get lost.” Sango called back to her, but it went straight through one ear and out the other.

Kagome sauntered towards the bar, her brown eyes directly on her white-haired target, and smoothly positioned herself right beside him. He was standing beside the long table with no drinks in sight, casually waiting for the bartender with a pout still on his face.

“Baby,” Kagome chimed. “I was just kidding. You’re not a party pooper.”

He did not look at her and decided to keep staring at the fluorescent bottle displayed in front of him. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

She wrapped her hands around his arm and nuzzled into him, selfishly hoping the women at the other tables were watching. “You look cute when you pout.”

A blush crawled into his cheeks, staining his face red while he tried his best to look like the compliment did nothing to him. “I’m not pouting.”

She laughed again, and it sounded breathless and full of admiration all at the same time. “Do you want me to kiss it away?”

He looked at her eyes, and then at her lips, and back up at her eyes again. Those full, plush, soft lips that he could kiss all day long, for the rest of his life, enticing him to follow through.

“You’re okay with Thing 1 and Thing 2 knowing about us now?” He looked straight into her eyes, making sure to catch any hesitation or discomfort at the question.

“No,” she bit her lip to suppress the grin she had on her face. “Kissing you in secret is always fun, and we can do that anywhere, but I don’t want to hide us anymore from our friends.” She squeezed his arm for emphasis.

“If you’re okay with telling them now, so am I.”

Inuyasha looked down at her, a beautiful pink colored her cheeks at her revelation, and he could not help but smile at her. He kissed her forehead, careful not to smudge her makeup, and grinned. “Babe, get ready to be shown off to everyone. Because after this, everyone’s gonna know about my hot, annoying, and sweet girlfriend.”

She wrinkled her nose at him, “You gonna keep the annoying part in there?”

The half-demon laughed and patted her head. “That’s the part of you that made me fall for you so hard.”

“Drinks for Inuyasha.” the bartender interrupted.

It was Kagome’s turn to pout as the couple made their way back to their friends. With two drinks in each hand, they carefully placed them down on the table and sat back down.

“Inuyasha..” Sango asked, her voice coming off more threatening than usual. “What did you do to Kagome?”

His girlfriend's plush lips were still in a cute little pout, and he could tell immediately that she was trying to get back at him for calling her annoying. They were both messing around with each other as they normally do, but looking at her soft lips and with their previous conversation still fresh in his mind, Inuyasha knew what to do.

“He called me annoying.” Kagome answered, “So, I’m giving him the silent treatment.”

He could not stop his eyes from rolling at her, a humongous grin showing on his face. “Oh, relax, you know I didn’t mean it.”

Kagome’s brown eyes narrowed at him, but instead of looking angry, she looked like she was challenging him. “Hmm, remind me of what you said back at the bar then.”

That was it, the urge to kiss her again was too strong, seeing her so playfully riled up at his antics. She looked so good in this green dress, with her wavy hair cascading down her arms and face, her blushing cheeks that makeup could never compare to, and her challenging eyes that were staring right into his.

It was an instant pull, like a magnet, that led him to immediately latch his lips onto hers. Inuyasha felt her body give a little jolt in surprise, but she quickly molded her lips right against his, the feeling of kissing him was too addicting. She fisted her dainty hands onto his leather jacket and latched on for support while her body turned into putty because all she could think about was kissing him back. One of his large hands lay firmly on the small of her back while the other was caressing her cheek.

If they had a choice they would do this forever with one another and never go back to reality again. But half-demon or not, they both needed to pull apart to get some air. Their chests heaved dramatically while they stared at each other, both of their faces the reddest they have ever been.

“Finally.” Miroku snorted, “I was wondering when you two were going to crack.”

Inuyasha’s eyes widened. “W-what?”

“You guys aren’t exactly the best at keeping secrets, you know.” Sango added.

“Yeah, especially when you guys look like you will jump each other at any second,” Miroku smirked, his eyes flicking back and forth from the couple in front of him.

Kagome huffed, “I figured this would happen.” She could not help but laugh. “Why didn’t you guys just say anything?”

“You placed bets, didn't you?” The half-demon glared. He, too, had his suspicions that their best friends had figured it out a while back, but for Kagome’s sake, he continued with their agreement on staying a secret until later on.

“‘Course we did, we wouldn’t be your best friends if we didn’t place bets.” Miroku’s violet eyes looked into Sango’s, and he smirked. “Also, we both liked to watch you two pretend like you weren’t into each other. It was fun.”

“Keh. Assholes.” Inuyasha scoffed.

“Never mind that,” Sango pulled Kagome in for a hug. “I’m so happy! This couldn't have gone more perfect!”

Kagome was in a fit of giggles all over again, and immediately she was pulled off from her best friend and into her boyfriend's arms.

“Well, guess we couldn’t keep it a secret after all.” The half-demon smirked.

A bright smile that Kagome could not hold back appeared on her face. “Nope, I guess not.”

They kissed each other again, and again, and again. By the time the group of friends all left the lounge, Inuyasha and Kagome looked spent, with swollen kissed lips and a drunken look in their eyes.

[petri808]

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10

Inukag Royalty Au

Queen Higurashi looked up after reading the letter. “What is the meaning of this Sango?” Her voice straining against lashing out in a mix of anger and confusion. “Prepare a wedding? For whom, Kagome? But where is Kagome?”

“I am very sorry your majesty,” Sango bowed, “but I am only the messenger for the Inutaisho. He didn’t tell me all the details either.”

The instructions sent by letter and stamped with the Inutaisho’s official seal explained that the Higurashi’s should prepare a secret wedding ceremony. It was a brief letter and requested the only other person that should be in attendance besides the royal family was the priest. All the trappings of a traditional royal wedding affair would not take place, such as inviting the nobles or holding a large ball to celebrate. It was important to maintain a secrecy.

“Then you tell me everything that you do know!” The King snapped. “This is our daughter!”

“I understand, your majesty, I really do. But I am doing this to protect the Princess. I agree with the Inutaisho that there is a potential spy, but we don’t know who or where they are to have found out about the cancelled marriage arrangement. So, secrecy is our only protection. Please just know the Princess is safe and everything will be made clear when the Inutaisho arrives here in a week.”

“Do you truly believe this spy exists?” The queen questioned the young woman.

Sango stood tall and firm in her conviction. “Yes, your majesty. I do.”

The queen and king shared a silent conversation before turning back to the attendant. “Very well, we will honor the Inutaisho’s request. But is there really nothing else we should be preparing? What will Kagome wear? Are no flowers needed?”

Sango shook her head. “If there really is a spy in our midst, ordering such things will raise suspicions and I got the impression that the Inutaisho will make sure anything else required will be taken care of. Right now, the important thing to do is act as normally as possible until they arrive.”

King and Queen Higurashi were concerned, but in the end, they knew Sango was loyal to their daughter and would never do anything that could put her in harm’s way. So, they chose to trust her. It had already been a shock to them to learn their daughter had been living an assumed life in the Inu kingdom but were even more confused on how the Inutaisho became involved. It was a relief in a way, despite not knowing all the details because King Naraku was not someone they’d want their daughter to marry. They’d been threatened with force if they hadn’t agreed to the marriage, so this might just be their saving grace. Their trusted priest was contacted and sworn to secrecy, to be ready in about a week’s time to perform a marriage ceremony, with the only other person told anything being their younger son Souta. The young man was less concerned over his sister’s whereabouts all this time and simply happy that he’ll be seeing her again.

And right as expected, a week later the castle guards were notified of the Inutaisho’s arrival. But not just the King, a full entourage including the whole royal family. The castle’s staff was sent into a full frenzy to ready enough sleeping quarters for the royals, and a meeting room was also readied so the two families could finally sort out just what in the world was going on.

Kagome led the Inu family into the meeting room and immediately upon seeing her mother the tears began to pool in her eyes from all the guilt of putting them through this. She rushed over and hugged the queen.

“I’m sorry for running away,” she quietly whimpered into her mother’s shoulder. “This is all my fault.”

“Oh, my dear, please don’t blame yourself.” The woman rubbed her hand up and down in a soothing manner along Kagome’s back. “We were partially to blame as well. Now dear,” the woman pulled away and cupped her daughter’s cheek while wiping away the tears. “Please tell us what is going on.”

Kagome looked back and gestured for Inuyasha to come to her. “It will all be explained, but first I’d like you to meet his son, prince Inuyasha.”

“Your majesty’s,” the man bowed his head to the royals.

“It is nice to finally meet you, prince Inuyasha,” the king and queen smiled at the handsome man.

Kagome then took Inuyasha’s hand and interlaced their fingers. “Mom, Inuyasha is the man I’ll be marrying.”

Her parent’s eyes widened. They’d suspected it, but to have it confirmed was a joy! “Oh, thank the gods!” The queen smiled. “But how did this happen?”

It was at this point that the Inutaisho stepped forward. “We should first discuss the more pressing issue that’s brought us here today.”

The Higurashi’s nodded and motioned towards a sitting area. From there the rest of the Inu family were introduced to the Higurashi’s before being escorted to their guest rooms. Only the Inutaisho, Queen Izayoi, Inuyasha, and Kagome were the ones to stay behind.

Inutaisho spoke first. “I shall leave the details of how Kagome originally came to us for her to tell you later.” He explained how his son had fallen in love and that is what prompted him to call off the original marriage arrangement, but of course at the time they didn’t know of Kagome’s true identity. It was only revealed when Sango arrived to take her home. “Once that happened, I was shocked to find out she was the original princess he was betrothed to, but also furious to learn Naraku had swept in and threatened you over her hand. That is not something I will tolerate, because it means he’d had spies either in my palace, your castle, or both to have learned such information.”

“So, what are you saying?” King Higurashi questioned. “We’re still bound by the new contract, and he is probably on his way right now.”

“I believe,” the Inutaisho continued, “that this is both our faults for not telling our children the truth right from the beginning. Had we introduced them before setting up the arrangement, perhaps none of this would have happened. But we cannot undo the the past and therefore, I feel there is a way to set things right again. Our new arrangement provided that the Inu Kingdom would step in to protect this one and that is exactly what I plan to do.”

“And how do you propose to do so?” King Higurashi questioned.

“I have already hidden a garrison in the surrounding area.”

“Will one be enough?” Queen Higurashi questioned.

“Yes. They are our strongest yokai division. So, when King Naraku arrives he will have no chance against them.”

“But why did we need to prepare for a wedding ceremony?”

“To make Kagome and Inuyasha’s marriage official before he got here. Between a binding marriage vow and the threat of destruction, Naraku would be a fool to test my might. If once everything has been settled, you wish to hold a proper celebration, I see no harm in that.”

“Thank you, your majesty.” King and queen Higurashi bowed their heads to Inutaisho.

“I want you to know that over the course of these months, Kagome has truly become a part of our family. So, it is my honor to play a role in setting things right.” Inutaisho smiled. “Plus, she’s a very good match for my son.”

Queen Higurashi sighed in relief. “It’s a genuine pleasure to see my daughter happy too.”

Before Queen Izayoi took her leave, she explained to her counterpart that Kagome’s dress was already made, and flowers had been brought in for a bouquet. They were also instructed to tell their staff that the Inu clan was just there to attend the upcoming wedding in order to keep rumors lowered. Next the two kings moved onto outlining what will happen when Naraku arrived. One plan was to confront him immediately before they even arrived at the gate, while another was to allow him entry and confront him in the throne room. The second option came down to if the hunter Inutaisho brought to track down Naraku’s spy was successful.

While the men discussed the military details, queen Higurashi, Kagome, and Inuyasha retreated to another private room. As soon as the trio sat down, the refined poise of a queen was turned off. “Alright, spill it.” The woman scolded the couple in a light tone. “I want all the details and starting from the beginning.”

The couples faces turned pink in embarrassment, but nevertheless, Kagome began telling the tale of how she’d become princess Rin’s attendant at the palace, to the budding romance between she and Inuyasha. “We both tried so hard to fight our feelings,” the woman looked down in nervous shame. “But it just grew stronger instead.”

“That’s when I’d fought with my father to cancel the arrangement. I told him I’d rather stay single if it meant living with Kagome in the palace for the rest of my life.”

“I probably should have told Inu the truth right there,” Kagome admitted. “But I was so afraid the king would kick me out because not only did I want to stay with Inuyasha, but I didn’t want to leave Rin as well.”

Inuyasha grasped Kagome’s fidgeting fingers. “And I’m grateful for everything you’ve done for her. Rin’s truly blossomed because of you.”

“Kagome,” her mother addressed her. “I hope you know that we always had the best intentions for you and I’m sorry that because we weren’t honest with you it drove you to run away. I was more afraid then upset not knowing if you were okay, so it warms my heart to know you’ve been in good hands all along.”

“The Inu’s made me feel like family from the beginning, and I can’t thank them enough for their hospitality.”

The queen smiled. “I’m proud of you Kagome. To know I bore such a strong woman, I can rest well, knowing you’ll be able to weather anything thrown at you.”

Kagome’s eyes teared up as she moved over to hug her mother. “Thank you, that means the world to me to hear that.”

The queen hugged her back. “Oh, I love you so much my dear.”

“I love you too mom.”

“And thank you, Inuyasha, for taking care of my little girl. I have no doubt that your marriage will be a long and happy one.”

“Thank you, your majesty,” Inuyasha smiled. “I will treat her like a queen.”

The following day, the royal families gathered in the chapel to solidify the marriage between Inuyasha and Kagome. While a small affair, it was still a special one with Rin playing a flower bearer, Sango a bridesmaid, and Miroku a groomsman. Inuyasha wore a white ceremonial military uniform with red and gold accouterments and decked out with the royal Inu family crest. Kagome’s white dress followed the style of the Inu kingdom with a form fitting top and flowing floor length dress, decorated with red and gold patterns to mirror Inuyasha’s garb.

The couple stood facing one another before the priest who took their hands and placed one on top of the other, then lightly wrapped the layered hands with a white sash to signify their union. He then placed his own hand on top and began the sermon.

“There is nothing more blessed than the coming together of two individuals in matrimony. To love each other and support each other through sickness and in health until the end of their days. And what I see before me is a tested love that shall endure whatever trials or tribulations may come their way.”

“Prince Inuyasha, do you take princess Kagome to be your wedded wife, to cherish and honor with love and loyalty until the end of your days?”

“I do.”

“And do you, princess Kagome, take prince Inuyasha to be your wedded husband, to cherish and honor with love and loyalty until the end of your days?”

“I do.”

“Then unless there is any here that objects to this Union, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride.”

“Finally,” Inuyasha breathed out as he swooped in and kissed a giggling Kagome.

Cheers and clapping from all around the couple went ignored, and the attendees simply became a faded background. This had been the moment they’d been fated for all along and to finally have it consummated, truly felt like a new beginning. When she ran away from home, Kagome never imagined this is where she’d end up. Marrying a man, she’d fallen in love with all on her own instead of through an arranged marriage. Perhaps the gods had been on her side all along.

Inuyasha’s fingers swept gently over her cheek as he stared with blissful intent into her eyes. “I love you, Kagome.”

She leaned into his hand as her eyes softened. “I love you too, Inuyasha.”

Just a little longer and they’ll truly be free…

[jackrrabbit]

Oh? Request open? Since you write for Inuyasha, how about some 18+ content for Koga please?

Mating Season /// Koga x f!Reader (18+)

I’ve always had a soft spot for Koga, and he has so much nasty potential as a wolf demon. Repressed village girl vs. horny wolf-boy is peak lewd.

Warnings: dubcon, wolf characteristics, yandere, light a/b/o, very light breeding kink (there’s like 1 mention of it)

As a villager at the foot of the mountains where Koga’s pack lives, you’ve heard stories since you were a child about the vicious wolf demons who live in caves and eat little girls who stray away from their homes. Now that you’re an adult and you only half believe in fairy tales, you still should’ve known better than to take a nap in the woods with sunset coming so soon. But who could blame you? They were just stories. Rumors. Old wives’ tales passed down from mother to daughter for generations, a warning not to stray from what was known. And you’d been exhausted. During the daylight hours you know these woods like the back of your hand—surely you can’t be blamed for putting down your basket and resting your eyes, just for a moment?

Not that he needs more than a moment. Your fate is sealed the second you step into the woods, into his territory, where he’s isolated himself to spend his rut away from the other members of his pack. It’s hard enough to hold back his…more aggressive instincts when he’s alone; but when he finds you sleeping propped up against a tree, looking sweet and innocent and smelling like a bitch in heat, you really just don’t stand a chance.

Koga’s torso pushes down into your back like he’s trying to pin you with the weight of his body. When you manage to suck in a breath (struggling to let your ribs expand against his iron-solid grip on you), you can smell his sweat and yours mixing with the slightly-damp earth under your feet and the sharp, bitter medicinal herbs you were gathering. With your skirts pushed up to your waist the springtime evening mist is frigid against your bare skin, but the heat radiating off his body is making you feel feverish anyway. Your knees are digging into the dirt and for some reason the thought crosses your mind that your nice white stockings are definitely going to stain, and your mother is going to be so angry, and you almost want to laugh at how absurd the thought is. As if a few stains could possibly matter while a demon is fucking you.

Instead of laughing, you whimper as Koga hits a particularly deep spot inside of you. How many times has he finished inside now? Three? Four? His arm is wrapped around your torso, keeping your body locked into his while he drives into you over and over and over. His thick cock nudges up against your cervix every time he pushes his hips toward your ass. It hurt at first. You aren’t sure when it stopped hurting. Maybe it still hurts.

But oh…it feels so good, too. You didn’t even know it was possible to feel like this. It’s like you’ve been hungry—starving—your whole life, and now you’re finally getting something to eat. Every inch of your cunt aches, but at some point you start trying to buck your hips back toward his. It isn’t so much reciprocation as it is just trying to ground yourself, or maybe letting yourself go in the moment… You can barely keep yourself upright, and you drop onto your elbows, your forehead inches away from the mud.

The demon growls—growls, actually growls like a wild animal, as if you needed more convincing—and he presses his bare chest down toward you, the sweat soaking off of his skin and through the fabric of your bodice. His thrusts are slower now, not the rapid jerks that he started out with. Maybe he can tell you like this better? Feeling every inch of his cock opening you up and rubbing against the sensitive walls of your cunt is making you afraid you’re going to lose your mind in the delirious fog of what you would call lust if you knew the word for it.

You certainly sound like you want it, your pleas transforming into sweet moans as your body adapts to the mating. You probably don’t even realize how wanton your voice is. Whatever else you’ve said, all Koga can hear in his rut-induced haze are your cries of pleasure and the squelching of his dick sliding in and out of you.

It’s easier when you don’t have to look at him. You can pretend that this is a dream, the kind of impure fantasy the village girls giggle to each other about, comparing their conquests, making up stories about which of the young men is the most handsome, who probably has the most experience, who might have the biggest—

“Ah!” you cry out, squeezing your eyes shut so you don’t have to look at the creamy smears of the demon’s cum painting your thighs white and collecting on the dirt between your legs. Surely no mortal man would be capable of finishing so many times without even pulling out.

Koga releases your hips and you rock forward, startled, until he grabs you by your upper arm and pulls you upright so you’re sitting in his lap with his cock still impaled inside of you. He rolls his hips experimentally and you hiss in surprise as his thick head drags against a sensitive spot in your pussy.

Before you can get accustomed to the new angle, he’s pulling your head around so you’re forced to look into his face. You imagine that this is how a prey animal feels when it’s stared down by a predator—a rabbit looking at a wolf, haha, your mind supplies involuntarily—there’s something that makes it impossible to look away. The part of your brain that’s still clinging to rationality and trying to compartmentalize notes for a second that oddly enough, he looks just as desperate as you feel.

“Wh-whyyy?” you whine, half-aware that this is the first real word spoken between you. You don’t know why you think he’s going to respond—even though he looks more human than the other demons you’ve encountered, his actions have been just as feral and animalistic as the rest of them, if only less violent and more…depraved.

There’s a bead of sweat rolling down your neck, and Koga can’t take his eyes off of it. He tangles his fingers in your hair and pulls your head back to expose the smooth column of your throat, careful not to yank it hard enough to hurt you. Humans are so fragile. When he tilts forward to lick the salty droplet off your skin, he feels your shiver all the way down. “You—I smelled you…”

In your half-aware state, it takes you a moment to hear him. “…What?”

The demon nuzzles his face into your hair, and his leisurely sigh stirs the fine hairs on the back of your neck. “Smells so good…waiting for me. Begging for me…”

“I—I don’t understand? Begging? Ah—ahhh…” Not for the first time, you try to push away from the demon uselessly. The rhythm of his slow, rocking thrusts doesn’t falter—you wouldn’t be surprised if he can’t even feel it.

It’s not easy for Koga to listen to your words when your moaning is so much more interesting, but he tries. For your sake. His soft little mate, so warm and weak while you grind your ass into his lap. What about this don’t you understand? He smelled you, he wanted you, he fucked you. And you wanted it too, of course you did…why else would you be wandering around by yourself in the peak of your heat, so ripe and ready for breeding that the smell of your lust is rising off your skin in waves? Why else would you have crossed into the territory of an alpha in his rut…?

But humans don’t think like that, do they?

The thought pierces Koga’s mind with a sudden, harsh clarity that would have been impossible had he not already finished inside your needy cunt four times now. Humans are different. Their senses of smell are so weak, just like the rest of them.

Koga remembers, unwillingly, a time when he crossed paths with Kagome’s party while she’d been on the edge of her heat. He smelled it, and Inuyasha noticed. The mutt pulled Koga aside to warn him not to mention it to her.

“But she’s about to go into heat. She shouldn’t be out of her house, let alone traveling with you, hanyo. Or can you even smell it?”

“Shut up, of course I can! But she can’t. Believe me, I brought it up to her once and she got pissed and said I was a pervert. Humans don’t know about stuff like that.”

They…don’t know. So that meant you didn’t know. You came into his territory by accident. You don’t know you’re in heat. You don’t know he’s in his rut, and you don’t know he’s an alpha. You probably don’t even know you’re in his territory.

The demon’s movements slow and then go still, and you’re left sitting in his lap with his cock still pulsing, a stiff rod of heat in your belly. You wait a moment, wondering if he’s going to pull out, but he doesn’t. His arm is still wrapped around you and his sharp fingernails are digging into the fabric of your bodice, no doubt leaving crescent-shaped marks in your skin. Involuntarily you feel yourself rock your hips against his pelvis, a feeble attempt to get him to pull out or even just move—the sex might’ve been uncomfortable, but feeling all full and stretched and so close to satisfaction with no way to get it by yourself is unbearable.

When there’s no response, you turn around toward him to get your first good look at the man (the demon) who’s made you want things you don’t even know how to say out loud. He’s good-looking—tall, tan, with boyish good looks (that would have earned him quite a few admirers if he were a villager like you) and flat blue eyes that seem oddly unfocused. His hair is tied up in a ponytail and you have the urge to pull on it, just like he pulled on your hair a moment ago. You don’t know his name. “Demon…please. I need you,” you whisper, letting some of the urgency you’re feeling spill into your voice.

Both of his hands clamp down on your hips, securing you in place while he slams his hips up back into yours. “Mate,” he snarls, his voice drowning out your yelp of pleasure, and before your mind goes blank with lust again, a chill runs down your spine because you’re not sure if he’s correcting you…or addressing you.

[kstewdeux]

Tumblr Exclusive For No Raisins

Five Stages of Grief

Struggling to breathe, Inuyasha clutched Kagome’s battered body tightly against his chest - one hand pressing against the wound on her back while the other pressed her ever colder hand against his heart. This was his fault. Completely his fault. That attack had been thrown and he ducked without taking into account the miko’s position. By the time he realized where she was, there was no time to take the hit for her and...and...

“You’re okay” Inuyasha choked as tears streamed down his cheeks and he buried his face in Kagome’s blood soaked hair, “You’ll be fine. It’s just...it’s just a flesh wound. Nothing deep. Just...just stay with me, huh?”

A whine escaped him as the scent of death began creeping into her scent. With trembling hands, he had tended to her wounds as best as he could but it wasn’t enough. At a certain point, he could barely feel his own fingers and every clumsy attempt to stitch up the numerous wounds wound up hurting her more. It wasn’t like this was his first time tending an injury that way. He’d done it thousands of times on himself with even cruder implements than what his miko carried with her from the future but his hands wouldn’t cooperate just like everything else in his body. Amber eyes - usually able to see every blade of grass - could barely see what they were doing. His lungs were barely taking in air and it took everything he had left in him not to simply pass out.

So he stopped trying since all he was doing was making her worse. Oh, he applied bandages and ointments and forced her to swallow those fever pills but she was bleeding out before his very eyes. There was nothing he could do for her. He had failed her in every possible way and now all he could do was pray.

To add insult to injury, the smell of graveyard soil had been steadily growing stronger over the last agonizing hour. Kikyo knew. She knew Kagome was dying.

“You can’t have her,” Inuyasha spat hatefully as the last person he wanted to see came into view, “She’s going to be fine. You’ll see. So...so you can’t take her soul. I won’t...I won’t let you.”

Closing his eyes, Inuyasha tried to find the will to stand and fight but it simply wouldn’t come. With Kagome slipping through his fingers so too did his own desire to live to see another day. He didn’t want to go back to a world without his miko in it. He simply wouldn’t survive.

Squeezing Kagome’s hand as tightly as he dared, Inuyasha tried to muster up more strength from the simple touch to no avail. So he restorted to desperately clutching her to him with both hands like he could hold in her soul through that action alone. The motion aggravated her wounds but with as far gone as his miko was in that moment, she didn’t even react and that sent his panic to all new heights.

“How was she hurt?” came Kikyo’s softly spoken reply and Inuyasha shook his head - burying his nose into ebony locks as his own heart struggled to beat. The scent of Kagome’s impending death was suffocating.

“Inuyasha look at me,” the undead miko commanded in a gentler tone than he’d heard in quite some time. When he merely whined and more tears fell, Kikyo tried to cross the distance between them but stopped at the menacing growl he used to warn her.

“You can’t have her,” Inuyasha managed shakily as he clutched Kagome tighter still. Like the action itself would keep the soul inside its vessel, “She’s mine. She’s mine and I promised...I promised to protect her.”

His voice cracked on that last word and the undead miko felt her unbeating heart crack at the sound.

“She needs new bandages,” Kikyo sighed, “And you’re in no state to...”

“Don’t touch her!” Inuyasha barked as yet more tears fell - one clawed hand blindly swiping to maintain distance through intimidation, “Stay...stay back. I’m warning you!”

Kikyo took another step and Inuyasha’s face contorted in pure unbridled rage.

“Take one step closer and I’ll destroy you,” the hanyou snarled between clenched teeth as his eyes flashed red, “I said you can’t have her bitch so back the fuck up!”

Kikyo let out another sigh before glancing at her soul collectors who nodded subtly and began gliding towards the grieving half-demon who watched with somewhat panic stricken eyes as they moved closer.

“Get those things away from me!” Inuyasha snapped desperately as he tried to get to his feet but any strength he had had long since fled his body, “What...what about you can’t have her did you not understand?!”

“Inuyasha I’m not going to...”

It was becoming terrifyingly obvious that something was wrong with him. Despite his best efforts, his body wouldn’t cooperate and every attempt to scramble to his feet and run resulted in his crumpling to the ground. His worthless ass couldn’t protect her.

He already failed but....

“If...if you need to take someone take me,” Inuyasha bargained desperately as one soul collector gently wrapped around his elbow and his body suddenly wasn’t his own. His grip weakened and he watched with heartbroken eyes as another soul collector wrenched Kagome from his arms, “I’ll go with you. I swear I’ll go with you. You can kill me or...or do whatever. I don’t care. Just...just don’t...”

A soft cry escaped him as Kikyo knelt down beside the one person who made his life worth living and gently rested one hand on Kagome’s stomach.

“Kikyo please....please don’t hurt her,” Inuyasha begged miserably as the soul collector immobilizing him pinned both arms behind his back. Kikyo was going to make him watch?! Didn’t she see he was already broken enough already? Why...why destroy him completely? What would be the point?! Did she really hate him that much? He...he’d never done anything to her. Defended her even at the expense of his own happiness. Even though it killed him inside. Every time he returned he had to face the betrayal in Kagome’s eyes which was more painful than any injury he’d received. Ruined every chance he had to be loved for the sake of someone who wanted nothing more than to make him suffer. Hadn’t he done enough? Sacrificed enough?

Inuyasha closed his eyes and willed his heart to give out. He couldn’t watch this. Another tear slipped free.

“These wounds are deep,” he heard Kikyo hum in a worried voice, “The stitches are too loose. Do you have more thread?”

Letting out a shaky breath, watery amber eyes slowly opened to find Kikyo looking at him expectantly.

“I’m not going to hurt her. I want to help,” Kikyo informed him in a slightly chiding tone before adding quickly, “Kagome is essential to defeating Naraku.”

Exhaling slowly, Inuyasha bit back tears as he tried to find his voice but failed. Kikyo gave him a strangely sympathetic look before glancing at the yellow monstrosity Kagome called a backpack and nodding to one of her soul collectors who clumsily tugged it closer.

Inuyasha felt his soul curl up and die as Kikyo began rummaging through the bag. This was a trick. Make him think she was there to help and then do something awful when his guard was down. There would be no holding Kagome one last time. No ability to say goodbye. She’d leave this world never knowing....never knowing how much he loved her. Swallowing thickly, Inuyasha tried to find the courage to say what needed to say before it was too late but his fear that Kikyo would make Kagome’s death more painful stilled his tongue. Two more tears trailed down his cheeks as he tried to remember how to breathe. Kagome had made him believe, if only for a little while, that he could be something more. That he had worth in his ability to protect and care for others but everyone was right about him. He had failed the one person in the world who thought differently of him from the very start. He was every bit the worthless half-breed everyone had always told him he was. Maybe he should’ve been drowned at birth.

It didn’t even register with him that Kikyo was, in fact, helping. Years of sewn distrust blinded him to the possibility that things were not as dire as they appeared. Whether Kikyo was helping or not, though, the scent of death lingered.

Letting out a shuddering breath, Inuyasha tried to struggle against the invisible bonds as his hardwired instinct to protect Kagome finally kicked in. It had shriveled up and died for a brief moment out of a belief that it was too late to do anything but now that the world has shown him once and for all things could always be worse, the instinct came back full force.

“Stop moving so much,” Kikyo sighed as she continued stitching the unconscious miko’s wounds, “You’ll aggravate your wounds.”

Inuyasha, of course, didn’t even know he was injured so that comment went right over his head. It hadn’t even registered that he also had been the victim of a direct hit that had shredded his fire rat robes and that half the blood that drenched Kagome was his own. Inuyasha honestly placed absolutely no value on his own life and the undead miko sighed sadly at that realization as she finished her task before reaching for the bottle labeled disinfectant. Which by the smell of it would probably hurt quite a good bit once applied.

Kikyo flicked her gaze up at the utterly heartbroken and obviously struggling boy watching with agony riddled eyes for just a moment before deciding she could multi-task.

“Inuyasha fear not. I have no intention of letting her die,” the undead miko began softly before looking at the spray bottle with a confused, appraising eye, “You must calm yourself.”

Again, Kikyo underestimated how very far gone Inuyasha was in that moment. His mind filled with panic induced static that was only growing thicker by the moment. Inuyasha was incapable of hearing anything outside of his own heart pounding in his normally sensitive ears. Breathing had gone completely by the wayside for more reasons than one and kiss goodbye his sense of smell with how congested his nose had become. The slow trickle of blood leaking out of the corner of his mouth was flowing completely unnoticed as his vision blurred and his head lolled. The effort he was expending tried to break free was dimming and his body was refusing to cooperate.

“Set him down,” Kikyo ordered softly as she spritzed the sanitizer a few times and hummed in understanding, “But be careful. Don’t aggravate his wounds.”

Inuyasha felt his body being laid out as he continued watching Kikyo do whatever the hell she was doing. Kagome was so close. If he could move, he could almost reach out and touch her. The undead miko glanced up then followed his gaze with a sad little smile before reaching over, grasping his hand and pulling it a hair away from Kagome’s wrist. Taking the miko’s wrist then Kikyo placed it atop his palm before helping curl his fingers around the thin flesh so his thumb lay just over her vein.

“Can you feel her heartbeat?” Kikyo asked softly as Inuyasha looked up at her with unfocused amber eyes before those same eyes lowered to where his hand was curled around Kagome’s wrist. For a moment he didn’t react at all before a shuddering sigh of relief gave her the answer he couldn’t give out loud. The steady thrum under his fingertips brought him comfort that couldn’t be voiced with words. At least he’d be with her at the end. Small comfort though that was. Maybe he’d be lucky enough to die soon so they’d be born together in the next life. That would be alright. To find out that soul and him really did have a destiny. Just wrong time and place this go ‘round. Vision blurring Inuyasha closed his eyes and focused on Kagome’s weakening pulse.

“It’s okay ‘Gome,” Inuyasha mumbled tiredly as another tear snaked down his dirtied cheek, “Its okay...”

It had to be several hours later that Inuyasha slowly regained consciousness even though his eyes stubbornly refused to cooperate. He was cocooned in something warm and soft. There was a pleasant pressure running along the front of his body too that one arm seemed to be keeping in place. Kagome was nearby, though, which meant he was being protected and cared for. And...and...

Oh no. Ooooh no. Nope. Not good. Definitely bad.

With a painful sounding groan, Inuysha finally forced his eyes open and nearly died on the spot. A short distance away a calm, indifferent looking Kikyo sat petting her soul collector while her two weird child minions maintained a barrier that surrounded him. As for the pressure against his front, one glance down told him that it was a pajama clad Kagome spooned up against his bare chest while the warmth came from the sleeping bag they’d both been stuffed into.

The rest of that day crashed down onto him moments later.

“Shit,” Inuysha breathed as he suddenly buried his nose into Kagome’s hair and inhaled deeply before whining in relief when the scent of death couldn’t be found. A tear welled in the corner of his eye as he squeezed the miko to him as tightly as he dared. He could smell the somewhat fresh blood from her stomach wound even now and...and his own dried blood? Had he been hurt too? He hadn’t noticed...

“Once you were both stabilized, I had my soul collectors arrange you this way,” Kikyo explained impassively as she glanced over at him, “It seemed the logical thing to do.”

Inuyasha set his jaw - nose remaining in Kagome’s hair as amber eyes watched the undead miko wearily. Had Kikyo been trying to help him? That seemed so absurd he didn’t even know where to start.

For some reason, this was the moment he suddenly remembered that Kagome hadn’t been wearing pajamas. And it would appear his undergarments were gone. His eyes widened in horror for a moment before he pushed that thought as far back in his mind as it would go. W-who cared it Kikyo saw them both naked? That didn’t bother him. Nope. Didn’t bother him at all. It was...

This was fine. Fine. An absolutely fantastic turn of events that wouldn’t keep him awake at night due to the crushing awkwardness. The only solace he could find was that Kikyo may have done a mortifying thing but it was done in the course of a not shitty thing so...

The fact that she had done such a thing when both he and Kagome were unconscious did seem to be the thing that convinced him Kikyo didn’t actually mean them harm. She’d had ample opportunity to kill them. They’d both been so far gone the jostling that must have occurred didn’t even wake them.

That didn’t help the blush on his cheeks or the mortification he felt - although the utter relief he felt that Kagome was alive muted both negative emotions considerably.

“Why help her?” Inuyasha asked suspiciously as his hand slid up to pull Kagome’s torso more fully against him.

“Kagome is essential to defeating Naraku,” Kikyo explained before smiling faintly and running one hand across a nearby silver serpent, “And if something were to happen to her, someone I know would be very sad.”

“What?”

Kikyo subtly nodded to herself as she realized that statement went completely over his head. Of course he wouldn’t understand the significance of her repeating back those words Kagome had said to her. Her reincarnation sheltered him from the ugliness of the world and if he had known that he almost lost both of them....

It made all the sense in the world to keep what happened that day a secret. Inuyasha had always been an anxious creature and at that time, he was endlessly torn. Kikyo wasn’t a stupid woman. She knew Kagome hadn’t admitted what should have been obvious. That day that seemed so long ago, it had been Kikyo’s intention to kill the competition and yet her reincarnation refused to say as much. This strange girl made it her job to protect Inuyasha from threats real or imagined. To shelter him from ugly truths he was ill equipped to handle like how the woman he still adored was now a being of evil. Kagome loved him for the good man he was and made it her mission in life to convince him to love himself. A strange girl made for an equally strange boy.

“When I was dying, Kagome risked her life to save mine. On more than one occasion,” Kikyo interrupted vaguely as she looked up into the starry sky, “It seemed only right to repay the favor.”

Inuyasha considered this before relaxing somewhat and rearranging to rest his cheek on Kagome’s hair with his eyes partially closed. It was still insanely hard to focus and his head felt ridiculously heavy for no reason. Still, Kagome was alright and that’s really what mattered.

“I love her you know so...so thank you I guess,” Inuyasha mumbled cautiously as he inhaled deeply and relished in the knowledge that Kagome would live.

“I believe that has been made abundantly clear,” Kikyo admitted with a humorless laugh.

Inuyasha snorted softly but didn’t bother arguing. Whether or not Kagome loved him in return was a question he’d prefer to explore with literally anyone else. Hell, he’d even ask Naraku for his thoughts on the matter before he’d ever try to talk about that remote possibility with Kikyo.

“Thank you,” Inuyasha mumbled after a long period of awkward silence, “For saving her. I...I don’t know what I would’ve done if...if...”

The half-demon couldn’t even finish that statement as visions of him permanently turning into a full demon and wreaking havoc across the land entered his minds eye. In his heart of hearts, he knew what he would’ve done. He would’ve gone insane. Just would’ve lost his damn mind and ran around killing people for no...

“It was the least I could do,” Kikyo sighed as she glanced over at the injured pair, “I will protect you until dawn and then I must leave. I believe you will have healed enough by then to take Kagome to a second location.”

Inuyasha nodded against Kagome’s hair as he gave the living, breathing, not dying miko as light squeeze. Of all the things that had ever happened to him, not one had been as terrifying as that morning. He needed to be more careful in the future. Be more aware during battle. Or, alternatively, he could just throw Kagome down the well and destroy it so this would never happen again. That was definitely an attractive option.

“I know you are a man of few words,” Kikyo offered barely above a whisper, “But perhaps it is time you told her. I have no intention of dragging you away from her. You have done enough.”

Inuyasha wrinkled his nose at that comment but otherwise stayed silent and nodded. Truth be told, holding Kagome against him was rather nice even if his undead typically murderous ex-fiancé was watching. If he didn’t just say screw it and throw Kagome down the well, he might insist they do this more often. If, of course, Kagome woke up and discovered he was holding her. What he’d do if he managed to pull this off without her knowing was an issue for a different day.

“I love you,” Inuyasha whispered in Kagome’s ear as he settled into a somewhat more comfortable position and nuzzled the skin just above her jaw. The warmth and contentment flowing through his veins soon rocked him to sleep and for the first time in his life, Inuysha slept well.

Kikyo watched on with a melancholy sigh as Inuyasha subconsciously snuggled up against his miko in his sleep.Yes, she was a creature born of evil. Yes, she had made many, many mistakes since she’d been so rudely brought back to life. And yes, her feelings toward the injured half-demon consisted of a mixture of love and hate. But something about his scream this night had triggered something she didn’t know she still possessed. A part of herself all but forgotten. She’d literally flown most of the distance toward him and walked the rest. Cautiously, of course. There most certainly a risk he would strike her down and honestly, she wouldn’t blame him.

When she opened her eyes that fateful day, she’d been in denial over so many things. Mind bucking against his insistence that he had nothing to do with her demise. That she had been cursed into this half-life consisting of little more than pain and misery.

Naturally what followed was unbridled rage at the world. Of course, everyone with eyes knew where that path had led her. 

After the anger had subsided, more or less, she’d began to plead with any god who would listen. Obsessed with the desire to return to the ground from whence she came, defeating Naraku became her number one priority. She promised to kill the wicked Onigumo - not out a warped sense of duty but rather because she hoped and prayed that by doing so, she would be freed from this hell. Maybe even gain the affection she once had and even be accepted by the people who once loved her. Inuyasha was a lost cause by that point but Kaede...

Kaede may forgive her yet.

It was the realization that it would be impossible to defeat Naraku on her own and thus not win any favors from the powers that be or forgiveness from her sister that brought her crashing back down to earth. Numb to the world around her,  she no longer cared what happened to her or anyone else. No longer cared whether Naraku won or lost. Yes, she still wanted to be the one who killed that horrid beast but...but she knew...she knew that she would not be there to witness her former love’s victory of defeat. There would be no redemption for her. There was no point even trying to do more than just wander aimlessly and help on occasion if she was in the mood to do so. By and large, however, she didn’t do anything productive any longer.

That was, until today. Something about Inuyasha’s anguished cry made something in her snap. It was the sound of a heart breaking with such devastating force that the world itself stood still. Never, never should he be allowed to make such a sound. Bygones being bygones, Kikyo was determined to stop whatever was the source of his pain. It was unacceptable in her mind for whatever reason.

And with this action, she accepted that this was her fate. Such a bizarre thing to realize at the end of an era. There was no one still living who loved her any longer.

She was truly alone.

“Kikyo,” Inuyasha muttered in a concerned tone as his amber eyes blinked open, “I didn’t know you could cry anymore. What’s wrong?”

Or maybe not.

“You must be imagining things,” Kikyo lied smoothly as she stared into the distance, “Such a thing is impossible.”

“Yeah okay,” Inuyasha snorted softly as he settled back down. A few moments passed before he cleared his throat and offered something he hoped brought the undead miko some peace, “Kaede’s been asking about you.”

Kikyo subtly furrowed her brow and glanced in his direction.

“Why do you say such a thing?”

“There are people who still care about you,” he continued hesitantly, “Just because I don’t love you like that anymore doesn’t mean I still don’t love you as a friend. Kaede I know misses the hell outta ya. Go see her. Old bat’d love a visit.”

Kikyo’s lips twitched upwards as she nodded and sighed.

“That was unkind,” she chided gently, “You should not speak of your elders that way.”

“I knew her when she was a brat and I’m still older than her. I can call her whatever the hell I want,” Inuyasha laughed good-naturedly as he settled back down and gave Kagome’s still form a light squeeze before frowning suddenly and clearing his throat to make a peace offering, “Just...just so you know I’m sorry for what happened. Back then I mean. I should’ve known. I should’ve....”

“It was a very convincing plot,” Kikyo interrupted, “And exposed issues that were already present. I failed you more than you have ever failed me.”

“Is that why you helped Kagome?” Inuyasha asked hesitantly and the undead miko shrugged slightly.

“To be honest I do not know why I assisted,” she lied, “This existence is most strange.”

“I bet,” Inuyasha acknowledged wearily before furrowing his brow, “Does it hurt?”

“This form?”

Inuyasha nodded.

“Not any longer.”

[akitokihojo]

Monster - Chapter 8

chapter index

His eyes seared through her flesh with only the slightest slant, drifting down from her face, over her neck, her chest, her stomach, hips, and legs before steadily gliding back up. With each step he took forward, Kagome expectantly took two steps back. Of all people, of all times, why them? Why now? Had they followed her, or was this just an unfortunate coincidence? Her heart was pounding violently within her ribcage, but despite that, Kagome was trying to think of the most inconspicuous way to drop her bow from her shoulder to her hand. And, that would be the easy part. There were maybe seven or eight encircling her, and she felt it was safe to assume they were all quicker than she was. As fast as she’d become over the years, she was disadvantageously overwhelmed at the moment.

The bow sliding down to her grip would tip them off, reaching back for an arrow would send some running toward her, and chances were, even if she were nimble enough to get the nock in place, her probability of shooting and inflicting damage was slim to none. Kagome was outnumbered and surrounded, and things weren’t looking too bright. She’d love to consider doing what she had to save Inuyasha’s life, but she didn’t know how she’d done that in the first place. Nor was she in any position to make herself so violently ill again.

“I asked you a question.” The leader spoke, a little more direct that time. “What’s your name?”

“K-Kagome.” She breathed.

“I’m remembering you right, aren’t I? You’re the girl from that village? The one who mentioned Kikyo?”

Kagome didn’t bother answering. She could tell from the way he’d asked, from the way his head leaned slightly to the side, that the question could have passed as rhetorical. He knew very well who she was, and when she glanced to the right at the sound of heavy boots stepping forward, spotting the demon who’d personally assaulted her smiling her way, she realized he was most likely the one who’d picked up on her scent in the first place.

“What are you doing all the way out here, Kagome?” The leader asked.

“Looking for the doctor.” She lied, hoping her voice passed smoothly.

“Doctor?”

“Yes. He never returned after the storm, and thanks to you guys, my cousin is hurt and requires medical attention.” Kagome said, feeling the contempt on her tongue.

“Oops. Sorry about that.” One shrugged to the left, snickering. It was one of the henchmen responsible for Miroku’s state, the one who’d gotten in most of the hits, and it took valiant effort not to let the infuriation that itched within come forth and bring Kagome to stomp his way and throw her fist in his face. As good as it would feel to knock him down a peg, it would be the most idiotic move she could make.

“So, you left to look for him?”

“A few of us did. We headed in different directions to broaden the search since we don’t know which way our doctor headed off in.”

“Any luck?”

“Not on my part.”

“Still searching?”

“No, I planned to head home. I just - I got a little turned around and I think I’ve lost my sense of direction.” Kagome said, acting a little sheepish at her fake admittance. She dropped her eyes slightly as if ashamed to acknowledge her mistake, worrying the side of her bottom lip before matching the leaders gaze again.

“Hm.” He nodded. “Shame. It’s okay, accidents happen. Home’s that way.” He notched his chin to Kagome’s left, red eyes flickering just the same.

It wasn’t about to be that easy, was it? They were going to let her go? Just like that? No, these were cruel, evil men. She’d witnessed their torment time and time again. Some of it was on assignment, and some of it was for their own amusement. There was no way they were going to let Kagome walk away without a care in the world. If that were the case, they wouldn’t have bothered showing up in the first place.

Kagome shifted her head to her side, watching the way the two demons in the way parted so she could walk through, but she didn’t move from her spot. She wasn’t going to walk right into a trap. Kagome turned back to look at the leader, feeling the crinkle of the skin between her brows as they slowly pinched together.

A wide, toothy grin appeared on the leader’s face, his shoulders bouncing with his chuckle. “Smart girl.”

“What do you want from me?”

“We just find it a little peculiar that you’re so far away from home right now.”

“I told you -“

“Yeah, yeah, you’re looking for the doc.” He drawled.

“And, I got lost. What’s it matter, anyway? There’s no law about me leaving the village or how far I can go. Are you just trying to start crap with me because we’re in the same place at the same time?”

“Not at all. In fact, you simply made our lives easier. Let me paint the setting for you:” He smirked just as Kagome’s frown deepened in question. “Kikyo’s been spotted lingering near a village numerous times. We increase our visits figuring she may potentially be trying to recruit another conjurer, or maybe, just maybe, her family is there. Either way, we hoped that she’d show. You know, do that righteous conjurer thing and protect people, right? She shows up, we kill her, boom. Done and done. Do you know how much money we’d fucking make if we killed Kikyo and took her body back to Naraku? Then, during one of our fun, little inspections, a stupid, daring girl forgets her place and starts spewing hopeful, nonsensical propaganda about Kikyo. What would you call that? Coincidence or suspicious?”

Kagome’s lips had parted in astonishment. What were they saying? Kikyo had been nearby? She’d been seen nearby? That was why they’d increased their visits? Kagome had no idea; Kikyo had said nothing about it.

“She - she was… I didn’t know that. It was a coincidence.”

“Eh,” He grimaced. “I’m not buying it. That’s just a little too convenient, if you ask me.”

“No, I’m serious.”

“I’m sure you are. Something’s just not adding up, though. I considered taking you with us when we left your village for a little one-on-one questioning, but chose against it given the disrupted state of the place. After thinking things through, I decided we’d single you out next time we came by. Like I said, you just made things a little easier for us.”

“I told you already, I don’t know anything about her!”

“And, I told you, I don’t believe you.”

Kagome took a large step back feeling the weight of the danger she was now in. As the smile seemingly grew larger on the leader’s face, more arrogant, Kagome spun around on her heel, sprinting off in the direction she’d come in. She wasn’t about to wait for them to pounce. She wasn’t about to let them get closer. She ran, pushing her legs as quickly as she could, trying to create as much space between she and them as possible. Maybe if she could get to a body of water, they’d lose her scent and wouldn’t be able to follow. If she was lucky, she’d come across a river or stream, one large enough to submerge herself in.

All the demons watched her leave, staying in place as grins widened on their faces. Kagome’s footsteps faded quickly as she ran from them, the thick scent of fear wafting into their noses. All of their eyes shifted toward their leader as he, too, let her create space. After only a small moment, he inhaled deeply, basking in the type of scenario he loved more than anything. The chase.

“Get her.”

—

Inuyasha came down the stairs of the inn, his boots thudding against the wooden flooring as he came out to the front of the building. Kagome’s scent still lingered. It wasn’t fresh by any means. She’d stormed out of the room well over an hour ago, so he imagined she was hasty in leaving the premises entirely. Still, just to be certain, he wanted to check the dining room. Her scent may not have been fresh, but it was fresh enough.

“Hey.” Kaede greeted, the hint of curiosity on her tone as he bounded past her to check the eating area.

“She over here?”

“Who? Kagome?” Her face twisted in bemusement.

He grunted to confirm, eyes bouncing from the left of the room to the right. When he didn’t see her and her scent didn’t grow stronger, he knew she wasn’t there.

“No, she left.” Kaede said. “I thought you knew that.”

“Just checking.” Inuyasha stated with no affliction to his tone.

“She said she was going home. Did she not tell you?”

“Home?” The hanyou stopped in his trek toward the door, looking over his shoulder at the inn keeper. “She told you she was going home?”

“Yeah. It was kind of weird since you’d said she’d just left home, so for her to turn around and go back didn’t seem right. But, she doesn’t know I know she left home, so who was I to ask what was up? She was lying, wasn’t she?” Kaede asked with a small grimace.

“Yeah,” He chuckled. “She was lying.”

“So, what happened? Why do you think she lied?”

“Probably because she doesn’t know where she’s going and she didn’t want you to worry. I’m heading out. See you later.” Inuyasha said, giving a half-assed wave and exiting the inn.

“Wait! Inuyasha, wait.” Kaede called after him, coming from behind the counter and following him out. “What happened, though? You look concerned.”

“No, I don’t.” He sighed, stopping outside as he turned around to look at her with a deadpan.

“Then, why did you try to see if she was still here?”

“Why are you digging to find an issue that isn’t there?”

“Because, there’s always an issue with you.”

“Wow, rude.”

“Are you going to find her?”

“No. Why would I do that?”

“You wouldn’t have looked for her in the tavern if you weren’t.”

“Just wanted to see if she’d stuck around. That’s all.” He was beginning to feel pressured, irritation building behind his sternum. Kaede wasn’t often so nosy, so he couldn’t help but wonder why she was being so fucking annoying now.

“Come on, something’s up. Just tell me.”

“Nothing’s up, Kaede. Goodbye.”

“Alright, well tell Kagome I said hello when you catch up.” She called as he turned to walk away, causing the half demon to halt and clench his heated huff in his throat. He eyed his friend with a stare that told her to knock it off. She never heeded those warnings, though.

“You’ve got a little soft spot for her, huh?” Kaede giggled, presenting a small space between her index finger and thumb as a source of measurement. “It’s okay, I won’t tell anybody.”

“I hardly know her, Kaede.” He grumbled.

“Mhm, okay. See you in a couple weeks.” She grinned smugly, turning around and heading back inside.

Despite the frustration pinching his nerves, Inuyasha fought the urge to storm back in there and yell at her until she understood that she was completely wrong. Acting out like that would only make a person believe the exact opposite. He stared at the door in vexation, burning it with his amber irises, and it took him a moment more to finally let the fucking problem go and walk away. The longer he stuck around, the further Kagome got, and the harder it would get to track her ass down.

He followed her scent for quite some time, quickening his pace after a while as he leapt from sturdy tree branch to sturdy tree branch. Her scent was getting stronger, but it was laced with something pungent. Something he didn’t like. At all.

“Kagome?” He called, feeling like he should be close enough for her to hear. “Kagome, where are you?”

Nothing. No response whatsoever. Inuyasha hopped down from the tree, listening intently to see if he caught any signs of movement. There were some birds around, some small land animals, but no large bodies.

“Kagome?” He wandered forward, concentrating on her scent. There was a chance it’d get even stronger if he kept going. Where he stood, while her scent was rather present, it wasn’t as fresh as it could have been.

Inuyasha kept his senses attuned, taking a few steps forward until a loud crack beneath his foot caused him to stop and look down. A wooden arrow had snapped in half underneath his weight, and instantly, his entire body tensed.

“Kagome?” He called a little louder, eyes now scouring the forest floor. Ahead were more arrows strewn about, and as his head shifted to the side, he spotted a familiar bow laying next to a tree.

Inuyasha quickly crossed to it. Kagome’s scent was all over it, all over the place, entangled in that putrid smell that didn’t belong. Was she attacked? His fingers gripped the curve of the bow tight, his knuckles going white as his stomach knotted. She was upset, she was distracted. She was vulnerable.

It’s easiest to target someone emotionally distressed because they don’t have the proper wit about them. She was distraught because of him. Kagome was attacked because he’d crossed a fucking line and decided to wait on his pride instead of stopping her from leaving. He should have never let her leave. He should have never said anything to hurt her in the first place. This was his fault.

“Kagome!” He called again, hoping there was a chance that she was hiding somewhere nearby. Still, there was no response. There was no voice reaching out to him, and no signs of movement around.

“Son of a fucking bitch!” Inuyasha threw his fist into a tree. The only logical deduction was that someone had taken her. He smelled multiple demons; they had to have dragged her somewhere.

He was thankful that he didn’t catch the hint of copper in the air. There was no blood. It was a good sign that she wasn’t hurt or killed. Yet. And, he wouldn’t let that happen. Her abduction was recent, so he’d be able to follow all of the scents and track her down. There was no fucking way he was letting these bastards get away with this. If Kagome was hurt, if there was a single scratch on her, he was going to fucking rip them apart.

—

“Get away from me!” Kagome barked, kicking her leg out to push the demon back. Her wrists were restrained to the arms of the wooden chair, and they’d been successful in tying her torso to the back of the seat from around her biceps, but her thrashing made it impossible to fasten the knot tight. They’d been trying to subdue her completely for a while now, but Kagome refused to make it easy. There was absolutely no way she was going to sit back and let them do as they pleased like a good, little girl.

“Knock it off, wench! Kick me one more time and see what happens!” The henchman threatened.

“Screw you!”

“Feisty bitch!” Another spit.

“How is it two grown men can’t overpower one small girl?” The leader lightly ridiculed, entering the large tent of their temporary base from the entrance on the side. He pushed the curtain out of his way with the back of his hand, red eyes meeting the angry irises of his accomplices. “I gave you guys a job to tie her up twenty minutes ago, and all I’ve heard since is shouting and struggling.”

“She wont sit still, boss!”

“So make her sit still.”

“We can’t get near her anymore.”

The leader released a deep sigh, trudging over in a manner that said he had to do everything on his own. “Kagome, dear, do me a favor and behave.”

“Do me a favor and let me go.” She responded, cocking her head to the side insolently.

“Now, you know that’s not going to happen.”

“Then, you know what I’m not going to do.” Kagome shrugged.

“For someone so tiny, you have so much energy. Unfortunately, yours will expend far before ours will.”

“Stop!” She ordered, scooting her chair back as he got close to her. “Quit jerking me around and just get your stupid interrogation over with. I’m not going to sit here and be your compliant hostage. You said I made your job easier, so what are you waiting for? Here I am. Talk.”

“You don’t call the shots here. I do.” He said, his tone dropping an octave to convey the gravity of his statement. “If I want to make you wait, starve you a little, increase your anxiety, I’m going to. You don’t get a say.”

Kagome groaned loudly, enraged, jerking her arms back and forth to try and loosen her reins and wriggle her hands free.

“Calm down.” He chuckled. “Guys, tie her legs.”

“No!” Kagome kicked the first demon to come at her, her boot hitting his groin with force, and the goon crumbled to his knees, clutching himself. “I don’t know anything, you asshole! Let me go!”

Hastily, the leader lunged for Kagome, quicker than any of the others could move and quicker than she could react. He grabbed her face with one hand, a sturdy grip on her jaw and cheeks as he pinched his fingers inward. He stood too close for her to push him off with her legs, one of his own between her knees to inhibit her range of motion.

“You listen here, and you listen closely, Kagome.” He whispered, the heat of his breath brushing her face as he inched closer. His voice, what she could hear of it, was gruff, direct, and she shuddered with her gasp. “You’re lucky you’re not dead yet. If you believe in a god, count your blessings. You are going to be a compliant hostage if you want to live.”

“No -“ She whimpered.

“Sh, sh, shh.” The demon soothed, using the fingers of his other hand to push strands of hair away from her face. “Calm down, dearie. Calm down. The sooner you relax, the sooner I’ll let you go. It seems I’m the only one who can handle you. Just call me the lion tamer. Tie her legs. Now.” He instructed, his voice returning to normal just for which without even taking his attention off of Kagome.

She wished she had control over the involuntary whimpers that escaped her throat as she tried to kick her feet and continue making it impossible, but she was so scared, so upset, and having someone so close to her face, threatening her life, made it impossible to keep any form of composure she may harbor.

“What’s this?” One of the henchmen perked, pulling the small blade from the side of Kagome’s boot. As she felt it slide out, she began squirming some more, trying to pull her face from the leader that still held her captive.

“No! Stop! Give it back!”

“Oh, sure!” He grinned mockingly, placing the knife on her lap.

It was ruthless, his taunting. Kagome did her best not to feed into it. As much as she wanted to attempt to reach for it with her restrained hands, as much as she wanted to reposition it and clutch it securely between her thighs, it would only make them laugh. Hysterically, too. She swallowed the fear that had been vivid on the surface, rolling her eyes indignantly and waiting for the demon to take her father’s knife back. She wouldn’t bother telling them about the sentimental value. It would only work to further gas them up.

“Good girl.” Their boss whispered, patting her cheek as the demons finished knotting her ankles to the legs of the chair.

Kagome felt a fire expand within her body, like the flames were fanned to cause it to grow, to burn hotter and more furious. She returned the demon’s stare, unyielding her gaze. His patronizing was going to ensure that he was the first one killed when she was free.

She wasn’t as impotent as he seemed to think she was.

The leader reached into his pocket, pulling out a large, dirty handkerchief. Releasing her jaw, he rolled it up diagonally, then held it before her face. Kagome swiftly turned her head to the side, knowing exactly what he was about to do, but it was fruitless. He, once again, grabbed her jaw, this time more forcefully, jerking her back to face him.

“Somebody needs to teach you some obedience -“

She cut him off by spitting in his face, not wanting to hear another toxic word of his statement. The leader flinched, his lips curling in disdain as his red eyes blinked shut.

“Obedience that!” Kagome fired as he wiped his cheek clean.

He swung his palm fast, hard, smacking her with such vigor that she bit her tongue by accident. The taste of copper filled her mouth, but she didn’t even have time to swallow before he forced the handkerchief around her face to tie it behind her head, catching strands of hair in the knot that yanked painfully when he pulled it tight, the cloth shoving its way between her lips and into her mouth.

“Yeah. That’s what I fucking thought.” He growled. “You lose.”

She huffed heatedly, the hot air leaving her nose, and though she was completely restrained, it didn’t stop her from trying to jerk herself away. Her brown irises held onto his gaze with fervor. She hadn’t lost yet. Not until she was dead.

“Time for dinner, boys. Enjoy your alone time, wench.”

Kagome watched them leave, taking a moment to revel in the momentary peace. He thought this was torturous, but it was actually a reprieve to gather herself in her opinion. She swallowed the metallic liquid that flooded her mouth, and she didn’t know which taste was worse: the blood or the disgusting filth on the unwashed cloth that was fastened to semi-mute her.

There was boisterous laughter outside from Naraku’s henchmen, the smell of meat roasting over a fire, smoke, and the sound of camping mugs clinking. It wasn’t hard to guess that they were drinking ale with their meal, winding down as the night steadily approached. When Kagome was carried in, she was surprised to see so many of them. It was bad enough how overwhelmed she felt before with only eight demons after her, but there had to be about thirty out there right now. Most of them she recognized. All of the demons who’d ever passed through her town, who’d ever brought hell to her people, were outside of the large base tent she currently resided in. There were others she didn’t know. Others she’d never seen before. All of them had grinned at her with their pointed, crooked teeth, with their greasy skin, their large frames squared and bold and proud.

Kagome took a moment to inhale steadying, deep breaths, bringing her mind to slow down just a little. Right now, she needed to be as rational as possible. First, she needed to figure out how to free herself. Second, she’d need to quickly form an action plan. She was bare-handed. All of the arrows in her quiver had spilled out when she was captured and swung over one of the nameless demon’s shoulders, and she’d inadvertently dropped her bow as well. Her knife, her last resort, was just taken so she literally had no weapon to protect herself with now.

This was one of the downsides she’d never really taken the time to consider with her power. She’d focused for so long on channeling her strength through weapons that she was barely aware of how to channel her abilities through her fingertips. It was possible. It was absolutely possible. It was the main reaction they ever looked for in their inspections, and it was what they’d finally gotten by slicing a conjurer’s hand. Kagome’s confidence lived in her archery skills, which right now was not going to help her. Up until now, she’d only learned how to swallow her powers and transmit them through objects. Though, as she thought about it, it wasn’t like her conjurer abilities could just radiate through her flesh, spiral outward, and kill the lot of men that threatened her. That wasn’t how it worked at all. She would have to fight them off one-by-one, hand-to-hand, and if she could unlock the cage, she would be able to purify them with her palms. Kagome could fight, she could fend for herself for the most part, but she was by no means considered brawny. She knew her limits. She would be overpowered quickly if she took that route.

Her knee bobbed slightly as she looked about the room for something she could rely on. There was no use in deriding herself for her inhibitions at the moment; it would only work to crush the confidence she had remaining. Unfortunately, she saw nothing she could use. No weapons in sight. The demons must all be wearing their items, which meant Kagome had two options: Attempt to sneak away and make a run for it, or choose the risky path and try and snag something off of the smaller henchmen.

The former will be Plan A. The latter will be Plan B. If she’s seen trying to run, she’ll try and grab something to protect herself with, to channel her spiritual power through. If she’s able to get away before they notice and chase after her, she’ll try to find something she can come back and take them out with. Because there was no way Kagome was going to live on the run, and she wouldn’t chance them bringing their revenge down on her family. She had to ensure their safety over everything, and the leader was going to burn no matter what.

The conjurer twisted and pulled at her wrists, trying to slowly free herself from the wrath of the ropes securing her to the chair’s arms. The wriggling and thrashing she’d done before had caused damage to the skin already, and despite the adrenaline racing through her right now, she still felt the pain of the restraints that were fastened unforgivably tight. The ropes scratched, and singed, and stretched at her flesh as she kept trying to pull her hands free of them. An involuntary whine left her throat as her eyes stung with brimming tears from the pain, but she still tried, and tried, and tried. She was making no progress, though. Kagome was merely damaging herself by continuing.

Her ankles were tied taut, as well. There was no chance of her even trying to pull her feet from her boots to escape that. Kagome attempted to at least push the cloth from inside of her mouth, using her tongue and trying to move her lips in a manner to relieve herself of the gag, but it was no use. She thought about wobbling back and forth to build enough momentum to throw herself backward, hoping that would break the chair, but the chances of it breaking enough for her to remove herself from the restraints was slim. She’d have to build up a lot of force with her movements, and realistically, that would be extremely difficult to do with how limited she could currently move.

“So,” The leader spoke, entering the tent alone with a plate of food in hand. “I was thinking. Girls are easily bought over with food. You guys are the cutest, little eaters, I swear. Will some pork hit the spot? Enji’s a pretty good cook; I promise you’ll love it. Let’s make a deal. You talk, I feed you. Sound good?”

Kagome grimaced, her face contorting repulsively as she eyed the approaching man.

“What? Not a fan of pork? I’ve also got some potatoes, some carrots, and some rice. Or, maybe you want something to drink? We’ve got wine and beer.”

He can’t be serious. Kagome merely squinted her eyes in a disinterested manner, following the demon until he pulled up a chair and sat before her. He shifted through the food on his plate with his fingers, picking up a chunk of meat and shoving it into his mouth, licking his fingers clean.

“Oh, sorry.” He chuckled, leaning her way and pulling the gag from between her lips. The cloth dropped to rest around her neck, pulling at the hair that was trapped in the knot at the back of her head, but she paid it no mind, closing her mouth to produce saliva that would rid her tongue of the nasty taste the handkerchief was soddened in. “So, what’s on your mind?”

Kagome didn’t speak, watching the henchman.

“Hungry?”

She responded with the slightest shake of her head.

“Fair enough. You’re under a great deal of stress. I’ll just get right to the punch then. How do you know Kikyo?”

“I don’t.” She responded, barely above a whisper.

“Is she your sister? Another cousin? Twice removed? Your lover?”

“No.”

“You’re not going to make this easy, are you?”

“I had nothing to give you before, and I have nothing to give you now.” Kagome answered plainly, not a sign of emotion written on her face.

“So, you mean to tell me that you mentioning Kikyo, a person not very well-known in the first place while she was seen multiple times on the outskirts of your village, was a legitimate coincidence?” He scoffed. “Not buying it. Hate to break it to you, wench, but you’re not leaving here without telling me where she is.”

“Then, I guess we’re about to become really close friends. What’s your name?” She smiled sarcastically.

The man snickered, running his tongue over the front of his top teeth. “I suppose you’re right. You can call me Hatsu. I don’t think you’ll think kindly of me for very long though, friend.”

“That’s fine. I don’t think kindly of you now.”

“Great, then no feelings will be hurt when I take you back to your village and torture you in front of your mother.”

Kagome’s lips slowly fell into a frown, her body growing increasingly more tense. Her fingers bit into the wooden arms of the chair, and she raised her chin indignantly to level her gaze with the man.

Hatsu leaned forward, setting his plate on the floor and propping his elbows on his thighs, lowering his voice dangerously. “I’ll have them tied up just like you are; your mother and younger brother. Your cousin’s a bit rowdy, so I’ll make sure he’s personally held back by one of my men. All of them will watch as I do whatever the fuck I want to you. And, I will. I’ll do whatever the fuck I want. You don’t want to talk, maybe one of them will. Maybe Kikyo will appear. Though, if she didn’t want to be brave enough to save a small child, why would she want to risk anything to save you? No matter.” He grinned. “I’ll still break you. I’ll make it my personal mission to break you. I’ll break everyone that matters to you, while I’m at it. I’m sure you’ll have something to say soon enough.”

“They don’t have anything to do with this!” She shouted shakily.

“And, they wont if you talk now. The floor is yours.” Hatsu bargained, sitting back in his chair. He placed his foot on the seat between Kagome’s thighs, forcing them further apart as he tipped her to balance on the back legs of the chair.

“I - I’m telling you the truth, Hatsu!” Kagome shuttered, tightening her core muscles in an attempt to remain stabilized as he wobbled her back and forth. “I didn’t know Kikyo was anywhere around. I’ve never met her in my life.”

“I don’t believe in coincidences.”

“Okay, then it was happenstance.”

“Good one.” He laughed. “Nice choice of synonyms.” The leader dropped his foot, allowing her chair to plant back on all four legs as she gasped. He pushed himself to a standing, leaning in close to her face as he pinched his fingers into her cheeks again, forcing her to continue looking at him.

Kagome could only tremble, her breath shaking while a small whimper rode it’s way out.

“Such a pretty girl.” He whispered, pinching her cheeks together painfully.

She winced, trying to twist her face out of his grasp, but his strength was overpowering. Hatsu laughed, jerking her head back and forth teasingly, showing just how much power he had over her.

“Awe, is Kagome scared? I haven’t even done anything yet.” He chided, releasing her face to pat her cheeks, each tap holding more aggression. “How did you know who Kikyo was?”

“I heard of her from an older man by the river.”

Hatsu struck her, his palm slapping her face hard. “Try again.”

Kagome hissed in pain. Her face had been pushed to the side with his force, her chin almost to her shoulder, and it took a moment to gather herself.

“Come on, Kagome.” He growled, jerking her by her jaw to face him again. “Tell me the truth.”

“I am!”

He slapped her again, harder, and her lip stung from the impact. She wasn’t sure if it was the cause of his calloused hand or if she’d inadvertently bit her lip in the strike, but the taste of blood was trickling over her teeth and tongue again. The area was hot, throbbing, so she couldn’t even feel the liquid seeping from the cut on her lip.

“Try again.”

“Would you like me to make something up that better suits your fancy?”

“Go for it.” He smirked.

“Alright, I’ve got something for you. She came to me in a dream.”

Hatsu rolled his eyes, leaning over her to push her chair to balance on its hind legs again, one hand braced on the back of the seat and the other entangled in her thick, black hair, tugging ruthlessly. “You really want to carry on this route, baby girl?”

“What?” She chuckled, trying to tense her muscles so they’d stop trembling while licking the blood from her teeth. “For all you know, I’m actually telling the truth this time. She visits me in my dreams. Told me I’m the chosen one.”

“Chosen one for what?” He asked impartially, playing along though pulling her hair rougher and bringing a groan from her lips.

“To kill Naraku, of course.” Kagome smiled. She was unsurprised when he jerked on her hair, her scalp stinging. Her throat was completely exposed, her head bent back so far that it was even difficult to swallow.

Hatsu reached to his side, dropping the chair to rest on all four legs again as he pulled out a small knife. He smiled wide, watching her own fade as he traced the edge of the blade up and down the sides of her neck, grazing her skin.

“You know what this -“ He stopped, expression steadily faltering as his eyes shifted to the side. Shouts began to progressively grow louder, warnings, threats, and the sudden sound of swords clinking together. There was a thunderous rumble that tore its way through the outside of the base, fueled by an evident and seething rage that tore his men to pieces.

“What the fuck is that?” Hatsu murmured, releasing Kagome who looked just as bemused. It seemed like an all out war had broken out in their camp, the scent of blood, of sweat, of unmitigated fury taking over what once smelled of food and his men.

So quickly, he heard the commotion outside die down. It was too quickly, and Hatsu’s instincts sparked to warn him. The noise and yells of his men had dwindled because too easily they were muted. Forcefully. The amount of copper seeping into his nostrils was criminal, and although he could tell from the scampering, the groans, and the sounds of subtle movements that not all of his men were killed in the blast, he could alternatively tell that more than half were.

Footsteps were approaching the entrance of the tent, the sounds of something heavy being dragged, and the leader was swift as he swiveled on the balls of his feet to reposition himself behind Kagome. He fixed his grip on her hair, her head now bending slightly back and to the side, but she could see the entrance just as well, her gasps shaky and whimpered as he placed the sharp blade against her throat.

The tip of a large sword pushed the curtain of the tent open, Inuyasha entering with an unconscious demon held by the collar of his shirt in his grip. Amber eyes immediately found them, a fire flickering within his glowing irises as he threw the man to the ground and faced the two.

He looked Kagome up and down. Slowly. He’d smelled her blood from outside, but seeing the crimson dribble down her lip and over her jaw had his heart wrenching agonizingly. Her wide, shocked, brown eyes met his only for a second before flickering to the side, unwilling to hold on him though her chin noticeably quivered. His attention then jumped to the demon holding her, threatening her, his ugly grin and daring glare meant for Inuyasha.

“Well, I’ll be damned. A half breed. In the flesh. Never seen one of you runts of the litter before, though I sure have heard of you. You’re Inuyasha, aren’t you?”

“Yeah.” The hanyou spoke, unfazed by the repetitive insults he’d heard time and time again. “I suggest you let her go.”

“You here for the girl?”

“I’m here for you.”

Hatsu shrugged his brows, amused. “What for?”

“For every mark on her, for every time I heard you hit her, I’m going to rip a body part off of you.”

Kagome’s gaze shot back to Inuyasha. His jaw was clenched taut, the muscles thick and visible. His fiery eyes were glued to Naraku’s henchman, shadowed by his deeply furrowed brow. The knuckles of his left hand were red and agitated, and though she couldn’t see the knuckles of his right, with how tightly he gripped his sword, with the veins protruding from the rigid muscles of his forearm, she was willing to bet they were white.

“Awe, look at that.” Hatsu patronized, bending down to rest an inch from Kagome’s ear. She flinched uncomfortably, trying to pull away from him but he released her hair to reach around and hold her face firm. “You made friends with a half breed on your little trip to find your village’s doctor.”

“Let her go.” Inuyasha growled, slipping Tessaiga back into its sheath. He knew with Kagome so close, he wouldn’t be able to use his sword anyway.

“That’s so sweet. He’s so protective of you. What’ll he do if I -“

Kagome wanted him to cut her. She wasn’t swallowing a damn thing anymore. She wanted him to inflict damage, was almost prepared to instigate it at this point.

Hatsu dragged the knife down from her neck, taunting the both of them as he lightly scraped the pointed tip over her chest, breasts, stomach, and down to her thigh. The way he pushed the blade through her pants and into her flesh was slow and excruciating, but the moment he sliced her skin, blood seeping out, Kagome let go. She’d focused on the path of his knife all the way down to her thigh, centering her energy and releasing all control the moment he punctured her skin. Her own pained cry was muffled by Hatsu’s loud and deep yelp as she gave him the full brunt of what a conjurer’s reaction could really be.

The demon dropped his knife, his body burning as he was not only pushed away from Kagome, but also stumbled away from his own body’s reaction. In a matter of seconds, Inuyasha was on him, creating further distance between he and Kagome. He threw Hatsu to the ground, thrashing his fist into his face until his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he’d lost consciousness.

Inuyasha didn’t care about killing him right now. The man was going to die, he’d make sure of it, but before anything else came Kagome’s well-being. He turned back to her, noting how she frantically attempted to free herself from the ropes that held her captive to the chair. The half demon rushed back over to her, kneeling in front of her to try and calm her down. Tears leaked from her eyes, dripping down her cheeks to sprinkle her bare chest, a faint, red line now marring the area from the way the knife had barely scratched her.

“Kagome, calm down. Calm down. Let me get you out.” He tried to soothe, but it was almost like he was making things worse.

“Stop it.” She ordered tremblingly. “I can do it myself.”

She was still upset with him. If he couldn’t tell before, it was perfectly clear now. He’d made her feel inadequate, and now she felt like she had to prove herself when she was in a life or death situation. God fucking dammit, what had he done?

“Hey,” He spoke as gently as possible, placing his hand on her own. He moved carefully, not wanting to give her a reason to flinch away from him. Her hand was red, irritated, and hot, blood rushing to the area. “I know you can do this yourself, but let me help you. I want to help you. It’ll be faster if I do it, so please.”

She’d stilled a bit, observing him, most likely looking for signs of insincerity. Finally, when she’d found none, she gave a small nod, sucking on her bottom lip. “Just… don’t look at me. I don’t want you to look at me right now.”

He tried not to ask why or scoff, complying and looking away from her face. He used his sharp claws to cut the rope from her wrists first, then her ankles, then the one around her torso. Kagome immediately hissed, half in pain and half in relief, alternating her holds on her wrists as she tried to rub the tenderness away. Inuyasha could tell she was opting to ignore it when she reached behind to undo the knot of the dirty handkerchief around her neck.

The hanyou stood, taking a step back to give her room and holding his hand out for her to take. She didn’t. Kagome looked at his palm and pushed herself to a standing, giving a minor wince from the laceration on her thigh.

“Why are you here?” She asked, and even though he was doing as she requested and wasn’t looking at her, he could see in his peripheral vision that she couldn’t even bring herself to look his way.

“I went searching for you, Kagome.” Inuyasha admitted softly.

“Why?”

“I’d wanted to apologize.”

“Hm,” She hummed, a sickening feeling twisting in her stomach, slowly rising to threaten her esophagus. He’d degraded her, told her how little he thought of her, and thought an apology was going to make up for that? Yeah, right. Knowing him, he probably just wanted to be the hero again. “Don’t bother. I’m not interested in hearing it.”

“Kagome, listen -“ He huffed, facing her.

“No, you listen.” Kagome fired, meeting his gaze, but she froze. She had nothing to say, wasn’t prepared with any rebuttal in the first place. Truth was, she couldn’t throw anything back in his face. She couldn’t even tell him he was wrong. She was exactly who he said she was. She was a magnet, she was small, she was stupid, and she was weak. Her face began to crumble, to contort sadly, her bottom lip quivering so she looked over his shoulder to break eye contact.

Inuyasha felt horrible. He hated the way she seemed so hurt, so crushed, and he wanted to fix things. He just didn’t know how. Would a hug do it? Would she even allow him to touch her right now? What could he say or do to make her understand that he hadn’t meant to go so far? Even he would be skeptical if he were in her position, so how the fuck did he maneuver about this?

“Is that my bow?” Kagome asked, noticing the item secured over his shoulder.

“Oh, y-yeah.” Inuyasha nodded, pulling it down from his arm to hand over. “I couldn’t bring the arrows, though.”

“It’s fine.” She dismissed, gratefully taking back her weapon. The man he’d carried in unconscious fortuitously had a quiver of arrows on his back, and Kagome pushed her feelings toward the half demon to the back of her mind, crossing over to jerk the quiver down the arm of the motionless demon.

Inuyasha could feel the men outside - what were left of them - rounding up. They were going to attack, his senses warning him to prepare. He needed to get Kagome out of here, get her to safety. He’d come back and handle them on his own.

“Kagome, we’ve gotta go.” He said, following over to her. It was as if she barely noticed him, strapping the quiver that was too large for her frame over her shoulder. “They’re outside.”

“I know.” She said, pulling an arrow out and lining the nock up with the string of her bow. Kagome positioned herself, angling a leg behind and pulling the string back to create tension. She had a plethora of emotions coursing through her system, bubbling within her chest, but on the surface of which, she was angry.

She wasn’t irrational, though. She wasn’t about to attempt what she had before, or even close. She was going to keep her conjurer powers subtle. The demons wouldn’t be fizzling away with a shot of purification. No. Kagome was only going to give her unlucky target enough to make it count. It would kill them as if an arrow had struck a human in the heart. It would be inconspicuous enough that she wouldn’t be swarmed for being a conjurer, because she wasn’t going to create an opening for Inuyasha to save her again.

She aimed through the crack in the tent. There was a small breeze from outside that caused the bottom portion of the curtain to sway apart, and thinking quickly, Kagome kneeled down, her front knee propped at a ninety-degree angle to support her balance. Focusing her sight through the small breaks created by the wind, she spotted a leg.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Inuyasha questioned.

“Shut up.” She whispered, finding the patterns in the demon’s movements.

“Look, when we get out there, I want you to stay directly behind me. You’re in no condition to fight.”

Kagome fought the urge to roll her eyes, keeping her concentration honed as she ignored the hanyou. She’d spotted another set of legs that had moved in, standing behind the demon on the other side of the curtain. They weren’t directly outside, nor were they necessarily close. They remained several feet away, making her target smaller and more difficult to hit if she didn’t get it just right. It seemed they were devising a scheme; planning a group attack. She didn’t want to give them the time to get their plan in order. Noticing the demon behind wasn’t leaving his spot, she found it the best opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. Kagome pulled her arrow back a few inches further, the muscles of her arm beginning to quake from the amount of tension she’d built in the string. Steadily, she raised her front arm and lowered her back to angle her arrow for where she guessed their torsos would be, exhaling out as she released the nock.

Kagome jumped to her feet as soon as she heard her arrow skewer the two men, the two grunting loudly and tumbling backward to the ground without any further movement from them. Perfect. Hastily, she prepared another in the string, not bothering to pay Inuyasha any mind as she ran out of the tent.

Inuyasha was stunned, struck stupid. The last thing he was ever expecting was for Kagome to take down not one, but two men with a single arrow. Typically, it’d take a multitude of shots to have a weapon like that successfully slay a demon, let alone two, but as she ran out and into the war zone, he smelled their blood and saw them dead on the ground. She must have laced the arrow with just enough spiritual power to get the job done. It made sense. He’d just never seen her skills in action aside from the one drastic time.

“Alright, well fuck me then.” He murmured to himself, grimacing at how Kagome literally didn’t seem to need his help any further. Still, he followed her out. He wasn’t about to take chances, nor was he about to leave this entirely up to her.

“You stupid bitch!” A demon shouted as he watched her shoot her arrow into another target. He lunged to pounce, but Inuyasha was quicker, using his shoulder to ram him away from Kagome before he could reach her.

“Come on, ya lug. You can take more than that, right?” Inuyasha taunted, pulling out his sword and waiting for the demon to get on his feet.

“You’re that Inuyasha freak, aren’t you?”

“Sure am.” He smirked.

“Why do they know who you are?” Kagome asked, lining up another arrow and quickly pulling it back to aim at a crazed henchman across the way.

“I don’t really know.” Inuyasha shrugged. “You work for Naraku?”

“The one and only.” The demon answered proudly, meagerly dusting himself off.

“That’s why.” The hanyou answered. “Naraku’s bitches aren’t very fond of me. The feeling’s mutual, though. Come on, big boy. Show me what you got.”

“Put the sword away and fight like a man.”

“Stop toying with him, Inuyasha.” Kagome said, releasing her shot.

“Yeah, Inuyasha. Stop dicking around and fight me already. Or, are you as weak as this little girl here that you have to rely on a weapon to solve all your problems?” The demon jeered.

Swiftly, Kagome got another arrow lined up, swiveled on her heel, and released her shot into the henchman’s heart. His eyes glossed over, all light fading from them as he fell to his knees, crumbling to his side.

“Who’s the little girl now!?” Kagome protested, infuriated as all hell.

“Yo, what the fuck!?” Inuyasha exclaimed, eyes wide and horrified.

“What!?” Kagome fired, waiting for him to say something rude again.

He studied her expression, her treacherous glare, her ripe cheeks and creased brow. It was abnormally attractive. He was simultaneously alarmed and astounded, and quite frankly, it was jostling. Kagome was terrifying when she was this pissed, and while Inuyasha was enjoying it - of course from the perspective of someone who wasn’t one of her targets, he was also intelligent enough to heed the caution presented before him. He already knew he was on her shit list. Last thing he needed to do was push her buttons and get a spiritually-spiked arrow shot up his ass.

“Nothing.” He grimaced, shaking his head. “That was - that was cool.”

Kagome rolled her eyes, huffing out, and Inuyasha licked his lips before pressing them into a tight line to refrain from smiling. Goddamn, she was something else right now.

There was an ominous and sudden climb in Inuyasha’s instincts, his ears catching the sound of a blade slicing through the air, and as a jerk reaction, he took a large step forward, throwing his arm out in front of Kagome to stop the knife from catching her. The small dagger stuck into his deltoid, bringing a low grunt to leave his throat while the pain was sharp and deep. He ignored Kagome’s gasp, the way she inadvertently moved closer to him to check if he was alright, his amber eyes glaring over his shoulder to meet the stare of the leader he’d knocked out cold.

Blood seeped from Hatsu’s mouth, his lips pressed into a lethargic grin. Steadily, he walked further away from the tent, several demons gathering behind him as he stopped in the center of their base to challenge the two.

“You shouldn’t have left me alive.” He rasped.

“Believe me, I was going to come back and kill you later.” Inuyasha growled, lowering his arm and ripping the dagger out to drop to the dirt. He felt the hot blood seep from his wound, dripping down his arm to pool and soak into the rolled-up sleeves at the edge of his forearms.

“And, you thought I’d just wait for you to come?”

“No, but I have more important things to worry about. Doesn’t matter either way. I’d track you down. I’d find you.”

“Kagome,” Hatsu shifted his attention to the girl at the half breed’s side, her brown eyes slanted in condemnation as she met his gaze. “Care to explain what happened back there?”

Kagome reached behind her to pull out another arrow, taking two steps forward as she lined it up with her string. Steadily, she lifted her bow, creating the desirable tension as the feathers of the arrow tickled her cheek. “I don’t really think I need to.”

Hatsu’s grin grew wide, angled, his tongue teasing the point of his canine tooth. “You sly son of a bitch. How long were you gonna keep up with the lies?”

“I didn’t lie to you.” She gave a slight shake of her head. “Okay, the things about the old man and the doctor were a lie. Everything else was the truth, though.”

The leader shrugged his brows, amusement still written in the lines beside his mouth. Gingerly, he wiped the back of his fist over his lips, cleaning his flesh of the blood that had leaked. Between his fingers, he held another dagger. It was a few inches longer than the one he’d stabbed Inuyasha with, the width larger as well. Hatsu wiggled it tauntingly, making it dance in his grip as he brought the weapon up to eye level. “Look familiar?”

It didn’t, but it didn’t take a genius to understand where he was going with this. Kagome clenched her jaw in subtle preparation.

“Or would the frightened, blue eyes of a certain somebody help refresh your memory.”

It was impossible to prevent the twinge that ached mercilessly in Kagome’s chest. Her face flushed hot, the breath she exhaled heavy and shaken as her bottom lip quivered modestly. She couldn’t stop herself from pulling her string back an inch, listening to the minor creak in the wood of her bow, nor could she control the amount of power that now demanded to channel through her weapon to end him cruelly, whipping and slashing about her, a lavender aura that only she could see.

“Oh, look at that. Seems you do remember.”

“Stop it.” She demanded, her words spoken through clenched teeth.

“Or what?”

“Hatsu -“

“Or what, Kagome? You’ll kill me to get revenge? You don’t have it in you to do it.” He pushed.

“Kagome,” Inuyasha approached beside her, but she didn’t acknowledge him. He could see the way her arm shook from pulling her arrow back further, he could feel the charged energy she couldn’t even begin to quell. Her chest rose and fell with heated breaths that worked with how fast her mind had to be racing, and he needed to break her out of this. He knew exactly what the demon was trying to do to her. “Kagome, look at me.”

She didn’t.

“Look at me, kid.”

There was a slight waver in her demeanor as she heard him, but she had yet to comply.

Slowly, Inuyasha reached for the hand she used to aim, gently pushing the arrow, bow, and fingers down. She’d moved an inch and he opted to, instead, hook his fingers beneath her chin, soft in the way he turned her attention toward him. Her large eyes had watered, a dim, bloodshot effect blemishing the sclera, but still her earthy tones were bright and beautiful. His voice from that point on was hushed and soothing, meant only for her to hear. “Who are they?”

“The - the little girl. He killed her.” Kagome replied unsteadily, matching his whisper and reluctantly allowing him to lower her weapon. “Inuyasha, he killed her.”

He tensed, sharing her enragement, understanding her hurt and desire for vengeance. More than anything, he comprehended that she felt an obligation to kill the man before her. She’d expressed how she’d felt she’d failed, she’d expressed how she’d felt helpless, and even if she hadn’t done so vocally, her eyes had said it all on numerous occasions. Inuyasha couldn’t let her do it, though. It was wrong. It was what Hatsu wanted. It would taint her heart, and he wouldn’t let that happen.

“These are the men who are assigned to your village?”

Kagome nodded.

“These are the demons you told me about?”

Another nod.

“Got it.” He looked furious, his jaw grinding forward and back as he glanced over to the small group to manage that they hadn’t moved. “Put the arrow away, okay?”

“Inuyasha, no -“ She’d spoken up that time, adamant, but his thumb gently swiped her chin, silencing her while cleaning her skin of the blood. When his attention was on her, he seemed so compassionate, so warm, so careful now. It was calming. Kagome wanted to lean into it, to trust whatever instruction he gave, but with everything happening in her head and around her, how did she swallow and let go?

“Revenge wont look good on you, Kagome. He wants to defile your heart, which will end up weakening you.”

“But, he’ll get away.”

“No, he wont. He was never going to get away in the first place. I promise, I’ll do this for you.”

“How romantic.” Hatsu deigned, rolling his eyes. He crinkled his nose demeaningly as Inuyasha fully faced him, Tessaiga presented powerfully as he braced the heavy sword with both hands now. “What is this? You’re seriously gonna do this bitch’s job for her? She can’t even pull the trigger? Is she that pathetic? That -“

“Shut the fuck up.” Inuyasha seethed, the demonic aura of Tessaiga encircling his fists, the hilt, the fur, the blade.

“Oh no.” He whined mockingly. “The big, bad half breed is gonna kill me, boys.”

Kagome burned at the choir of boisterous laughter, the few men leftover dramatically chortling as if Hatsu were a standup comedian. She knew it was only to get on their nerves, but it was working. Inuyasha didn’t seem to react much, though he glanced at her from the side.

Maybe he was right. Hatsu was trying to provoke. It was one thing to protect and defend, but if she killed someone out of revenge, out of spite, it would be murder. Taking a life that way wouldn’t relieve any of the weight on her shoulders; it would, in turn, increase it. She would be no better than him in the end. Kagome had to make sure she was doing everything for the right reasons. Not only for her own peace of mind, but to also keep her powers pure. To keep her heart light.

She separated her bow and arrow to relent control, figuratively handing the battle over to the hanyou. It was interesting that they chose to laugh at him when he’d singlehandedly taken down more than half of the men on his own. What was funny here? What made them think that they stood an iota of a chance against him? Their humor was their show of arrogance, and maybe their arrogance was their weapon. Maybe they felt if they spiked temperaments with it, guards would get sloppy and they’d have an opening to attack.

An opening.

Kagome felt it. Felt eyes on her. Not taking a chance, she quickly spun around on her heel, lining up the nock, and readying her bow to aim at the large henchman that had snuck up behind them. He stopped in his tracks several feet away, his snarl shifting into an astounded grin as he raised his hands before him.

“Fast little wench, aren’t you?” The demon asked.

Kagome could only furrow her brows in reply, eyeing the man who’d strangled her. In his hand, he held a dagger, his grip on it feeble and dainty. It was as if he could drop it or throw it at any given second.

She met his gaze, mind flashing back to the deadly scowl he’d worn for her less than a week ago. The way his brows had furiously pinched together, the way his hot breath hit her face as he’d yelled at her, as he’d dragged her by her hair, choked her, and thrown her to the ground to pin her there with his large foot. How the tables had turned.

“You know, you really should have killed me when you had the chance.” Kagome bravely stated, raising her chin indignantly. Powerfully.

The henchman cocked a brow curiously, smirking now. He licked his lips, leaning his head an inch to the side, asking, “Why so?”

Inuyasha hadn’t even felt the fucker behind him, so he was more than impressed when Kagome had clued in and twisted around. In that same regard, he was thoroughly impressed with Kagome, period. She was more than equipped to handle every single one of these low pieces of shit on her own, and if he wasn’t looking out for the sake of her state of mind, he’d happily sit on the sidelines and watch her do it. Kagome was stronger than she’d given herself credit for. Kagome was stronger than he had given her credit for.

In a show of respect, Inuyasha lowered Tessaiga. Just enough to make sure everyone’s attention was properly on Kagome. He watched the small group ahead closely, but even he minded the woman at his side, his support and pride all belonging to her in this very moment.

“You thought a little girl was a threat. A little girl who didn’t even know what she was capable of.”

“And? What of it?” The demon scoffed, his shoulders rising and falling with the heavy huff of air.

Kagome gifted a small grin, pulling her arrow back another inch. She channeled her power through the weapon, saturating the arrowhead, giving it more strength than she had granted the other demons she’d taken down prior. This one was for show. This one was to demonstrate that Naraku and his men had made a mistake. A detrimental one. She wanted everyone remaining, the one who’d hurt her, Hatsu, to see where they’d gone horribly wrong.

“I’m the conjurer you should have been worried about.” She watched his expression slowly change, the haughtiness washing clear off his ugly face before she released her arrow, purification completely disintegrating the henchman. Kagome turned to look over her shoulder, regarding Hatsu with the same disrespect he’d granted her earlier. “You lose.”

Inuyasha took his cue, raising his sword above his head and wiping the earth of their worthless existence in one swing.

The air current created by the hanyou’s blow was so powerful that Kagome stumbled away slightly, pushed to her knees as her dark, tangled hair gusted over her shoulders and into her face. His sword really was lethal. He didn’t even need to physically slice somebody with it for it to kill them. Was it enchanted, or was it just extreme demonic energy at play and in the right hands.

“You okay?” He asked as the attack quickly died, hurrying over to help her up. Inuyasha didn’t give her the chance to decline his offer that time, sheathing his sword and grabbing her by her forearms to lift her to a standing.

“I’m fine. Was that all of them?” Kagome asked, hastily shifting her head about to see if any lingered or hid.

“I think so.”

“Do you think any ran off?”

“I’m not sure. There’s usually always one, but -“

“We have to go find him! We can’t let him report this to Naraku!”

“Wait, Kagome, wait! What are you talking about?” Inuyasha grabbed the crook of her elbow to stop her from running off and chasing after nothing.

“Hatsu said Naraku will send a swarm of demons to my village if they’re killed! We can’t let them - Oh my god, what if they never checked in! It’s only been a few days!”

“Checked in? Kagome, calm down. Talk to me. What did he tell you? That he checks in with Naraku?”

“Yes! They check in after each visit, and if they don’t, Naraku will send demons to kill everyone in my village! It’s a default system they have with him!”

“No, it isn’t! Kid, stop! Listen to me!” Inuyasha pulled her closer to further prevent her from trying to yank away, making sure her deep eyes met his gaze. “No, it isn’t. They’re the lowest on the totem pole to Naraku. He doesn’t give a rat’s ass what they do. The last person they’re in communication with is him, I swear it.”

“But, they work for him!” Kagome argued, trying to make sense of Inuyasha’s statement.

“Yes, but they have nothing more to do with each other. Trust me. They know where that bastard is as well as you and I do. It’s not like some sort of formal interview they have to go through in order to become one of his subordinates. All they have to do is decide whose side they’re on, talk to a guy like Hatsu here, and they go about their business accordingly. It’s a chain of command sort of thing. They lied to you. He was just trying to scare your village into compliance.”

Kagome studied him, wondering how he could so confidently sway her trepidation. “How do you know?”

“Got a reputation with these guys for a reason.” He replied, releasing her arm. “I’ve interrupted inspections, I’ve followed some from point a to point b, I’ve even heard some saying that exact shit; that they report to Naraku. It’s false. After they leave an inspection, they head off to fuck with another town, harass whomever they want, wash, rinse, and repeat. Naraku doesn’t care if there is or isn’t a conjurer, Naraku doesn’t care if one was killed off, Naraku doesn’t fucking care. So long as his henchmen are doing their part of his dirty work, he couldn’t be bothered with the minor details that take place. Including whether his own men are killed off. Until he’s personally threatened, Naraku won’t give a shit. Your town is safe, Kagome. Your family is safe.”

“You promise?”

Inuyasha held out his pinky to her. He remembered the way she’d asked for it when she was sick and he was trying to get her to trust him to help. It had to be a small source of comfort. If it was, if he was right, then he’d happily utilize the gesture to get her to believe him. Promises weren’t something he fucked around with. When he gave his word, his intentions were set. And, as Kagome’s eyes flickered down to his extended finger, her lips parting just a bit further, her cheeks tinting with a tender hue of pink, he could tell it meant more to her than he’d guessed. Like an innocent, pinky promises were unbreakable in her eyes. They meant the utmost of trust was being given. Inuyasha respected that. He meant it when he said her family was in no further danger, and he hoped she firmly understood that as she wrapped her small pinky around his own.

“Alright,” She cleared her throat, giving a little nod and releasing their bind. “Well, thanks.”

Kagome turned around, immediately beginning her search through the remaining bodies. Thankfully, not all had been destroyed by his final blast, but she was looking for one demon in particular. It was tricky, though. Despite having been struggling with the man for a while, she didn’t observe their features as well as she should have. There was only so much her mind could absorb in that stressful of a situation, and facial recognition wasn’t at the forefront of her priorities in that moment.

“What are you doing?”

“Looking for someone. They took my dad’s knife.” She responded, glancing over the dead men in the camp.

“Your dad’s knife?” Inuyasha followed.

“The one in my boot? It was my father’s. Someone took it from me.”

“It wasn’t one of the men I just killed, was it?” He grimaced.

“No, I don’t think so.” Kagome gently shook her head, suddenly perking when she spotted a familiar looking demon slumped against a rock. She jogged over, certain that this was the guy she was looking for, and analyzed his hands and immediate surroundings for the dagger. When she didn’t see it, she huffed, aggravated, pushing his heavy, lifeless body on its side to search the pouch on his belt.

The metal on the handle glimmered in what was remaining of the sunlight, and the moment Kagome’s fingers encircled it, she felt relief flood over her. On top of everything else, it would have wounded her horribly to have lost a piece of her father in the heap of it all. Rarely, did she use the knife. It was more of a comfort item. A backup through and through, but a reminder to stay as strong as he always had.

She dropped to her bottom, sliding the blade back where it rightfully belonged before pushing herself to her feet. On a dramatic whim, Kagome allowed herself to relieve some frustration, kicking the thick, meaty thigh of the henchman on the floor.

“That’s for hitting me in the head! And, that’s for being a jerk!”

Inuyasha cocked a brow, frowning from how intimidating she was. Dead or alive, it apparently didn’t matter to Kagome. She was going to put everyone in their place.

“You good?” He hesitantly asked.

“Hah!” Kagome didn’t even bother to hide her satire. “The question of the century, isn’t it?”

“Kagome -“

“You don’t need to stick around. You did what you came to do. You rescued me. Again.” She said scornfully, walking past him to head back inside the tent. “Go ahead and let it blow up your ego some more. Tell everyone you've, yet again, saved the day. I really don’t care.”

“Hey, wait - what are you going on about?”

“Go away, Inuyasha.” Kagome said, rolling her eyes as he followed her in. Her belongings were in the far corner, stripped off of her like they were never hers to begin with. She knelt down, dropping her bow and the borrowed quiver to the ground before yanking her bag open to find her bottle of water. She was greedy as she drank what water was left, the cut on her bottom lip stinging from the touch, but she merely pinched her eyes shut as she quenched her dry and pleading mouth.

“Can we talk?”

“About what?” She asked indifferently. Not once had she looked at him since walking away, only paying attention to her things as she made sure it was all there. She’d seen them go through it, but thankfully, she had nothing of interest nor importance to them. After she got her bag strapped over her shoulders, she stole the remaining arrows from the larger quiver, transferring them over to her own and throwing her weapons over her shoulder.

“You know what.” He stated, fighting his instinct to return attitude just the same as he received.

“Clearly, I don’t.”

“Our fight. We need to talk about it.”

“Are you referring to what happened before I left Kaede’s inn?”

“Yes.” Again, it took effort not to clench his jaw and ground out the word, though in an attempt at that control, he had to pinch his claws into the palms of his hands by furling his fists.

“That wasn’t a fight, Inuyasha.” Kagome said, standing. Now, she looked him dead in the eyes, no emotion visible on her face. “That was you telling me what you thought about me, and me walking away from you.”

“You told me to go fuck myself!” He argued, his temper trickling out now.

“Oh, I’m sorry! Did I hurt your feelings!?” Kagome bit back. “Do you really think it was uncalled for!?”

“You can’t tell me that wasn’t a fight!”

“A fight involves two people going at it, back and forth, like we are now. There was no back and forth then. There was you telling me how worthless I am, and there was me leaving.” Kagome shoved past him, heading past the bodies and out of the base clearing.

“Okay, fine.” Inuyasha huffed, still following. “Let’s talk about what I said, then.”

“No, thank you.”

“Kagome, where are you going?”

“Away.”

“Where?”

“Well, I’m not spending the night here to wait for the smell of decaying bodies to attract a swarm of demons, so away. Why are you following me?”

“I want to talk.”

“I do not.”

“Kagome -“

“No!” She spun around, facing him with heated and splotchy blood in her cheeks. “It’s not right that you think you can say whatever the hell you want to me and that a simple apology will fix it! I don’t even know why you’re bothering! With what you said, I’m basically the last person you want any affiliation with, so why are you here, Inuyasha? Did Kaede send you?”

“No!”

“Then, why?”

“Because, I didn’t mean what I said!” He shouted.

Kagome’s jaw dropped incredulously, her expression screaming exacerbation. He did not just say that. That literally didn’t make their situation any better. In fact, it made it worse. If he was telling the truth, all it meant was he was a hot head with limited control of his running mouth and liked to use excuses to get away with it all. “Oh, screw you!”

She about-faced, stomping off in the direction she was heading in. Inuyasha swallowed his ever-increasing irritation, clenching the heated sigh in his throat as he tightened his fists to rein control. Good lord, she was infuriating. Still, he followed after her.

“Kagome, just hear me out!”

“No!”

“Fine, I’ll just talk anyway. I -“

“Shut up! I don’t want to hear it! I’m mad at you, Inuyasha!”

“Yeah, no, I got that.” He said sarcastically.

“Stop following me!”

“You invited me along with you, did you not?”

Kagome abruptly halted, slowly looking over her shoulder at him with a bemused frown. “Are - are you kidding me? You declined that offer. Very rudely.”

“I’ve changed my mind.” Inuyasha shrugged.

“The offer has been withdrawn.”

“Well, then offer it again.”

“No.” She grimaced defensively, almost childlike.

“Why not?”

“Because, you’re an asshole!”

“You’ll get used to it.” He stated too casually.

Her exasperated expression only grew deeper, more perplexed. What was with this guy? She took a moment to gather herself, dragging in a long, stabilizing inhale to calm down at least a little. In the steadiest tone possible, Kagome turning back to him to portray her sincerity, she said, “Go away, Inuyasha.” With a sense of finality, she turned back around, walking off.

She’d be lying if she admitted she was surprised when she heard his footsteps following. He didn’t speak again, though. She gave it a few more paces to make sure his boots weren’t steering in a different direction, and when she was sure he was still behind her, she looked at him, shrugging in a manner that asked him what he was doing.

“We don’t have to talk yet.” Inuyasha spoke, his tone level. “But, I’m not leaving you alone right now.”

“Why not?”

He didn’t answer. No matter what he said, she would just fight him on it. Truth was, he wasn’t going to let anything happen to her. She could handle her own, she’d proven that just fine, but he wasn’t going to take any fucking chances. He caused this. The cut on the plush of her bottom lip, angry and pink and swollen, was his fault. It would have never happened if he had just taken a moment to think things through before speaking out of his ass. If he had just considered the pros and cons first, he would have come to the conclusion to give it a try, which he was sure she’d respect. If he had been with her, they would have pulled the same stunt they just had, and they would have come out the victor. She wouldn’t have been overpowered, she wouldn’t have been kidnapped, she wouldn’t have been strapped down, and she wouldn’t have been hurt. Inuyasha took responsibility for that. Even if she demanded he go again, begged him to leave her alone, he’d give her the space, but he’d watch her from a distance. It was the only way to quiet his conscience. Nothing but staying with her felt right at the moment.

Thinking of Inuyasha being near her made her feel uncomfortable. What did he think about her now? Was it less, the same, or better? Did he pity her? Think she was ridiculous? How stupid did he find her? It was the worst feeling, knowing someone you thought so highly of the day before thought so little of you the entire time. To be around that was going to be a nuisance, but shaking him would be even harder, she could tell.

Reluctantly, Kagome gave in. He was as stubborn as she could be, and now she understood just how frustrating it was. She didn’t want to argue anymore right now, though. She just wanted to get as far away from the basecamp as possible before nightfall, which was quickly approaching.

“Fine.” She breathed, continuing to walk. “Just for the night.”

It was fair enough. Inuyasha accepted those terms.

They walked for a while further, Inuyasha giving a decent amount of space and trudging along behind. The atmosphere was tense, dangerous sparks flickering between them as Kagome radiated don’t-even-think-about-talking-to-me energy. No wonder she’d told him not to look at her earlier. When she was this mad, she didn’t like any sort of attention on her or it would set her off. He could have sworn that whenever he watched her back, the sparks popped louder and more threateningly. It was almost laughable, but at the same time, it annoyed him. Here he was trying to mend his mistake, and she wouldn’t even bother to hear him out. Inuyasha was far from the type of person who talked things over. That sort of confrontation and pressure was undesirable in his books, so he passed on it every single fucking time. If he had his way, which he normally did, he would simply pretend it never happened and move on with his life.

This time, he recognized that he’d fucked up. Big time. Typically, he wouldn’t care, but seeing the hurt grow in her eyes as he slandered her over and over made him feel awful. Especially after she’d already been through hell. Kagome was kind and didn’t deserve that. He liked her. She was strong and brave, more so than any other woman he’d met in his life. It was admirable. Admiration apparently freaks him out, so he acted irrationally, deprecating her character, and he wanted to rectify that. So, why didn’t she understand he was sorry and just give him a chance? Patience, not his thing. Apologies, not his thing. Kagome needed to swallow her pride and fucking see that already, and give him the benefit of the doubt.

The shadows of night were setting in, hues of blue tinting the area around them. They’d traveled a good distance from the camp, keeping up a solid pace, and were now following a river upstream. There was a small clearing just to their left, and Inuyasha stopped walking to make sure it was safe, Kagome not bothering to pay him any mind as she kept going.

“Kid, this is good enough.” He mentioned. Kagome was mid-step as she glanced back at him, eyes flickering toward the small area, then back to his own.

“I don’t want to stop yet.” She said.

“It’s probably best if we do. It’s only gonna get darker, making it more difficult to travel or even set up a fire.”

Kagome released a small groan under her breath. She felt fidgety and restless, and the idea to walk all through the night traveled through her mind for not the first time since she’d left. The last thing she wanted to do was sit down.

“Just… can we go a little further?” She tried to bargain.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Inuyasha replied, noticing a change in her. It was sort of difficult to pinpoint what it was, exactly, but it was sudden. Like, she wasn’t angry anymore. Or, she was, it was just being laced with some sort of worried agitation. It was more evident in the way her expression gave a minor shift, a waver, the way her head turned from looking at their potential campsite to their little trail along the riverbank, the way she clenched her thumbs within her fist, squeezing and releasing over and over. He wondered if she, herself, even realized the subtle changes taking place. Was every move she made intentional, or was it all a nervous tick? “Come on, Kagome. Let’s call it a night. I’m surprised you even have any energy left.”

“I’m not as weak as you seem to think I am.” She glared.

“I don’t think you’re weak at all.” He stated soberly, not reacting to her bite. “I’m just saying, you had an eventful day. It’s only natural to be exhausted after something like that.”

“Well, I’m not.”

“Okay, fair enough. I still don’t think it’s a good idea to keep going.”

“I do.”

“Kagome -“

“Fine.” Kagome snapped, stomping her way back over and past the hanyou.

He didn’t move, slightly shocked from her overly abrasive attitude but he kept his expression as neutral as possible. As soon as her back was to him again, moving so heatedly that a small breeze drifted over him, he rolled his eyes.

She took her things off of her shoulders, moving a little easier as she went about collecting kindling. The deeper she went into the forest, the darker it became, the thick treetops blocking most of the appearing starlight. Kagome worked to do her best, feeling her way around, not wanting to be still, not wanting to rest for whatever reason.

“Let me gather wood.” Inuyasha offered from somewhere behind.

“I’m already doing it.” She stated without inflection.

Inuyasha was growing further irritated. She was being impossibly obstinate. What was the fucking point? Was this her usual demeanor with anyone she was mad at, or was it just for him? Fine, if she wanted to stumble around in the dark, that was all her. Whatever made her happy at this point, it didn’t fucking matter to him anymore.

With a small grumble, the half demon sauntered toward her bag, yanking the drawstring open and pulling out her empty canteen.

“Be right back.” He muttered almost inaudibly, heading out toward the river. This time, he was diligent to give himself space, walking further upstream a bit for a sense of peace from the crushing tension.

As Kagome got the fire going, the wood stacked neatly to allow the flames to grow large and healthy, Inuyasha finally returned. In one hand, he held her bottle, in the other, he raised a few, lifeless fish.

“Dinner.”

She wasn’t very hungry, but she hadn’t eaten anything all day. In order to keep her strength up, and avoid a lecture she’d most likely get, she nodded in appreciation, allowing him to toss the canteen over to her and get the fish situated to cook over the fire.

“You got this going pretty quickly.” He commented.

“Not my first time.” Kagome replied, scooting back to rest against a tree.

They sat directly across from one another, the fire dividing them. She had to admit, she was glad he was picking up on her social cues. There was no way she could hold up a conversation right now, nor did she want to with him, and he wasn’t pushing it. His lips were sealed, amber eyes glowing radiantly with the embers in the fire. Orange tints danced over his light hair, flickering with shades of yellow and highlights of red.

Slowly, Kagome found herself receding inward. Her legs went from folded before her to clutched against her chest, her chin resting uncomfortably along her knee. Inuyasha had handed her a fish, and she took a single bite of it before her stomach protested. It wasn’t that she felt sick. It was just that she didn’t want it. Her appetite was shot.

There was no preventing herself from worrying her bottom lip. It was already an ism she naturally displayed, but given there was a scab and it was still hot with irritation, she couldn’t help but play with it, sucking it between her teeth to lightly scrape. As the calm took over, so did her nerves. There was nothing to hush them anymore. They rose to the surface as if it were their rightful position, gnawing and clawing at her mind. All she could think about were her failures. No longer was that voice nagging her representing her own. It now shouted at her in Inuyasha’s tone. It shouted at her in Miroku’s, Sango’s, and then back to Inuyasha’s all over again, all while she stood there with no more fight left in her to give. Those words, those truths, had sunken deep, and there was nothing she could tell herself to ignore it anymore.

It was growing increasingly difficult to keep composure. Kagome had tried flexing her fingers for distraction, and even gently comforting herself with little caresses over her own arms. There was no comfort in that whatsoever, though. Her eyes were beginning to burn with brimming tears, and she blinked, and looked further away from the dog demon to make sure he wouldn’t notice. She even went as far as to rest her forehead against her knees, hiding the tears that refused to dry.

Why? Why couldn’t she tell herself the opposite of everything she thought was wrong with her? Why couldn’t she tell the voices to shut up? Why couldn’t she feel good about herself even though she’d just stood up tall and helped take down not only her captors, but the demons who’d been plaguing her village for too long now? Kagome replayed the scene where she confidently pronounced she was the conjurer they should have been worried about all along, but it didn’t help. At this point, it was nothing but a bandaid. She didn’t seem to believe herself anymore, though she had in the moment. It didn’t matter. It didn’t matter at all. Nothing mattered but the horrible, dark thoughts repeating over and over and over and over and over.

Kagome was useless.

She was helpless.

She couldn’t even protect herself.

She was codependent, and idiotic, and hopeless, and didn’t stand a chance on her own.

She’d failed before she’d even left home. How could she have been so stupid to think things would simply fall together in her favor? Since when does the world they’re living in work like that?

Unable to compose herself, Kagome decided it would be best to take a little walk. She just needed to get a little bit of it off her shoulders so the rest would be manageable, so she pushed herself to her feet, turning to walk into the darkness of the forest.

“Where are you going?” Inuyasha asked.

“Bathroom.” She meagerly replied without looking back.

Fucking liar. Inuyasha had been observing her. He’d notice her shift, her anxiety, her unsteadiness. He’d witnessed it all coming forward, becoming too much to handle to the point where she could barely sit still. She was hugging herself, and still her leg slightly bobbed against her. Her mindset was really that bad, huh?

Inuyasha didn’t like this. He didn’t like that she was carrying all of this weight on her own. And, he definitely didn’t like that she was being silent about it all. Honestly, he’d take her yelling at him over this. Anything to get it all off her chest so she could relax at least a little. The hanyou found himself wanting to understand how everything was affecting her, how she was feeling, what was causing her to fidget and keep to herself. Most interesting of all, he found himself rising to his feet to follow after her. Something told him he shouldn’t leave her alone right now. Something told him, as odd or arrogant as it seemed, that she needed him.

Kagome had only made it so far before she suddenly broke. It was as if someone had taken a sledgehammer and smashed apart the feeble dam, and before she knew it, it all became too much to bear. She’d started crying, which had quickly turned to trembling, which had quickly turned to sobbing while she could only manage to cover her mouth with her hand to keep the sounds of her gasps at bay, leaning against a tree for support.

Kagome couldn’t handle it anymore. She’d not only let her family down, but she’d let herself down before she could even try. Kikyo was wrong to have chosen her. Kagome was still so young, and her inexperience was too often rubbed in her first in the last four days. The universe didn’t seem to care if she wielded incredible power, because she had yet to learn how to control it, and that was all that seemed relevant. She felt worthless and pathetic, she felt scared and hurt, she was angry and sad, and it was all so crushingly overwhelming right now.

A twig snapped behind her, and Kagome instinctually spun around with a shuddering gasp. Inuyasha stood a few feet away, concern etched heavily into his eyes, his frown, his brow.

“Oh my god,” Kagome cried agonizingly, utterly frustrated that he had even followed her in the first place. Hastily, she wiped her cheeks with her palms, uncaring that the bandages on her hand were dirty and loose, only growing looser. “What do you want, Inuyasha!?”

“Kagome -“

Still, even in front of him, she couldn’t stop crying. The walls had already broken down, and tears flooded over the lower lid of her eyes, and as she felt her own expression crinkle from her emotional pain, she turned back around. She hated, vehemently hated, people just watching her cry. He didn’t deserve her vulnerability. He hated her, so he should have left the first time she’d told him to leave. Why was he here? Why was he bothering?

“Kagome, talk to me. What’s going on?”

“Stop it.” She sobbed. Her stability was growing increasingly wobbly, and it was like standing was even too difficult right now. Kagome, again, braced a hand against the tree she stood beside, hoping it would help prevent her from crumbling to her knees.

“Please,” Inuyasha tried. “I need to know. I want to help you.”

“No, you don’t.”

“Yes, I -“

“No! You don’t!” Kagome shouted, giving up her stubbornness to face him with passionate fury. “You said so yourself! If you see me as a basket case, if you honestly view me as a disgrace, then you shouldn’t be here! Your pity is only going to make me feel worse!”

“I don’t pity you. I really don’t, I swear. I just want to understand what’s going through your head right now.” He urged, extremely careful in how he approached. Seeing her like this, the way her face was so ripe, the way her chin quivered, the way her shoulders sagged and her chest quaked with each breath she took, the way her gasps for air between cries broke and trembled… it was killing him. His heart physically ached seeing her like this. When she giggled, when she joked, when she spoke conversationally, he was comfortable. He liked it. It caused a small, uneasy feeling, but it was because he liked it. This - this wasn’t ideal. This wasn’t anything he’d ever hoped to see from her, though at this point, with everything she’d been through in the span of just a few days’ time, how could he blame her? Maybe it had all just piled up too high, maybe she hadn’t released any stress and just allowed it all to burden her until it was no longer bearable. “Is it what I said? Did - what’s his name? Hatsu? Did he do something to you? What’s causing this right now, Kagome? Break it down for me. Please.”

“All of it!” Kagome croaked, constantly and fruitlessly wiping her face. “It’s - It’s all of it!”

“Tell me.” He softly spoke, taking a step closer. It stung when she took a fearful step back.

“Inuyasha, go away!”

“No.” The hanyou stated firmly. “No fucking chance.”

“Please.”

“No, Kagome. I’m not leaving you like this.”

“Oh my god, I can’t - I just - I just want it all to stop! I just want it all to stop!” The conjurer clutched her temples, her head, sinking downward as if to hide from the onslaught of torturous and demeaning insults against her character, the fear she felt today kicking in on top of it all, the fact that she could have, and probably would have, died if Inuyasha hadn’t shown up. Her breathing was increasing tremendously, unbalanced gasps coming rapidly. She was going to hyperventilate at this rate, and she didn’t know how to bring herself out of this dark haze. So she spoke. She spilled it before him. It was the only thing she could control, and the only thing that seemed to keep her remotely grounded. “I - I hate knowing that I’m this chosen person, that I’m supposedly strong enough to kill countless demons in one strike, but I couldn’t even save a nine year old girl! I have been failing for so long with no victories to make up for it, so what the fuck was I thinking when I left on my own! I’ve never been on my own! I’ve never even trained on my own! I was so stupid! I’ve been kidnapped twice, reduced to useless, had my ass kicked, and had my life threatened multiple times all in less than a week!”

“Kagome, it’s okay.” He tried to soothe. “It’s okay, none of that was your fault.”

“Don’t you get it, Inuyasha? I’m saying you were right! Everything you said about me was right! Why else would all of this happen so close together!? It’s because I’ve been fucking up this entire time!”

“No, you haven’t!”

“Inuyasha, look at me!” Kagome sobbed. “Does it look like I’m succeeding!?”

“Shit happens! That’s all this is, okay!? It’s just a really fucking shitty week where you had to face the wakeup call that the world outside of home is far worse than you’d ever imagined. Kagome, I went through it, too. I swear to you, people are nothing but targets for bullshit when they’re alone. Remember what I said when we first met? Numbers are better. It’s not because I thought of you as incapable; it was because I wanted you to be more careful.”

Her cries were wrenching at his heart. It was like she literally couldn’t hear what he was saying, though she was trying. Her hands went from her head to her heart, gripping so hard he could see the scratches she was leaving behind on herself. She needed to calm down. He needed to get through to her.

“I didn’t mean a single word of what I said, Kagome.”

“Yes, you did!”

“No -“

“How could you not!? It was exactly what I thought of myself, so it only makes sense that you saw the same flaws!” She rasped.

“God, Kagome, shut up and listen to me!” Inuyasha demanded, raising his voice to grasp her attention. It sort of worked. She’d jumped slightly, but her eyes were finally holding on him, blinking away tears that fell and stained her cheeks, dripping from her jaw. “You - you scare the absolute shit out of me. I have known you for a handful of days and already I care about you. I don’t like that. I don’t like that my sword wont react to you, I don’t like that you can make conversation with me come so easily and casually, I don’t like that I actually find you interesting, and I don’t like that I’ve never experienced this before. I am a half demon, Kagome. I’ve been shunned for as long as I’ve ever known. I am so fucking used to it, too. It literally doesn’t bother me anymore. I didn’t feel that with you, though. With you, it felt comfortable. On top of it all, you’re afraid of nothing! I mean, for fucks sake, I had you tied up and you didn’t look remotely scared! You ran up to a war zone, and you fired a shot just to save me! You were strapped down to a chair with a knife to your throat today, and you looked more pissed than anything! For facing the world on your own, only to cry in private, you’re ridiculously brave. You honestly think I consider you weak? I know that’s what I said, but believe me, I legitimately think the exact opposite. You’re so strong, it’s terrifying. You’re so strong that you can still smile and genuinely laugh while you’re bruised up and having a horrible fucking time.”

“Inuyasha -“

“I’m not done.”

“Why would you say all of that, then!?”

“Because, I wanted to make you change your mind! I wanted to make it seem like I was the biggest prick in the world so that you wouldn’t want to travel with me, all because I didn’t know how to deal with you. I realized I went way too far and you didn’t deserve that. I was just saying everything that came to mind, that I knew would hurt your feelings, but that doesn’t mean I believed it. And, I had no idea you were struggling so badly with yourself. Kagome, I really did go looking for you to apologize. I thought I’d give you space, you’d calm down if I gave you a little time, and then I’d find you and talk it out. I shouldn’t have let you leave. I shouldn’t have said anything to hurt you. I should have just taken a minute to think your offer over, because I really can’t find a reason to say no anymore.”

“It doesn’t make sense.” She gasped between cries.

“Look, I have a horrible habit of saying the worst shit at the worst times. Just like you get nauseous when you’re nervous, I get rude.”

“But,”

“Please,” He breathed, taking another step forward. She didn’t step back that time. Maybe she didn’t intend to, or maybe it was because her mind was too fogged over to notice him. Kagome was holding her head again, and he wondered if it was pounding from the stress, or maybe it was just an anxious reaction to try and get ahold of herself, fingers trembling as they threaded through her raven hair. “Please, tell me you’re hearing me. I didn’t mean a single goddamn thing I said. Not a word. I have no reason to say no to potentially traveling together. In fact, given what happened a while ago, I’d like to think we work pretty well with each other.”

Kagome was taking deeper, steadier breaths than before. While she still cried heavily, her mental stability seemed to be improving slightly.

“I don’t know what to think.” She spoke. “I - I should have known Hatsu and the others were around. There were, like, eight of them in a group; I should have felt them. Inuyasha, even if you don’t actually think bad of me, that doesn’t mean I haven’t messed up. I walked right up to them because I was so distracted. I practically made it easy for them.”

“That’s my fault, Kagome. I was the one who upset you.”

“No. No! Stop, don’t do that! It’s my job to be vigilant! I know better than to be super emotional out in the open like that!”

“Okay, okay.” He understood where she was coming from, wanting to be careful not to agitate her nerves further. “It was an accident, though.”

“I could have gotten myself killed.”

“But, you didn’t.”

“I would have died if you hadn’t have shown up.”

“I don’t believe that.”

“Inuyasha, you’re not listening!”

“No, you’re right. I’m not. You’re degrading yourself, and I’m not gonna feed into it. Even if I hadn’t gone looking for you, I firmly believe somewhere along the lines, you would have gotten away. You’re not the type of person who rolls over for anyone.”

Kagome studied him, but she didn’t even have to go searching for sincerity. It was right there, radiating from his irises, from his expression. She could even feel it from the way he squared his shoulders when speaking well of her.

“Are you?” He asked.

She wasn’t. But, she couldn’t bring herself to validate it. Not even with a simple shake of her head. In fact, her eyes ended up shying downward, bringing her head to slightly hang.

“You’re not. I know you’re not. I think that’s what might scare me most about you. That you wont know when to quit.”

Kagome gifted a sad, wet chuckle. “Even if I wanted to quit, I couldn’t. I can’t go home.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t know where home is.” She admitted with the most heartbreaking pout, looking around at her whereabouts. “I’m lost. I’ve never been this far before. And, even if I did, what right would I have going back? My family will be so mad at me, and I would have accomplished nothing to make their anger worthwhile. Not to mention, I’d have to face the mother who’d lost her daughter. How could I do that? How could I look her in the eyes as a surviving conjurer who thought she had a chance, but turned around and came home instead?”

“Has anyone ever told you you’re way too hard on yourself?” Inuyasha asked, finally reaching his limit from the sound of her heartbreaking sobs. The hanyou moved forward, gently grabbing the back of Kagome’s head to pull her into his chest, firmly wrapping his arms around her. It was both protective and comforting the way he held her, wanting to do whatever he could for her in the moment. Kagome clutched his shirt, crying against him, and though he would have deserved it, he was just so grateful she didn’t push him away. “Look, if you really want to go home, I’ll take you. I have no problem with that. But, if you want to keep going, if you still want to see things through, we’ll do it together. I’m coming with you. It’s your decision, Kagome. Whatever you want to do.”

She didn’t answer immediately. Instead, her arms encircled around his waist, squeezing him tightly. Inuyasha didn’t mind. Not one bit. It honestly felt like she needed this bit of physical affection to help ground and support her. He soothingly caressed his fingers through her hair, delicately massaging her scalp. No longer did he speak. Nothing more needed to be said at the moment. Right now was all about bringing her comfort, peace, and waiting until Kagome was ready to make her next move. Even after she eventually stopped crying, she kept holding onto him, their chests rising and falling in synchronicity.

“You were wrong, you know.” Kagome murmured into his chest.

“Hm?”

“I’m scared of a lot of things.”

Inuyasha chuckled lightly, continuing to rub her head. “Oh, yeah?”

“Mhm.” She hummed with a small nod. “I hate bugs, and snakes creep me out. The thought of the undead gives me nightmares. And, I was very scared today.”

“Fair enough.” He whispered, letting her go as she took a step back to look up at him. Her eyes were puffy and red, her cheeks splotchy with embarrassment, and her lips were pink and still sort of pouty. She was better, though. He was so fucking glad she was calm now. “Just not afraid of me, huh?”

“Not really.” Kagome confessed, shaking her head. “I mean, when you’re mad you can be plenty intimidating, but I don’t know. To me, you seem like a big softie.”

Though he’d grimaced, Inuyasha decided not to remark on that. He was the furthest from a softie. He was even surprised she could see him as such after everything. Still, he wasn’t about to spark any sort of argument by opposing the opinion right now. Give it some time, and he was sure she’d change her mind.

Now that she was looking at him, he softly tilted her head back by hooking his finger beneath her jaw. A small bruise had developed around the wound on her lip, and he realized that a deep mark he’d thought to be part of her flush had made home on her cheek. He’d heard Hatsu assault her from outside, and he was sure that wasn’t the first time it had happened since they’d taken her. What else? What sort of damage were they looking at here?

“Kagome, tell me what they did to you.” Inuyasha requested, turning her head a little to get a better angle, the moonlight shining on her perfectly.

“Who? Naraku’s guys?”

“Yes.”

“They just hit me a few times, that’s all.” Kagome replied, allowing him to look her over.

“How many times?”

“I didn’t keep count. Several, I guess.”

“Just Hatsu?”

“No, a couple different guys. The ones who actually caught me when I ran, then the two who tied me up hit me. Almost knocked me out, which was how they even got my wrists tied in the first place. Hatsu was the worst one, though. He liked to be up close and personal.”

Inuyasha, at hearing about her wrists, let go of her jaw to reach down for her hands, pulling back her sleeves to see the dark, ripe scratches and bruises from her struggle with the rope.

“Fuck, kid. Does it hurt?”

“Yeah, a bit. But, I’m fine.”

“How’s your hand?”

“It’s okay.” She shrugged. “I don’t really think I need the bandages anymore.”

“Anything else?” Inuyasha reached, pulling the bandages on her hand off to see if she was right while his eyes steadily held against her own. “Did they do anything else to you?”

“No.” Kagome shook her head. “Just threats. Really cruel threats, but threats nonetheless.”

The hanyou sighed out, slightly relieved. At least they were fucking dead and couldn’t hurt her anymore. None of those threats would come to fruition. Hopefully, they wouldn’t even haunt her. The bastards were gone.

The laceration on her hand was pretty much sealed. There was still a small scab, but she was fine to let it heal out in the open now. He was pretty sure, once it finally healed completely, there would barely be a visible mark leftover.

“Okay, look.” She started. “Are you gonna be nicer to me?”

“What?” He asked, amber eyes flashing back up to meet her brown gaze. She looked at him skeptically, a minor furrow to her brow noticeable.

“Are you gonna be nicer to me?” Kagome repeated.

“To a degree.” Inuyasha confessed honestly.

“You can’t talk to me like you did this morning. You can’t say all those things again. Only say what you mean to me. I’m not going to let you or anyone walk all over me, so if you’re gonna be a jerk, go by a rag doll because I’m not the one.”

He cocked a brow. Kagome and her feisty attitude were back with a vengeance. She’d even crossed her arms over her chest to strengthen her take-no-shit demeanor, and Inuyasha had to pinch his lips into a straight line to prevent a grin from growing.

“Uh, yeah. No, I’m not gonna do that again. I promise. I mean, I’ll probably still be a dick here and there, but you’ll get used to that.”

“But, not like this morning?”

“Nah. That doesn’t happen all that often. And, now that I know how sensitive you are, I’ll keep my insults to a minimum.”

Kagome grimaced, lightly kicking the toe of his boot in feeble warning. Teasing wasn’t a big deal to her, but he was on thin ice.

“Okay, before I agree to anything, I just want to state that you are not and will never be my bodyguard. I don’t want you protecting me. I want you to be my partner. A fifty-fifty effort from the both of us. Okay?”

“Okay.” He nodded. “We’re good?”

“Yeah. We’re good. I don’t want to go home.”

“I didn’t think you would.” Inuyasha smiled, holding out his hand for her to take.

Kagome’s lips gave a small upturn, and though she paused to deliberate for a moment, she ended up sliding her palm into his.

| previous chapter | <- -> | next chapter |

[sapphirestarxx]

Testing the Waters

Find it on AO3!

This is a birthday fic for the wonderful @neutronstarchild​!! The Inuyasha fandom is so lucky to have someone like her. She’s a joy to talk to, so supportive, and full of incredible ideas!! She requested MirSan from me and I did my best to deliver. Thanks to @fawn-eyed-girl for being awesome and beta reading for me!

SUMMARY: Miroku likes Sango. Sango is unconvinced. Sometimes it takes a wardrobe malfunction at a waterpark to bring two people together.

Pairings: MirSan, minor InuKag

***

The day had started with so much potential, but Sango was now less than optimistic.

She sighed, putting her purse and clothes away into a locker in the women’s changing room. They had just arrived at the waterpark about ten minutes ago, but she already wanted to leave. She straightened the strings on her bikini, regretting wearing something so revealing. Although, she acknowledged, it was modest compared to some of the things the other girls around her were wearing. Maybe if she wasn’t so self-conscious about some of her more...generous attributes, she wouldn’t care as much.

And maybe if a certain someone wasn’t there too. 

Pink triangular cups covered her breasts in a halter style, coming to tie around her neck and back. Rather than a traditional bikini cut for the bottoms, the ones she wore resembled boy shorts, something she was much more comfortable in. She knew her bottom half was a bit on the heftier side and she liked the extra coverage it provided.

“You ready yet, Kagome?” she called, trying to keep the annoyance from her tone.

“Just a second!” Kagome called back.

Kagome had invited her to go swimming but neglected to mention that Kagome’s boyfriend, and more importantly, his best friend, would be joining them. She had nothing against Inuyasha, but Miroku was a different story. 

When Kagome had started dating Inuyasha several months ago, it wasn’t long until she had started trying to make half of their hangouts a group event, mostly in an effort to get Sango to know her boyfriend better. Sango also suspected she was trying to play matchmaker. Because the flipside was that Inuyasha often brought his own friend Miroku with him, supposedly to allow the flirt to get to know Kagome better too, since things were getting so serious between them. 

However, Miroku had been more interested in familiarizing himself with Sango.

Because he was a flirt, constantly finding new and inventive ways to ask her out. He’d at least had the courtesy to wait until their third meeting before attempting to make a move. And maybe if Sango had thought he was serious about her she’d have considered giving him a chance-- although she was reluctant to admit it, she couldn’t deny her own attraction to him. But she was convinced he was just flirting with her for kicks. His charm had been a little too calculated, a little too insincere, for her to truly believe it.

Even if part of her wanted to.

“Why the frown?” Kagome asked cheerfully, coming up beside Sango to loop their arms together. She led them out into the sunshine where the men were waiting. Sango followed unenthusiastically.

“You know why,” Sango replied, refusing to be swayed by her best friend’s bright smile.

“Oh, come on, don’t be mad at me.”

“You never mentioned the guys were going to be coming, too.”

“Why is that a problem?” Kagome asked innocently.

Sango wasn't fooled. “He’s not serious about it and I don’t want to spend the whole day fending off his one-liners, Kagome.”

“Miroku hasn’t even flirted with you that much recently.”

“It’s still enough to be annoying.”

It was true, Miroku had eased up on the flirting, although it hadn't completely stopped. His words used to have a practiced smoothness that made her roll her eyes, but now she was starting to see a more genuine side to him. A side that actually made her like him, despite her best efforts not to. It almost made her question if she had been wrong about him, but she never allowed herself to pursue that train of thought. She was just his favorite game to play and she wouldn't give him the satisfaction of winning. Victory would taste sweet to him, but feel far too hollow to her when he inevitably grew bored of his prize.

Sango valued herself more than that.

No matter how she actually felt about him. Which was, perhaps, the real reason she disliked being around him so much. Sooner or later she would slip and he would know.

Kagome shook her head, seeming to read Sango’s mind with her next words. “Miroku likes you. And I mean likes you. Inuyasha says he’s never seen him this into someone before, you know. I wish you wouldn’t be so stubborn, because I’m pretty sure you like him too.”

“Then maybe he should try something new,” Sango retorted.

“He could go about it in a better way,” Kagome agreed with a slight wince.

Sango didn't reply as they walked through the crowd of people and approached the two men who had already claimed a set of reclining chairs. Instead, she gently extricated herself from Kagome's grasp and double-checked the high ponytail she'd pulled her long, dark brown hair into, making sure it was secure. As Inuyasha and Miroku turned their eyes upon them, Sango shifted the towel in her arms in an effort to hide as much of herself from view as possible. 

As if that could save her modesty.

Inuyasha’s golden eyes turned heated at the sight of Kagome in her own jade green bikini, complete with ruffled bottoms. Kagome smiled sweetly in return, the black waves of her hair fluttering gently in a warm breeze. All around them came the sound of conversation, water splashing, and loud calls of excitement, but for those two it was like the rest of the world had fallen away.  

Sango felt a slight twinge of jealousy, envious of what they had found in each other.

"Sorry to make you wait!" Kagome chirped brightly, and Inuyasha's default surly expression transformed into a loving smile.

"Keh. Took ya long enough," he grumbled, but the affection in his voice was unmistakable.

While both guys were dressed in swim trunks and cut an attractive figure, Sango couldn’t seem to keep her gaze from wandering to Miroku. Her heart started to beat faster as her eyes took him in, feeling a tightening in her stomach. It was impossible not to note, or appreciate, how defined and toned every muscle on his lean body was. Swallowing, she managed to drag her eyes back to his face, the amusement in his indigo eyes making her blush and scowl.

"Sango, my dear. Like what you see?" He teased.

"Not particularly," she lied.

His answering grin was all the proof she needed to know that he saw right through her. It was frustrating.

Giving Sango a playful nudge with her elbow, Kagome set her poolside bag down and dug through it for a moment, unearthing a bottle of sunscreen. She handed it to Inuyasha and turned her back to him, gathering her hair around a fist and lifting it up.

“Do my back, please,” she requested. 

“Yeah, yeah. Shit, this reeks of coconut.” Inuyasha scrunched up his nose, taking the bottle from her without further complaint and setting to work. Despite his gruffness, he clearly didn’t consider his task a chore, if the softness in his eyes or gentle way he kneaded the sunscreen into Kagome’s back was anything to go by.

“It smells amazing,” Kagome insisted.

“You smell better,” Inuyasha said.

Sango looked away from them, taking the opportunity to set her own stuff down, all the while refusing to meet Miroku’s eyes. She was nervous to see the way he would undoubtedly drink her in with his gaze, and could already feel his eyes on her back. It made her feel self-conscious, but in a strangely gratifying way. Her suspicions were confirmed when she turned back around, but she still wasn’t quite prepared for the appreciative way his eyes traveled up her body, or his slightly open-mouthed stare.

"Wow," he said.

"Stop staring at me like that," she snapped, feeling herself flush as butterflies stirred to life in her belly at the look in his eyes. She liked it a little too much, and that wasn’t good at all. It made her feel off balance and out of sorts, something that was dangerous around a guy like him, mostly because it might push her into giving in.

"It's only fair, isn't it? After all, you checked me out. Double standards," Miroku pointed out with an easy smile.

"I did not!"

"It's okay, I don't mind if you objectify me," he winked. "In fact, I insist upon it."

"Oh, shut up." A stunning comeback.

“No need to be shy about it,” Miroku laughed. “Want me to apply some sunscreen to your back too? It would be a shame to let that lovely body of yours burn.”

“Not necessary,” Sango said quickly. “I already put some on.”

“She’s lying,” Kagome told him. “Please put some on her, Miroku.”

“Kagome!” Sango yelped. That traitor. She had planned to have Kagome do it, but clearly her friend had other ideas. Like using this as an opportunity to push her and Miroku together. She knew Kagome meant well, but that didn’t ease the sting of annoyance.

Inuyasha rolled his eyes, choosing not to comment. He knew his girlfriend was up to something, but as long as it didn’t directly affect him then he was keeping his nose out of it. Plus, she had probably already informed him of her little scheme and bribed him to go along with it.

“It’s just sunscreen, Sango. Don’t be so stubborn.” Kagome let her hair fall back down as Inuyasha finished and handed the sunscreen off to Miroku. She gave Sango a bright smile. “Inuyasha and I are going to go get some drinks. We’ll be right back.”

“Wait, but--” Sango cut off with a sigh as they walked off, leaving her alone with Miroku. She glanced over at him and he raised the sunscreen bottle with a smile, a mischievous gleam in his eyes.

“What will it be? Come on, I’m not so bad,” he coaxed.

“Fine. But watch where you put your hands,” she conceded, shooting him a warning glare before turning her back to him.

“I’ll behave myself,” he assured her, grinning. 

Sango was acutely aware of his presence as he came to stand behind her. She reached back to drape her ponytail over her shoulder to keep it out of the way. The pop of the sunscreen bottle opening almost made her jump and she tensed in anticipation. Despite her protests, she wanted his hands on her more than she was willing to admit.

Then his hands were on her and she exhaled in a rush, releasing the breath she hadn’t realized she was holding. As his fingers pressed into her shoulders she couldn’t suppress a shiver.

“Sorry, I know it’s cold,” he apologized, misinterpreting the reason for her very physical reaction to him.

“It’s okay,” she managed, her voice coming out a little breathless.

He hummed in acknowledgement, gradually working his way from her shoulders to the middle of her back. He took his time, palms slowly smoothing over her and rubbing the sunscreen into her skin with firm strokes. Her heart skipped a beat when his fingers gently slipped themselves under the strings of her bikini so as not to miss a spot. It sparked a warm glow that settled in her chest, creating a pleasant tingle everywhere his hands passed over. Between the heat of the sun and the heat growing inside of her, a sense of languor washed through her and she couldn’t help but relax against him. It just felt so...nice.

“I like that color on you,” Miroku said conversationally.

“I...what?” Sango blinked.

“Your swimsuit,” he clarified, sounding amused at his obvious effect on her. “It suits you. It’s strong but feminine. Like you.”

The compliment warmed her and she wanted to believe that he meant it. It sounded like he did. His voice was low and close to her ear, almost intimate. She swallowed. Words. She needed to say words. But the way his hands felt on her skin was distracting and made thinking difficult, which was probably why the next thing out of her mouth wasn't a cutting reply.

“Thank you...I think.”

“You think?”

“I…” Sango trailed off as his hands moved to her sides and caressed their way down to her waist, his fingers rubbing circles and making her feel things she wasn’t supposed to feel for him. He continued kneading the lotion into her, his palms coming to rest at the small of her back and dangerously close to her ass. She held her breath, her veins thick with the pleasure spreading through her. Her heart pounded and she closed her eyes, leaning back against him.

Then snapped them open when she realized what she was doing. Oh God.

She jumped away and her cheeks flamed crimson.

Miroku looked surprised for a moment then smirked, letting out a chuckle. She cursed herself-- she couldn’t have been more obvious. It was getting harder to hide what he did to her and for a moment she considered being honest. But no matter what Kagome said, there was no guarantee that Miroku’s feelings for her were genuine, and she wasn’t ready to take that chance just yet.

“That’s good enough,” she said, looking away from his knowing gaze.

“Hmm. You’re already looking a little red,” he observed teasingly. 

“I’m just hot. You’re imagining it,” she mumbled.

“I couldn’t agree more-- you absolutely are hot. I would even go so far as to say stunning. And I can assure you, I am not imagining that.”

His words broke the spell his touch had invoked and she rolled her eyes.

“Save the smooth words for someone who cares.”

“So you think I’m smooth.” He was as undeterred as ever.

“That’s not what I meant!” 

Miroku just grinned, then held out the bottle of sunscreen to her. “Care to return the favor?”

Sango sighed, pursing her lips. “Turn around.”

It was going to be a long day.

****

An hour or so later, Sango was actually enjoying herself (for the most part). Inuyasha and Kagome had returned shortly after, bottles of water in hand, along with a giant cup of banana split Dippin Dots and four spoons. After that, they headed into the water, Kagome voting to hit up the lazy river first. Miroku had looked at Sango with a secret little smile the whole time and Sango had done her best to ignore it and everything it meant. Which was why she had claimed the spot by Kagome’s side in an effort to avoid him as much as possible, something that only made the looks he aimed her way even worse. 

He could get under her skin like no one else.

Inuyasha had scoffed that the lazy river was boring, but Sango was pretty sure that was just because he was stuck with Miroku. Kagome had archly replied that he and Miroku could find something else to do in the meantime if he disliked it so much, but “the girls” were going to get some sun and relax. 

Now, she and Kagome were in line to go down the biggest waterslide the waterpark had to offer. Kagome was bouncing on the balls of her feet in excitement and Sango smiled, shifting the giant two-person raft in her arms as they waited their turn. Inuyasha and Miroku had already gone down a few people ahead of them and were waiting for them at the bottom.

“Something happened with Miroku, didn’t it.” Kagome didn’t even make it a question.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Sango knew what was coming and decided to play dumb.

“I saw the way you were blushing earlier when Inuyasha and I came back from leaving you two alone. And the way he was looking at you.”

“Nothing happened. He just put sunscreen on my back and I put some on his.”

“Mhmm,” Kagome said, unconvinced. “If you say so.

“Why are you so bent on pushing us together?”

Kagome sighed and looked into Sango’s eyes, her expression earnest. “Because, Sango, I know you like him. You may think you’re good at hiding it, but I can tell you have some feelings for him, and he likes you too. And when two people like each other, it’s incredibly dumb for them to not just be together when there’s no good reason they shouldn’t.

“Also, I’ve seen the way you look at me and Inuyasha when you think I’m not paying attention, the wistful expression you get on your face. And I want you to be happy too, and be able to share that kind of happiness with someone else.”

Sango bit her lip, moved by Kagome’s honesty but also a little frustrated. “What’s the point, Kagome? I’m just a challenge to Miroku. You’re right; I like him. A lot. Which is why I get so annoyed with him, since I’m mostly just annoyed at myself for being so into him. Because I’m smart enough to know how it will end.”

“You don’t know it will,” Kagome shot back.

“You don’t know it won’t.”

“Why are you so convinced he doesn’t mean it? I mean I can kind of understand thinking that in the beginning, but now?”

“I don’t know,” Sango said honestly. Her reasons had always seemed so valid to her, but now she was wondering if it was just an excuse. Or maybe the heat of the sun was just getting to her. Still… “Maybe you’re right.”

“Of course I am,” Kagome beamed.

Sango didn’t reply because they were up next. The sound of rushing water from the slide permeated the air and would have drowned out any words she had to say anyways. She tuned out the practiced spiel of instructions the person manning the waterslide was rattling off as she set their float down and Kagome situated herself in the back with Sango taking the front.

“Okay ladies. Have fun!” The person finished, then gave them a push and they were off.

Kagome let out a shriek of excitement and Sango grinned in spite of herself as the raft was carried away by the currents of water, propelling them down the slide at high velocity. The raft swayed, riding up onto the sides of the waterslide at each fast turn, making Sango feel exhilarated. Kagome grabbed onto her from behind, giggling as they rushed towards the bottom.

“This is so fun!!” She cheered.

Sango agreed, letting out a whoop as the end approached. 

Then they were crashing back into the pool with so much force Sango found herself submerged for a moment. When she broke the surface of the water, it took a second for her to regain her bearings. Once her senses returned, she heard Kagome’s excited chatter to Inuyasha over to the side, where they all stood in the pool, out of the way of people still coming down the slide. She waded towards them, a sudden gust of wind raising goosebumps on her wet skin. Kagome turned her way, a radiant smile on her face, before her expression became frozen. Miroku was also staring at her, looking dumbfounded, eyes wide and mouth slightly agape.

That was when Sango realized her bikini top had gone missing.

"Oh shit," Inuyasha said, turning red and looking away.

Sango let out an embarrassed yelp, her arms coming up in an effort to cover herself as she lowered herself back into the water. Oh God, oh God, oh God. A flush heated her cheeks, making them burn so hot it almost felt like her face was on fire. Maybe if she was lucky she would spontaneously combust and be spared from the rest of this nightmare. And that’s what it was, because this was not happening. She stared fixedly downwards, as if her feet were the most fascinating thing in the world.

She heard voices around her, some of them male, and her self-consciousness intensified.

“Dude, did you see that?”

“Damn look at that girl over there.”

“Holy shit!”

Sango tried to tune them out, almost paralyzed in her mortification. And then Miroku was there in front of her, pulling her up and against him. She was so surprised she didn’t have it in her to resist as he crushed her to his chest and wrapped his arms around her, shielding her from the eyes of all the onlookers.

“Oh my God,” she whispered against his neck. Embarrassed didn’t even begin to cover it.

“It’s alright, I won’t let anyone else see,” he murmured.

An obstinate part of her wanted to pull away because of the intimacy of it all. She was half naked and pressed up against his naked chest, and his arms felt entirely too good around her. But that was silly, especially when he clearly had good intentions. And to be honest, she hadn’t expected such a move from him, which was probably a bit unfair of her. Then again, maybe she had been unfair in a lot of things she’d thought about him. She breathed deep, attempting to calm her racing heart, and found reassurance in his presence. 

The nervousness she felt now was for an entirely different reason.

“Let’s just go over here where there are less people,” Miroku suggested, his voice sounding a bit strained. Sango wondered at that, but then Kagome was beside them.

“Oh my God. Sango, hey. I’m gonna look for your top, and Inuyasha is gonna try and keep people away until I find it,” her best friend informed her, sounding concerned.

Sango nodded against Miroku’s chest, refusing to look up and see the reactions of everyone around them. Despite her reluctance, she couldn’t help but be curious as to what expression Miroku was wearing now. Or if it matched the way his voice had sounded. She rested her forehead on his shoulder, reminded again of how tall he was, and how warm his skin felt against hers. Everything she tried so hard to not notice about him was suddenly impossible to ignore.

“Sounds good,” she managed.

Miroku drifted to the side, entering a deeper part of the pool that gave them more privacy, and Sango allowed herself to be led along. Their toes still touched the bottom, but the water now came up to her shoulders, which somehow made her feel more secure. She vaguely heard Inuyasha snarling at some people to stay away, and that would have made her smile if she wasn’t still so on edge over feeling her naked chest rubbing against Miroku’s and oh God she was never going to get past that detail. 

When Miroku stopped she finally chanced a glance, peering up at him through her eyelashes. She tried to be as discreet as possible, not daring to separate herself from him too much lest she expose herself to him again-- one time was too many, thank you very much. Although he likely knew exactly what she was doing, he was polite enough to pretend not to notice. And if his arms tightened around her and slid down her back just a little more, then...that was fine, too. 

It was hard to tell, but his face looked like it might be a bit flushed, and she wondered if it was really possible that she had such an effect on him. And that if the things he said to her, however ridiculous at times, were words he actually meant . It made something inside of her soften, even as another part of her twisted in anxiety. Her feelings were all in knots where he was concerned and she didn't like it.

"I bet you're enjoying this." 

The words came out with more bite than Sango had intended, making her cringe. He was being nice, protective even, and she was being abrasive. Ugh, what was wrong with her? She heard him sigh, felt it in the way his chest expanded and contracted against her body. 

"When you came out of the water, dripping and looking like some beautiful siren from the sea coming to lure me to my death...well, I'd have gone willingly and died a happy man," he confessed. "I'm sorry you're in such an embarrassing situation, but I'm not sorry to be the one who gets to help you. In fact, I find myself very grateful."

"Oh," she said. Then, before she could stop herself, “So you definitely saw, then.”

Not that there had been any doubt. 

Miroku chuckled and she could hear the timbre of it wash over her, feel the vibrations of it in his chest, making her own tingle appreciatively. It made her breathing hitch for a moment before she sternly told herself to get it together. But it was hard, with all his skin pressed up against hers, and all her pent up feelings for him slipping past the barriers she had carefully erected.

“Oh, I definitely did. And you, my dear, are glorious,” Miroku said unapologetically.

Sango wanted to be offended, but somehow all she could feel was... flattered at his honesty, despite the painful awkwardness of it all. Then one of his hands was reaching up to gently pull the elastic from her ponytail, letting her hair hang free down her back. His fingers worked themselves into the wet mass of her hair, stroking through the tangles and making her shiver at how good it felt.

“Wh-what are you doing?” she sputtered, tensing because she wasn’t prepared for the things it was doing to her.

“Relax. With your hair down it won’t be as obvious to anyone looking that you’ve lost your top,” he replied, sounding amused.

“That...actually makes sense,” she admitted, grateful for his smart thinking.

His hand continued to brush through her hair and she felt hot in a way that had nothing to do with the sun beating down on them. Despite everything, she found herself actually relaxing against him, lulled into a sense of calm by his touch. She closed her eyes for a moment, drinking it in. Slowly, she released her grip on herself and let her arms come around him instead, feeling the muscles of his back under her fingertips. The motion made her inadvertently rub herself against him and he let out a choked groan.

“S-Sango?”

She didn’t reply, the words she wanted to say catching in her throat, so she laid her head against his chest, leaning into him. It allowed her to hear the rhythm of his heart, and how fast it was beating. It was so uncharacteristic of how she usually thought of him-- cool, calm, collected. That he was capable of being flustered too, somehow it thrilled her and made her own heart start to pound. She began to shift in his embrace when suddenly his arms around her tightened, keeping her in place.

“Sango...please stop moving,” Miroku said, his voice sounding strangled.

She froze, confused by his request, her mind still in a haze. “Are you really going to complain about me hugging you?”

He took a shuddering breath. “It’s not that. I’m thrilled but... another part of me is thrilled, too.”

Oh. Oh.

“M-Miroku!”

She flushed at the implication, her nipples tightening at the thought of... that. A wave of embarrassment crashed into her, and with it came the urge to move and squirm. She resisted the impulse, knowing it would undoubtedly only make things worse. Where the hell is Kagome? she thought a little wildly. Because as much as she wanted to, she couldn’t fault Miroku for the very physical way he was reacting to her; he was only human and their position was rather...compromising.

“I’d have to be a saint to remain unaffected by all of this.” Miroku’s voice was husky, his desire for her unmistakable. 

She was suddenly acutely aware of the hardness of his erection pressing into her and heat shot through her, lighting every nerve ending on fire with want. Oh no. Oh no. She should say something, anything, because oh God this was too much. “I--I’m sorry, it’s just--”

As if waiting for such a moment, a wave flowed through the water and pushed into her, causing her to sway into him. And into the evidence of how much he wanted her. She couldn’t stop herself from shifting in his arms this time, biting her lip against a gasp as the motion rubbed their skin together and her nipples tingled appreciatively. An answering ache, soft as a whisper, pulsed at her core.

This was bad.

Miroku groaned, one of his hands dipping below the water to land on her thigh, squeezing. Before Sango could voice any outrage over the uninvited touch, he used his grip to gently push her away, attempting to reestablish some distance between them. Allowing herself to be nudged back the slightest bit, she peeked up at him. His face was composed but there was a slight flush over his cheekbones and a firm set to his mouth, his eyes looking straight ahead rather than down at her. 

He was trying so hard to be respectful. 

And that made her like him so much more. Want him so much more.

“Fuck,” he breathed, closing his eyes in an obvious effort to get himself back under control. “Seeing you basically naked, feeling your chest against mine, it isn’t exactly something I can ignore, you know. Especially when I’m so crazy about you.”

“I know. And thank you,” she said softly. “For...I don’t know. Swooping in to save me. Being surprisingly considerate. Being you. ”

He let out a laugh. “That’s surprising, since you act like you don’t like me very much.”

And that was true. In an effort to keep herself from getting caught up in something that had the potential to hurt her, she’d just pushed him away when all she really wanted was to pull him close. No matter how annoying he could be at times. The words that didn’t want to come earlier were now spilling past her lips before she could think about it.

“That’s not true. That’s not true at all. In fact, it’s the opposite. At first, I didn’t want to admit it to myself, but I--”

Kagome chose that moment to reappear.

“Finally!! Took me forever cuz some kid found it and decided it was his new favorite toy, then I had to go find his mother and...” Kagome paused, as if sensing she had stumbled upon a private moment. “I’m interrupting something, aren’t I?”

“Yes,” Miroku replied without hesitation, making Sango shoot him a glare he couldn’t see. “But,” he went on in a pleasant voice, “it’s fine. We can continue this conversation afterwards. Right, Sango?”

“R-right,” she agreed. She turned her head, looking away from Miroku’s chest to meet Kagome’s very knowing stare. Kagome was grinning, her cinnamon eyes sparkling in delight. That wasn't surprising; this was exactly what she’d wanted. Sango sighed and held out a hand for her top. “Thank you, Kagome.”

“Of course. I’m just gonna go wait over there with Inuyasha.” Kagome gave her a wink, handing the article of clothing off before swimming away.

Then they were alone again. Sango swallowed, her nervousness returning.

“Go ahead and put it back on,” Miroku said with a slight smile. “Don’t worry, as much as I'd love to look I’ll keep my eyes closed until you tell me to open them again.”

“You better,” Sango mumbled back with a scowl. “I mean it.”

He sighed, as if he was misunderstood. Sango didn't buy it for an instant.

She pulled away, taking a moment to make sure his eyes were indeed closed. True to his word, they remained firmly shut, and the corners of his mouth curved into a smirk, as if he knew she was double checking. Giving a slight huff of annoyance, she moved quickly, looping her bikini top over her head until the back tie was snug around her middle. Although she trusted him to keep his word, her eyes kept flitting back to his face as she fitted the cups securely over her breasts. The tie around her neck had come undone and she struggled for a moment with all her hair in the way. 

When she was all done she glanced back at him again, unable to keep a wry smile from her face at his good behavior. Gliding through the water, she stopped in front of him and placed her hands on his shoulders. His smile widened but he still didn’t open his eyes, waiting for her permission. That didn’t stop his arms from wrapping back around her or one of his hands from resting low on her back, his thumb drawing a line along the hem of her swimsuit bottoms. 

As her eyes traced the lines of his face they inevitably landed on the curve of his lips. Her heart started to pound as her stomach filled with butterflies. This was crazy. But somehow, it felt right.

And she felt ready to take a chance on him.

Sango leaned in and kissed him.

Miroku inhaled sharply, his hands tightening their hold on her as he kissed her back. It was soft and gentle, and his lips were supple and warm beneath hers. Warmth bloomed inside her at the taste of him, making her feel like she was floating. His mouth moved against hers slowly, taking his time, demanding nothing but leaving her with a promise for more. It was perfect.

When she pulled back a blush colored her cheeks as she braced herself for the words she was about to say. Somehow this was easier with his eyes closed.

“I do like you, Miroku. You annoy me, you’re ridiculous and a little perverted, a shameless flirt. But...you also make me smile and you’re sweet and charming and supportive and...I like you. I like you so much it’s irritating. And not as a friend, but as...something more.”

Miroku's smile grew with each word she spoke until he was grinning widely. “Can I open my eyes now?”

“Um, yes. It’s okay now.”

“Good,” he said, opening his eyes, “because I want to look at you when I say this.”

Miroku’s indigo eyes gleamed at her in a way that made her heart skip a beat. Sango licked her lips, nervous and excited.

“Say what?”

“That I adore you, Sango. You constantly keep me on my toes and keep me in check. You’re strong. Independent. Beautiful beyond comparison.” His hand came up to cup her cheek as he spoke, the touch grounding her as her feelings for him threatened to carry her away.

“You really mean that,” she said, feeling his sincerity. There was something about the honesty of his words that made her appreciate his confession so much more than any of his previous, more practiced attempts. It might not have been as smooth but it was more heartfelt.

“I really do,” he confirmed, a tender note in his voice.

“Ask me again,” she said suddenly.

He blinked, his confusion apparent. “Ask you what?”

“The question you always ask me. Ask me again.”

Understanding dawned and he laughed. “Will you go out with me?”

“Yes,” she smiled, her body humming with happiness. “I’d love to.”

****

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[justafewsmallsteps]

Late for Halloween, but hey, it’s Inuvember. So here’s my annual contribution to my Witch AU, Now You’re Mine. Read part 1, part 2, and part 3 to understand (or you can just like the art?) This time we have exposition and angst. I appreciate any responses in the tags or comments.🥺Or any questions about this AU! Maybe I’ll even want to write more... 

Now You’re Mine Pt. 4  Words: 2208 Rating: T for violence mention and blood

It was a long, slow night for them. After Kikyou disappeared, Kagome barely uttered out his name and traced his cheekbone before falling unconscious once again. Though she stopped bleeding so profusely, he still thought it was best to get her away from the ritual sight. The full moon had his blood running hot in his veins, but the immediate danger was gone. He was on high alert that night, listening for her heartbeat and feeling her pulse to stay calm and keep his transformation at bay. It was a miracle he hadn’t turned with the events that happened, but he was on edge the whole time, red flickering in and out of his vision. His heightened senses also had him feeling extra paranoid.

By the time the sun rose and his mind felt clearer, he resolved to get them back to Kaede’s place. Inuyasha treated Kagome gingerly as they slowly made their way back. She was in and out of consciousness and her waking varied from groggy calls out to him and sudden gasps. He kept reassuring her that he was there, that she was okay now, and that he’d get them back safely.

It was annoying to walk, and that was exacerbated by the ball weight dragging his leg. He still didn’t get why it’d suddenly become so heavy overnight, but he figured it was because Kagome was in such a bad state. He doubted she would have had the strength to fly them back even if she had her broom.

When they finally walked through the entrance, it was already past nightfall. Kaede saw Kagome’s pale face and limp body and flew into action. She brewed up a strong potion to get her feeling better. It was a deep green color, full of dried ingredients to make it extra potent as they rehydrated. Normally the smell of it would send Inuyasha right out of there and far away, but he found himself uneasy being too distant. For a while he fidgeted and did his best to bear it, but eventually it proved too much for his still sensitive nose to handle. He stood outside where the scent wasn’t so concentrated, but paced under the starlight to keep guard. He doesn’t sleep. He can’t. His mind swirled along with the dried up leaves being swept up by wind.

In the early morning, Kaede joins him in the front.

“Kagome slept through the night and she’s still asleep. The medicinal potion causes drowsiness. The human body works best when it rests. She’ll probably be waking soon, but she’ll have to take it easy for some time. She was drained of a lot of blood.”

Inuyasha gives a shrug to acknowledge her. He’s not sure what to say, but he feels a little relieved. He didn’t get a wink of sleep the past few days and it was starting to take a toll on him.

“Dark witches are tricky and aren’t afraid to use any spell to serve their purposes, even if they defy the Laws. Kagome’s been through a serious blood ritual, that much was clear, but she hasn’t been able to recall a lot of what happened, so you’ll have to give me more details, Inuyasha.”

He’s quiet. What happened? A lot more than he was ready for. Between the capture, Kikyou’s resurrection, and Kagome’s near death, he’s having a hard time processing it all. Let alone how it’d been the night of the full moon, so he’d been in a near-transformation haze. Kikyou’s ghost haunted him, and Kaede had reacted so strongly when news of her came up before. Of course she had, they were of the same clan. He now knows for sure that Kikyou didn’t just disappear the night she sealed him. She died before she ever got a chance to kill him. Now she was out there somewhere.

Her words echo in his skull. “Inuyasha, I will be back for you. I refuse to die until I end you. Remember that your life is mine.”

Sensing his hesitation, Kaede adds, “The more I know about the events that transpired, the better I can treat Kagome.”

He shuffles and sighs. “Kagome was captured by some crazy old bat called Urasue. That’s the one who ambushed her at the well. When I found her she was already bleeding out on the ground. The blood ritual was… to bring back another witch.”

“A Soul Trade,” Kaede confirms. “It’s a particularly complex spell, and one that requires many key factors. A dark spell that’s difficult to control.”

“But why Kagome? The old witch was after her specifically! She went through the trouble of kidnapping her right when she came out of the well.”

Kaede lets out a steady breath and lets it mingle with the cold before answering, “For a seasoned witch, it’s easy for us to sense the power potential in others. If you’re saying this Urasue could be a century old, then she fine tuned that sense long ago. Kagome’s magic is especially strong. Haven’t you wondered why a retired teacher like me would take her in so easily? To help her control it. Kagome’s magical aura makes her stand out. You should know. Even barely trained, she's able to do things most can never hope to master.”

“Like make me into her familiar.”

Kaede gives a solemn nod.

“So she was captured because she’s powerful?”

“Partly. It makes her easy to find.”

“Then why else?”

“Who was she used to resurrect, Inuyasha? I can only believe that she’d be necessary to revive another witch. One who shares her immense magic, and one who shares her blood.”

Inuyasha looks away and clenches his fist in his sleeves. It’s like denial. “Her blood… so Kagome is Kikyou’s blood after all.”

“You’ve always known Inuyasha. You said she could be mistaken for her.”

He doesn’t like the thought. “That’s why she could free me then too, right? Kikyou put the spell on me, and Kagome could undo it because they share a bloodline.” His ears droop slightly, and his eyes seem to glaze over a little in thought.

Kaede studies him, her good eye fixes on the chain at his ankle. He’d been dragging it when he entered and exited earlier, the weight leaving heavier trails than before. “Perhaps, but ‘undo’ isn’t the right word. Replace.”

Inuyasha scoffs, but his demeanor turns serious. “When I dragged Kagome out of the spell circle it started to reverse the ritual. Kikyou started bleeding out instead, but then she escaped using Urasue’s broom. I don’t know where she went, but Kikyou’s out there somewhere. It’s why Kagome feels this bad still, I’m sure of it. ”

“So Kikyou is stuck in the middle now.”

“In the middle?”

“An undead. It’s a rare phenomenon, especially for a good witch. There are those who specialize in animating the dead—like puppeteers toying with creatures, but to resurrect life requires a much stronger power. Imagine the strength it takes for a witch to resist a ritual so insidious.” She pauses, “Or the strength it takes to survive it.”

“Is Kagome going to be alright?” His tail swishes anxiously behind him.

“I told you she’s stronger than most.”

“But… what about Kikyou? Does she need Kagome to live? Is she going to come after her to complete the ritual?”

“Kikyou is also stronger than most, maybe the strongest to have lived. She was The Keeper of the Grimoire for a long time. She must have absorbed some of its powers when she locked it away. It’s possible she will turn to it now. For better or worse, I believe she’ll find a way to survive like this.”

“That’s what the hag was after. The Grimoire, just like before.”

Kaede wonders to herself what he means by “before,” but chooses to hold her tongue about it. Whatever secrets Inuyasha has about his past are his own.

“It’s a legend to most witches. A beacon for those who seek power. It holds dark, ancient secrets. Powerful spells that bend Laws instead of breaking them. Kikyou was rumored as the last witch to know its location and be able to access it, so it makes sense that Urasue would attempt to use her to find it, but foolish to think she could control her.”

“Yeah,” he agrees with frustration, the image of Urasue’s head being sliced clean off flashes through his mind. He swallows. “She’s… definitely something.”

“I have a feeling Kagome has the same potential to reach similar heights.”

“But she wouldn’t hurt a fly!” His ears droop. “She’ll have to learn how to protect herself though…” They can’t afford for this to happen again.

It’s that kind of concern he takes for his witch that warms Kaede’s heart and makes her believe that their relationship is more than it seems. Much as Inuyasha complains, there’s a genuine softness with which he treats her. “If you stay by Kagome’s side I’m sure she’ll be well guarded as I continue on her training. You being near her will give her strength, you share it with one another. That’s part of the familiar bond.”

It’s a clear invitation for him to go inside and see her, but he doesn’t know what to do. Part of him wants to check in on her, but another part feels weird about it. He can’t shake the feeling that he has to stay alert. As if on cue, he hears a small muffle from inside the room and his ears stand on alert. He stands up immediately on instinct, his chain making a light noise at the movement.

Kaede looks up and motions to stop him before he can push aside the screen. “I should warn you about the repercussions of stopping the ritual, Inuyasha.” Her tone is hushed.

He raises his brow.

“A Soul Trade links the sacrifice and the resurrected for a short time. It’s like a transfer between the two. It’s possible that because of the ritual, Kagome and Kikyou shared certain things. Emotions. Knowledge.”

His eyes go wide for a second and he holds his breath.

“Memories.”

Inuyasha presses his lips together and stands there for a moment, mind suddenly filling with new thoughts. What had Kagome learned from Kikyou? Did she hate him now too? There was no way, but then again, she’d basically been passed out the whole time. What could she have seen? He suddenly feels like running away, but he’s frozen.

Then the muffled sound repeats, and he hears his name. Everything in his mind shouts at him, Go to her! The familiar bond is pulsing through his head. Ultimately it’s her though, fragile and searching that moves him into action.

He lets his lungs empty and sucks in another breath, the cold sting of it filling his chest and reminding him of the night she freed him. When he felt his heartbeat for the first time in decades. He pushes the door aside and enters quickly, careful not to let too much chill inside.

“Inuyasha?” Kagome calls as soon as he’s in the room.

The scent of her blood has faded, but it’s still there staining her clothes, and it bothers Inuyasha a lot. Still, he wants to know she’s okay.

“I’m here, Kagome,” he assures her as he did their walk home. “Are you alright?”

She smiles and weakly nods at him, and knots in his stomach unravel just a little. She had a way of untangling him from dark places. “Stay by me?” she requests, holding a shaky hand towards him. He flashbacks to her limp hand stuck in the pentagram, to her reaching out to protect him. Of course she didn’t hate him.

The relief swells in his chest, but he doesn’t want it to make a big deal out of nothing. Instead of saying anything, he huffs out a breath to sound bothered and sits by her, the ball annoyingly dragging against the ground on his way. Instead of taking her hand, he checks it for her pulse.

“You need something?”

Kagome blinks, her eyebrows knitting in what Inuyasha can assume is either dizziness or pain. She makes a move to study him, trying to focus on his face. She swore he looked different last night. Red eyes and jagged marks on his cheeks. She reaches out to touch him, but he pulls away and stands up.

He’s relieved she’s alright, but suddenly afraid of her questions. “You’ve been out all night since Kaede gave you that potion. I’ll get you water. You just rest up.” Kaede’s warning is stuck in his mind like tar. There are things Kagome could know now, and he doesn’t want to deal with it.  

Behind him the ball drags on the floor, catching Kagome’s attention again. Visions from the other night flicker in her mind, but they’re vague and fleeting. Some of them seem familiar, and other thoughts feel like she’s someone else. Her head aches to think about them, but her heart reacts with a different kind of pain. She frowns and watches him leave, tucking her hand back to her chest. She’s suddenly overwhelmed with longing, feeling small and pathetic as he walks away.

Why couldn’t he just stay by her side?

[heynikkiyousofine]

Surprise, two chapters today! kagome begins her training, while she and Inuyasha have a chance to talk things out.

I recently finished planning out the story, so we still have quite a few more chapters coming, including the big battle and they wedding. I did say this was a happy ending fairytale right? 😉

As always, a big thank you to @keichanz and @neutronstarchild for being wonderful people and always being such an inspiration to me. have a lovely Wednesday!💕

Still not seeing the hanyou Prince at breakfast the next morning, Kagome began to feel uneasy, wondering if she really had offended him or if he was someone else in secret. Mulling in her own thoughts, she didn’t hear what Miroku was trying to explain to her.

“Princess?” His questioning voice asked.

“Hmmm? Oh! Sorry about that, I was just worried about Prince Inuyasha. He wasn’t at the last two meals….” She gazed at him, concern is her eyes.

“Ah, yes. Our Prince was called away for some business last night before dinner I believe. You shouldn’t worry, he will be back this evening.” Miroku smiled knowingly, for Inuyasha was actually in his room all morning, sulking away. Business, indeed. “Now, let’s begin. Yesterday, you put up a remarkably strong barrier, can you do that for me again?”

Nodding slightly, Kagome closed her eyes and reached into her soul, like she had been doing every time she needed to call upon her powers. Feeling the intense fire fill her soul, she opened her eyes to a sparkling pink barrier surrounding the monk and herself.

“Excellent. Now, I want to see how far you push the barrier out, keeping it strong. I would like to know how protected this barrier can become.” He stated, as if it were a cue for a weapon to fly through the air at them. Which is exactly what happened next, causing Kagome to shriek loudly, as the sword merely bounced off the glowing pink wall and clattered to the ground. “Ah, my dear Sango, you have joined us. Kagome’s barrier is very strong to have already dismantled your sword.”

“I can tell.” Sango simply stated. She stood there, a huge bone like boomerang across her shoulders, now in a black and pink leather outfit.

“Okay Kagome, we know you can block weapons as well, excellent. Are you able to use your powers in defense? Or have you used a weapon before?”

Shaking her head, “I only have a knife for cutting flowers, but have never used it like that. I would like to try my hand at something more defendable, but not so up close, if that makes sense. If my wings are out and someone is close enough to cut them off, I could use the knife to defend myself, but I don’t want that to happen.” 

Nodding in understanding, Miroku tapped his chin in thought.

“I’ve got it, I’ll be right back. Monk, behave.” Sango pipped up, looking over her shoulder as she headed towards a small building in the field they were standing in. Still in the castle walls, behind the living quarters, near the garden, Kagome was kept hidden, should she need to remove her pendant. Looking a bit embarrassed, Miroku glanced at Kagome before looking over his shoulder towards the garden. He felt the Prince’s aura and wondered if she could as well.

“Princess Kagome,” he started, “can you feel others around you? Their aura per se.”

“Just Kagome is fine, helps with the whole identity thing. I can feel something, like there is some one, who is calm and curious in the garden behind us. I can feel your aura this close, you have a good soul for the most part, your wandering hand being harmless. I can feel Sango in the shed, she seems frustrated, probably looking for whatever she went in there for. Any farther than that, no.”

Looking at her in amazement, Miroku simply smiled at her. He wondered if she knew it was Inuyasha in the garden and just didn’t say or really just felt another person in vicinity. “Yesterday, when you were showing us your true, uh self, what kind of aura did the Prince have?”

Blushing, Kagome looked at her small booted feet and lavender skirt. She really wished for something less formal, but wasn’t complaining about the gorgeous gowns the queen had prepared for her this morning. “I felt something, thought I’m not sure exactly what. He as a good soul, more pure than yours, it seems.”

“Souls? You’ve mentioned this twice now. As in you can see inside one’s soul to see their intentions, good, evil and such?” He asked, astonishment clear across his face.

Nodding, still gazing at her feet, “There was something else, like a pull. I should talk to him, or get to know him better before I can say exactly what it is. My soul seemed to call towards his and I felt safe in his presence, even though his inner demon emerged, though I’m unsure why.”

“Well, my dear Kagome, I feel as if the Prince should explain that one before I can. Ah, Sango is returning. I think you’ll like this choice of weapon.” He smiled at both women. Feeling a bit confused at his statement, Kagome turned towards the approaching woman and smile ruefully. She was carrying a set of bow and arrows.

“Oh, Sango. I think this will be perfect!” She gleamed at her new friend.

Seeing her excitement and laughing along, Sango instructed her on how to use the weapon, joking that they could use Miroku as a target, noticing a certain hanyou watching from afar in the garden. 

Inuyasha couldn’t help but be drawn to her. He felt incredibly stupid and ashamed for how he acted yesterday around her, berating himself all through the night. He even waited until after she left he breakfast table to come eat, getting disapproving looks from both of his parents. He promise this mother he would apologize and talk to the new princess today. As he watched her grip the bow and arrows steadily, he wasn’t surprised. She seemed to be taking everything in stride and learning new defense pretty easily.

As she shot the hay barrel against the weapons shack, inches from the center, he watched as she jumped in excitement and glee, while the others smiled and laughed at her antics. She was so joyful in everything she did, he was determined to apologize and talk to her later. He overheard them talking about him earlier and was grateful Miroku didn’t go into detail about her being his mate. He wasn’t even sure how to bring that up. I mean, here he was, having known all his life who he was and who she was, while she was just figuring out who she was just days ago, from what his father told him, saving hew own people, having an evil man after her, losing her mother and throw in a mate with all of that? He would’ve cracked and destroyed everything in his bedroom with all of that information, so he sure wasn’t going to throw one more life altering thing her way.

After a few hours, he could see her energy waning, knowing they were almost finished for the day. She had done remarkably well, wondering she ever had actually had to defend herself before. He began to growl at the thought without realizing it, watching her head rise and alert, gazing around her, as if she had heard him. Knowing lunchtime was around the corner, so he dashed away, determined to be enjoy a meal with her.

Kagome began to realize during her first day of training that she was going to be in need of a better outfit. She loved her dresses, made her feel like a princess, which she guessed in the truest sense, she was. She wondered if she could get Aunt Mara to create something that combined the two. Lost in her thoughts, she heard a growl, not of the evil intent, and looked around her, wondering where is was coming from. Feeling the aura she had felt in the garden all morning sprint away, she wondered if the Prince would ever come talk to her. Sighing to herself, she gather the last of her arrows and walked arm in arm with Sango towards the dining hall. She was feeling ravished and wondered if he would be there.

Emerging from her room, she had changed into a pale yellow dress, similar to her own back home, and walked with Miroku and Sango towards the dining hall. There sat Izayoi and her son, taking to each other quietly. 

“Hello dears! How was this morning? Sandwiches have been prepared for lunch.” Queen Izayoi called as the trio walked over, Kagome becoming increasingly nervous. It didn’t go unnoticed by Inuyasha.

Rising quickly, Inuaysha took two small steps towards them, held his hand out, “Princess Kagome. My name is Prince Inuyasha, it is a pleasure to meet you. I do apologize about yesterday, I’m not sure what came over me.” Though he knew that last part was a lie, he had to fix this with her. He wanted to spend every day from here on out with her and needed to make up for what happened. Watching her accept his apology with a small smile, he glanced at her pink cheeks and bottom lip she was currently biting at, her scent clearing from the sudden nervousness. He wondered what her lips would taste like, not realizing she has asked a question and was waiting on his answer.

“Thank you, Prince Inuyasha. I was wondering if later you would like to accompany me in the library? Show me around?” Kagome asked, nervously, biting her lip in anticipation. She had wanted to get to know him more, something drawing her close to him.

Shaking his head when he realized he was silent and her embarrassment waved across her face and scent, he stuttered, “Y-yes, I would like that.”

Both blushing, took their seats as Queen Kagura, Shippo and Rin joined the table, with Miroku and izayoi giving each other a knowing look. Grabbing a peach, Kagome smiled to herself, enjoying the delicious fruit while everyone chattered about her, feeling the prince’s golden gaze on her often.

After lunch, as promised, Inuaysha escorted Kagome to the library, passing the meeting room where his Father sat, reading over business. “So, are you getting a lot of training done, I saw you this morning, your barriers are impressive.” He began, a blush creeping across his features, trying to compliment her.

“So that was you in the garden.” Kagome stated with confidence, causing Inuaysha to blush even harder.

“How did you…?” He sputtered, clearly unsure of what to say, clearly embarrassed at being caught.

“I could sense an aura, had a feeling that was you at one point. I heard growling, but wasn’t too sure until you asked about my training.” She giggled at him. “Next time, you can join us If you want?” She blushed prettily.

“Sure.” He simply said. Pushing the large mahogany door open, “This is our library. Is there anything in particular you would like to look up first?”

“This may not be in the books, but you could you tell me what happened to my parents? Or at my birth celebration?” She asked, wide eyes looking around her at the dozens of bookshelves surrounding her.

“Let’s grab a particular book and I can tell you. I was really young when it happened, but I know my Father recorded the events in a book here.” Grabbing a brown bound book from a few shelves over, he flipped through the pages, before setting it back on the shelf and turning to another one.

“What do you remember the night of the party?” She asked, musing along a row of books, her fingers trailing. She loved the smell of books, though the only library she ever had been in was the small one in the village near her home, she thought painfully.

“I remember traveling to your parent’s castle and meeting you. You were thing this tiny thing, with beautiful wings that had barely begun to expand from your back. I remember my mother having to explain to me what fairies were. You laughed at me and tried to grab my hand a few times before going to sleep. You smelt the same as you do now.” Inuaysha stated as he came around the corner, eyes downcast in embarrassment.

“What do I smell like then?” She asked curiously, her voice growing softer.

“Sunshine and wildflowers. When I saw you in the field that day, I was unsure of which direction you left in, because you blended in with everything around you.” He whispered as he got closer to her, a book in his hands.

“Is that what you were looking for?” She tilted her head, still watching his golden irises glowing hotter.

Nodding, his breath hitched when she smile wide, just for him. Taking the book from his hands, she whispered a thank you, before turning to head towards a chair in the center of the room. Knowing he wouldn’t be leaving anytime soon, he told her he would gather a few more books about her heritage while she began to read that one, if only to clear his thoughts for a little while.

“Prince Inuaysha?” A small voice called after some time of searching.

“Inuaysha in just fine here in the castle, it’s a stuffy title.” He mused, turning from the bookshelf he was currently looking at.

“Inuaysha, can I asked a question?” Kagome called, knowing he could hear her from wherever he was at. Not waiting for a response, she asked, “Why did your demon emerge yesterday when you saw me? There wasn’t any feeling of malice or intent to hurt, I was only scared for your safety.”

“My safety?” He said, surprised. Nobody, but his friends and family ever cared when he was having one of his episodes, he liked to call it.

“Yes.” A soft voice said. Gathering his thoughts and the few books he found, he walked towards the plush chairs he often found his Father sitting in.

“Uh, my inner demon thought that my Father was, uh, lying to me. That he knew where and who you were, before you , uh, showed up.” He stated, not daring to look her in the eye, his words betraying his shame.

“Why would I matter to your demon?” She asked, curiosity in her eyes, but she had a sneaking feeling she knew. She had heard of demon mates before, what humans called soulmates. She suspected even mythical creatures had someone like this, but was unsure of the title. Though she had never seen a demon in action around his mate, she could put two and two together with how he had been acting since then.

“You’re uh someone special.” He stated simply, still not looking at her.

“Someone special?” She asked, daring to laugh at him. He was being bashful, and while it was cute, she really wanted answers. Hearing the laugh in her voice, he looked up at her. “Why am I so special to you? I know I am to your Father and Mother. I know I’m this born savior of my people and I’m the lost princess everyone seeks out, but why to you? Unless you are hiding something?” She asked, brow cocked, with a small smirk on her lips.

Licking his own, briefly wondering what hers tasted like again, he shook his head of those thoughts. They could discuss that later, he hoped. “You know of demons, correct?”

Nodding her head, “Demons have mates. Humans call them soulmates. I’m not sure of the term mythical use.”

“Mates or soulmates. Mythical creatures aren’t so different from us. Even though I’m hanyou, half-demon half-human, I still have one.” He put it simply. “So, uh, my demon was calling out, for, uh, you.” He wasn’t good at words! Why was this so hard to get out though? Everyone talked about their mater so why couldn’t he explain this better?

Watching emotions cross his face rapidly, his soul becoming agitated and angry, Kagome stood and walked closer to troubled prince. “Am I your mate, Inuyasha?”

Looking at her in shock, he just nodded dumbly. Laughing quietly at his bewildered expression she began, “I’ve discovered I’m a lost fairy princess, that an evil man is after me and the people I love, discovered power I never knew I had, met some of the most amazing people, am learning so many new things, finding out I have a demon mate is not the most surprising thing. In fact, I suspected I was something to you since the first day in the meadow, judging by how protected you made me feel, I just wasn’t quite sure.” Kagome reached for his closed hands, her tiny in comparison to his.

Dropping to a chair in utter astonishment, he just stared at this incredible woman. She already knew? That would make things here on out so much easier! Before he could voice his thoughts any further, Kagome squeezed his hands and caught his gaze. “Inuaysha, I want to take things slow. I understand we leave for the borders, my home, in just a few days, I would love for us to get to know each other. I know we are soulmates and what not, but I feel as if I know you already. I just want more, if that’s okay?” She looked at him in question, a small blush appearing across her features.

She is so remarkable and gorgeous he thought, before nodding, stiffening when she places a kiss to his cheek. Smiling at her softly, he pulled her close into a hug, whispering a thank you in her hair, while she squeezed him tightly back.

“Now, let’s get to looking. These are books on fairies that I could find, going back all the way to Midoriko, the earliest collections of fairy queens.” He guided her back to her chair next to him, handing her a blue bounded book. “Any questions you might have, just write them down on this paper next to you and we can go ask my Father together.” He smiled at her.

[drosselmeyerwrites]

20 Questions: Writer's Edition!

Thank you for the tag, @chierafied! I'm sorry for such a late response!

***

1. How many works do you have on AO3? I believe I have 45!

2. What’s your total AO3 word count? 221,141 - started in 2019

3. How many fandoms have you written for and what are they? Fandoms currently posted include Inuyasha and Doctor Who. But the first fanfic (unpublished and lost now) I ever wrote was for Gundam Wing, and I'm currently working on my first Zelda - Breath of the Wild piece.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos? E Pluribus Unum When winning against Naraku takes everyone from them, Sesshoumaru and Kagome find themselves suddenly thrust together and trying to survive their grief as they figure out how to get rid of the completed jewel and move on with their lives. When Comes the Rain A miko and a demon lord share a common interest when it rains, and in the quiet and peace of these stolen moments, something neither of them could have predicted begins to grow...

On Unexpected Love It's by chance that they happen across each other again, but it's by choice that they don't let each other go.

Chasing Your Tail When an item up for auction offers Kagome a piece of her past, she jumps at the chance to hold onto it. But she may be getting more than she bargained for when that past bids against her and then follows her home...

Fixer Upper 500 years and a fixer upper are no match for married mayhem...

5. Do you respond to comments, why or why not? Yes. On AO3. I don't post on other sites anymore, but their system was more difficult to work with. But AO3 makes it very easy, and it's one of my favorite things about the platform. If someone takes the time to write me a comment, it makes my day, and I'm going to respond back to them, even if it's only to say thank you. But I love it when there's the opportunity to discuss what's happening in the story and answer questions!

6. What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending? Probably Until Death because it dealt with tragedy and was left open ended. There's still hope there though.

7. What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending? Morning Light. It's a proposal one-shot.

8. Do you write crossovers? If so what is the craziest one you’ve written? Crossovers have never been my thing, but I have one planned - potentially. We'll see if I ever get to it. But it's a crossover between Zelda and Inuyasha.

9. Have you ever received hate on a fic? I have. I'm all for constructive criticism - that helps me do better as a writer. But there have been a few comments here and there that go beyond that. Most of the time I ignore that. Recently I did not because the comment crossed some major lines that could potentially affect other readers, so I made my opinion on their attitude known there. I believe in constructive and effective criticism and embrace that. But I won't put up with readers going out of their way just to be an ass. That's a disservice to fandom in general.

10. Do you write smut? If so what kind? LOADED QUESTION, lol! I like to think I write love and/ or intimacy. If I write a sex scene, it's going to be with a purpose that fits within the context of the story. Personal bit of info - I'm demi. So, smut for smut's sake has never been my thing (no shade to those who feel otherwise!). In my case, I just don't go there. Any sex scene I've included in my work is there for a reason (though it may not always seem that way to readers). But if asked, I can explain why I included every single one I've written and why I felt the scene added to the story. I do enjoy exploring the different facets of sex within a relationship, particularly because PWP isn't my thing, and I want to see the connection that intimacy brings explored. So, I don't shy away from writing it (though writing friends can attest to the almost panic attacks I have including it).

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not to my knowledge. But I have had writing stolen before in my professional life, so I feel pretty adequately prepared to deal with it should the time come. Hopefully not though.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? I have not! Someday I want to finish translating EPU into Spanish. I've had people request it before, but I'm just not comfortable yet allowing people I do not know to translate what I've written.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? Tried. It's not my thing. I'm too particular with how I write (as most writers are), and I find collaboration difficult. It's hard for me to stay motivated to work on co-written fics. As a rule now, I just don't do it, but I would make and exception for one person (you know who you are!) because we have this weird brainwave thing going on, and it might just work, lol.

14. What’s your all time favorite ship? It is, likely unsurprisingly, SessKag. Though, I am really enjoying exploring the various ships within the Zelda fandom.

15. What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will? Deseo a una estrella.

16. What are your writing strengths? I feel like I can never evaluate myself on these matters, so I'm going to go with what others have told me and trust them. The comments I get most about my writing tend to be about how I say a lot with very few words and then an ability to evoke strong feelings and emotion. I have appreciated that feedback and hope my writing truly reflects that!

17. What are your writing weaknesses? I am a SLOW writer. Between life and a tendency to overanalyze the most ridiculous things, it's hard to just punch work out.

18. What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic? I love it, lol. Foreign language has been a part of my educational background since elementary school and was always my favorite subject. So, I get really excited to see other languages pop up in fic. An unpublished piece (SessKag) I'm working on called Beneath the Eternal Blue Sky actually includes a language I created to use in fic. Tribal inuyoukai group (Sesshoumaru's extended family) has their own native language, and that's fun for me to play with. Poor Kagome though, lol.

19. What was the first fandom you wrote for? Gundam Wing! But the first piece I ever published was for Inuyasha.

20. What’s your favorite fic you’ve written? This changes every time I'm asked. But right now? Probably the EPU one shot First Blush. I hit publish accidentally more than once when writing this, so I apologize for the mess that made! Tagging @sereia1313, @jafndaegur, @stormielikeweather, and @ladygoshawk if they want to participate!

[lavendertwilight89]

Hello love! I wonder if you wouldn’t mind giving us a little spoiler/sneak peek at what’s coming next in Shelter? That is one of my favorites of yours—one that I read over and over, and I absolutely cannot wait to see what comes next. Thank you!! 😘

Well, of course my love @fawn-eyed-girl!!! I actually meant to finish the next chapter this week but had unfortunately had a VERY busy work week and last weekend my wifi didn't want to do anything with the storms--so--here's an extended peak.

Please don't murder me my goal is to have it done next week

Just in case you are behind, read below the cut for the sneak of Shelter

Inuyasha ran with a furry; he narrowly avoided knocking into trees as he swiftly and angrily made his way back to his brother’s home. The wolves called from behind him in pleas to slow down, but Inuyasha couldn’t. He wouldn’t. He needed to get to his brother and tell him the situation and see if there was anything the monk could do to track the dark shape-shifting bastard aside from the other questions that raced through his mind like unending track.

Can’t you run any faster??

Shut up, hanyou.

I let you out to get us there faster!!

I’m running, jackass.

I still can’t believe you didn’t just kill the bastard then!!

And destroy our mate’s chances of finding her mother? I may be rash, half-demon, but I would never risk the safety of her family. Especially when our mate commanded us to retreat. Trust me when I say that I did not want to bow down, but it was necessary.

That asshole probably already killed her! You heard what Kagome said!!

Kagome trusted him; we trust Kagome. Our miko said what she said what she needed to in order to appease the monkey-shit.

Why the fuck are you the one I’m trying to talk into slaughtering someone?!! That’s your thing!!

Our thing is to keep our mate safe. We must have confidence in her… She is stronger than your human emotions are allowing you to remember.

Don’t you fuckin’ dare throw my emotioms into this!! Your instincts are stronger than me and yet here we are!! Mateless!! Not to mention what she said--

Do you think I actually enjoyed watching that thing lead our mate out of the cave?! That I wanted to stay back and listen to the lies that asshole made her spew!? That feeling her cleanse and purifying our mark from her body didn’t rip our heart apart?!!

You definitely didn’t fucking stop them!!!

You’re daft. Just shut the fuck up.

The scene played over and over in Inuyasha’s mind. The agony his body felt as his mate was ripped from him. The emptiness and loneliness, having not completely realize how whole he had been--how appreciated and loved he had been.

Not that Inuyasha had ever doubted for a moment how much Kagome had completely changed his life for the nearly two months he had known her. But since mating her, the couple of days of having the sweet and teasing taste of her in his life--Fuck. His entire being felt like he would just fall, die, and wither away to nothing without her. But his youki was trying to hold on--remain strong and fight.

Her words--her actions--they didn’t match the eyes that shone so brightly, that dripped tears, that pleaded him to listen to the underlying tone--the hints, the words she didn’t say…

Damnit. Inuyasha needed to be strong. Kagome needed him to be strong.

Finally arriving at the Sesshomaru’s castle, he stormed in and made a fuckin’ b-line for the monk’s room. He didn’t give a fuck if he was still recovering from what happened with the curse, or if he was fine and the middle of fucking his wife. Inuyasha was going to get answers.

“Lord Inuyasha, you have return--” Rin cut herself off with a gasp. Sesshomaru must’ve heard Rin or scented her nervousness as he was immediately by her side and pushing her behind him.

“Brother?”

“Not now,” Inuyasha growled in inu-youkai as he stomped menacingly towards the monk’s room.

“Lord Inu--”

“Rin.” Whatever Sesshomaru said to Rin made her shut up and not follow. Good. She wouldn’t want to see what was about to happen, and Inuyasha didn’t want her to see it either. Inuyasha heard the wolves barge in with Kagome’s family and the puny human that was supposed to be her husband, Koga trying to reach him before Sesshomaru barked. The wolf growled back and Ayame was quick to try and diffuse the situation before it got out of hand.

Sesshomaru at least had his back; Koga probably was trying to honor Kagome. But Inuyasha was going to get his mate back. Even if he knew she wouldn’t condone and like what he was going to do, he was panicking. The emptiness was hollow; it was something Inuyasha had thought he had felt his entire life; being a hanyou, he’d been shunned and kicked and punched by humans and youkai alike.

Kagome was the first true true person Inuyasha had let break down his barriers, his walls--even then, it had taken her the greater part of a month to do so. The way he had treated her when they first met (ok, not the first time since he still hadn’t remembered that, but when he had awoken in his hanyou form) still disgusted him. But the miko had forgave him and even apologized for getting too close too fast…

Inuyasha wasn’t worthy of her.

Inuyasha should have just let her go.

Inuyasha should never have asked her to mate with him.

“Maybe you should go back to that shelter and look at the mess you made of my life.”

Her final words to him were still circling his head. They were unforgiving. Harsh. Cruel.

Tag Wall since this is a sneak peek:

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