Hey guys, it's been a long-ass time. I haven't written a fanfic, or much of anything outside of academia for that matter, in two years. However, because I've been trying to be more in touch with my creative side lately, I figured that this semester, I'd try to write a couple of oneshots for old times' sake. This is what came out... in just two days. This is going to be like all of the other oneshots I've written in the past, short, fluffy, and corny. It also isn't my best piece of work, so bear with me. I know that the characters are slightly OOC and that things are slightly out of canon as well, as I haven't been watching or reading nearly as much InuYasha as I used to, so I tried to work out character traits and responses and setting the best I could. I can't promise anything more (if it's good enough for your liking, which I'm sure it won't be), as I'll be juggling uni, work, and finishing my first album within the course of a semester, so this is all I've got. Before I get things kicked off, I'd like to thank my friend for re-interesting me in fics. You know who you are. And now, without further ado, here goes nothing.
I'm Falling In
skyclaw441
"Stupid girl..." InuYasha sighed as he rolled over in his sleeping bag.
It was a clear, starry summer night. It had been dark for hours. The moon lit up the forest clearing, giving it a peaceful, dimly-lit aire. The others were deep in sleep, Miroku and Sango in a tent and Kagome in a sleeping bag on the other side of it. There wasn't a sound to be heard for miles, except Miroku's quiet snoring, Kirara's soft purring, and the noise of locusts. The whole world seemed to be asleep... except for InuYasha.
'What the hell is wrong with me," he thought as he put face into his pillow. He knew the answer; it had been disturbing him for months. Except he didn't want to admit it. Normally, he didn't like to mill over something like this, as it was weak of him to do this, pathetic, even. If he had the choice, he'd rather play dumb about it, but it was impossible to ignore.
His feelings for Kagome were worse than ever before. He'd had them for months, even for more than a year now. Normally he could just ignore them, but now they were out of control. He was obsessed, and it had been driving him crazy. Let out a snarl as the thoughts ran over again in his head. The sentimental bullshit was seriously pissing him off. It had put him in such a bad mood lately that he had practically yelled at the group constantly for the last two weeks (not that he didn't yell before, but now it was unusually bad).
Miroku, as per his usual smartass self, had asked if manperiods for demons were longer than those for human men. InuYasha growled as he remembered that line and rolled over to lay on his back. Sango jokingly assured Miroku that it'd be over soon, and that he was "just in heat" (as if that line made him feel any better). Kagome was of course snappy with him (and he had he bruises to prove it, he'd been told to "sit" countless times today) and had essentially told him to "screw off" several times. As a result, InuYasha had spent hours by himself that day, knowing that the others wouldn't appreciate his presence. He'd spent most of the day wandering in the forest, taking in the fresh air and the sounds of the nature, and enjoying a day off from always rushing from place to place. He also spent hours doing a certain something... a new hobby of sorts. Something that he hid from the rest of the group, something that was his own little secret.
InuYasha looked over at the guitar that Kagome had given him from modern Japan a few months ago, which was peeking out of his pack. He got it after he commented on liking a certain song and muttering about wanting to learn to play it, and so she gave him an old guitar that her brother had. She also gave him a chord book and a tuner. He didn't think very much of it at first, but as he started to play it more and more, he began to find something rather relieving about it. Over the last few months he'd gone from learning simple chords and theories to learning riffs and entire songs. Now, he was even writing his own songs. Every strum and pluck took stress away from him. Just the sheer sound of it was mesmerizing to him.
InuYasha kept this all a secret from everyone, and he even led Kagome to think that he had left it back at her house in modern Japan the last time he was there. He kept it hidden in his pack. He couldn't be seen doing something as wimpy or artsy as playing an instrument, much less writing his own songs about his feelings. It was stupid, weak, and pathetic, of him. However, it was sometimes the only thing that helped.
InuYasha sat up and glanced around, his ears perked, listening to the sounds of the others. Everyone was still sleep, it seemed. He rolled over and partially sat up, lifting the sleeping bag with him. From under the sleeping bag he pulled out a notebook and pencil. Quietly, he got up out of the sleeping bag, and then picked up his pack, quietly lifting the guitar out. Still on full alert, he quietly set the pack back down, and then he quietly started to walk off into the forest.
As he was leaving, he failed to hear a stirring from the other side of the tent.
"InuYasha?..." Kagome whispered, obviously dreaming. Her eyes fluttered open, and the girl came to her senses. She sat up, still dazed from sleep, and rubbed her eyes. She let out a sigh as she looked over in the direction of the nearly dead campfire. She then noticed something strange. InuYasha was gone. She thought for a second, still not fully conscious. 'Probably went back out,' she said to herself, immediately falling over into her sleeping bag and falling asleep.
InuYasha was in a state of near complete ecstasy as he played a sad and fast riff. He had walked some distance from the camp, but he wasn't sure how far. He made sure that he'd be out of earshot of the camp at least, but in case someone was going to attack he couldn't go too far out. At this point, he didn't care. He was enjoying himself right now, playing away the all of the stress of the day and all of his emotions. InuYasha finished off the rift with a single, loud strum. He'd done it perfectly for the first time, hitting every single note. InuYasha gleamed at his achievement, and then started to stare off into space. The second he stopped playing, he'd start thinking again.
"Mmrrgh... dammit," he muttered to himself. The half-demon looked over at the notebook sitting on the log with him, and picked it up. He opened it, and began to read. It was full of every emotion he'd felt for Kagome in the last month. Infatuation, passion, obsession, even anger, it was all here in song form. Some he couldn't remember how to play, as they were written in the heat of the moment and without chords or tabs. Some were written down, as they were more carefully constructed, but they they didn't nearly have the passion that the ones written quickly did. Something was missing from those. Altogether, InuYasha was generally dissatisfied with what he'd come up with. However, there was one song that he had written that he did in fact like. However, it wasn't completed.
InuYasha sat the notebook down on his right side and took the pencil. He began to write, slowly at first, and then fervently and with a mad passion. He wrote out everything, every emotion he had, every feeling for her that he kept over the months. He started to fall into a trance as he wrote, rhymes and lyrics coming effortlessly, straight from his heart and directly to the paper. He began to hum a tune as he wrote, envisioning the melody of the song and the chords that would back it up. As he got to the bottom of the page, he snapped out of his trance. He looked up at what he'd written, expecting to be disgusted with himself and his writing, again.
But this time, it was different. InuYasha felt something that he had never felt before with respect to the simple love songs he wrote. This one... was good. Well, it wasn't that good, but it was good enough. He felt an odd sense of content as he looked over the lines of the song. This was something that he might actually be able to finish.
Not wanting inspiration to pass him by, he picked up his guitar, and began to strum and sing...
Back at the camp, Kagome's eyes, slowly opened again. She rubbed her face and straightened out her hair as she slowly sat up. This had been the third time she woke that night. For some reason, she simply couldn't sleep. As she slowly came to consciousness, she noticed a certain someone's presence was missing. She looked over again in the direction of InuYasha's bag, only to find him gone.
"Now where did he go?" she muttered to herself. Something had gotten into him lately. Something really strange. He'd been so defensive and combative lately, and it was seriously starting to drive her crazy. Even though she had feelings for InuYasha for some time now and genuinely cared for him, nothing pissed her off more than him being so ... pissy.
Lately, she'd even started to wonder if it was her fault. Was she doing something wrong? Was she being too good of a friend to him? Was she being nosy, too close? Or was she being too domineering, always telling him to sit? That definitely could be something. Was it all of the times that he'd had to save her neck from constant danger? She was sure that pissed him off more often than not, despite how willing he was to do it. Was it something like Miroku and Sango suggested, a sort of demon heat phase? She didn't know, but it was driving her crazy. Was it Kikyou? Or some other girl? She started to clench her teeth at that thought out of jealousy as she laid back down and began to stare at the dying embers from last night's fire.
Her train of thought was suddenly interrupted by a sound, a distant, far-off noise. She perked up to listen. It wasn't just any noise. It was music. It sounded almost like a guitar, strumming a sort of simple melody. And she could swear that she heard a gruff voice, barely audible, singing along. She listened to it for a second, wondering where it could be coming from, but then it stopped abruptly.
'Oh great, I'm going crazy...' she thought to herself as she rolled over and fell asleep again.
It was dawn as InuYasha made his way back to the camp, his guitar slung over the back of his shoulder so that it stayed behind his back, and the notebook in his arm. He had torn out his new song and put it in his pocket, in case something hit him during the day and he needed to write it down. He treaded lightly, fearing that the slightest snap of a twig could wake the others as he approached camp. At a few yards away, he perked his ears up and listened carefully, making sure that no one was awake. Once he had made sure that everyone was still asleep, he crept back over to his sleeping bag. Carefully, he took the guitar from his back, making sure it didn't swing from the strap and hit him in the process. He picked up his pack carefully, and slid the guitar and notebook into the pack.
'Home free...' he thought as he started to close it. Just then, he was interrupted.
"InuYasha?" Kagome asked curiously. InuYasha jerked, nearly turning red, the pack falling over. His stomach dropped as gave her a defensive scowl.
"What the hell do you want," he shouted. Kagome snapped back.
"I'm wondering where you went last night!" InuYasha snarled in response.
"That's none of your business!"
"Just what the heck has been going on with you lately," Kagome shouted. "You need to calm down!" A tired voice came from the tent behind them.
"The both of you need to." Miroku said, poking his head out, rubbing his eyes. "Do you two ever stop fighting?"
"Not when he's acting like this again!" Miroku just shook his head.
"He'll get over it soon, Kagome," he said calmly. He looked over at InuYasha. "Jeez, get a pad, will you? Get over yoursel-" he managed to say, before he got pulled back in the tent and slapped by Sango.
"Ow, hey!"
"Stop it," she merely told him. She poked her head out of the tent like Miroku did. "Seriously, what the hell is your problem, InuYasha?" InuYasha gave her an angry look and started to shout.
"Problem? What the hell are you talking about?" He said.
"Oh don't tell me that, you've been yelling everyone for the last two weeks straight," she said. "What the hell is your problem?" InuYasha was getting angrier.
"It's none of your goddamn business!" he shouted.
"Fine then, don't bother us with it."
"I'm not bothering you with it!" His tone got more defiant by the second.
"Then why are you being so pissy? Miroku's right, you need to get over yourself." InuYasha started to seethe.
"There is nothing wrong, and I don't need a goddamn pad or whatever the hell either of you are trying to tell me to get. It is none of your goddamn business!"
"Then don't make it ours." Sango was starting to show her irritation in her voice. "Just go wander off like you did yesterday and come back when you're done pouting." She went back into the tent. "I don't need this first thing in the morning." InuYasha turned around, starting to walk off.
"Gods, fine," he said.
"Hey! Where are you-" Kagome started to shout. InuYasha spun around to face her.
"None of your business, you stupid girl!" He turned and walked off, nearly storming, his pulse racing. He was still getting butterflies, even after arguing. Kagome starting shouting at him as he wandered off toward the forest.
"Hey! Just who do think you're talking to, InuYasha!" She thought for a second about making him sit, but she decided to just let him go away. She groaned loudly to herself, turning around. 'What the hell did I do,' she said to herself, starting to beat herself up over anything that she could have potentially done. Miroku stumbled out of the tent.
"God, he's just like a woman, isn't he," he remarked to Kagome. "Worse in the morning."
"Hey!" Sango shouted from the tent. Miroku snickered for a second at his own remark. The then looked over, and saw Kagome starting to hang her head and look down. "It's not your fault, you know," he said with an exhale, looking upwards.
"What if it is!" Kagome started to nearly cry a bit. It was getting harder to conceal her feelings, especially because it was a bit too early for her to be on guard. "I don't know what I did! I only wondered where he went. I'm only trying to-"
"Don't worry yourself over it," Miroku said, sounding calm and a bit detached. "It's nothing you did. He'll be back to normal soon. If it's anything I've learned about him, it takes him a bit to get over something, especially something that's probably bugging him deep down. Just give it a few more days, he'll be back to normal."
Kagome exhaled as she walked over to her sleeping bag. Miroku was right. She shouldn't let it get to her. InuYasha was always semi-mad about something, so why should she let it affect her? Even though he'd just called her a stupid girl and had been yelling sometimes directly at her for two weeks, it really shouldn't make a difference to her. Except she couldn't stop it. No matter what, she was always going to be affected by InuYasha. She started to mill again as she began to roll up her bag and and pack her pillow, when her train of thought was interrupted by a sudden burst of laughter behind her.
"HAHAHAHA!" Miroku belted, a hearty laugh coming straight from his stomach. He continued somewhat uncontrollably. Kagome turned around confused.
"Miroku, what are you...?" He was holding a notebook and reading from it, practically doubling over from laughter. InuYasha's pack was laying on the ground, open, and the neck and headstock of a guitar visible. "Oh gods," he said, wiping a tear of laughter from his face. "I don't know why this is so funny, but... ehahahaha! Sango, come check this out!"
"What is it?" Kagome said curiously, walking over to see what he was holding. Sango emerged from the tent.
"This had better be good if you're interrupting my sleep to get me to look at this," she said. Sango got to him first, and he handed the notebook to her.
"What is it?" Kagome repeated, getting even more curious. She headed over to Sango to read over her shoulder, standing on her tip-toes to try and get a view, but she still couldn't see. Sango let out a chuckle and she started to scan the lines of words on the paper. She then started to laugh quietly under her breath.
"Wow," was her only comment. She turned, taking away Kagome's view.
"Sango, what is it?" Sango started to chuckle.
"Oh wow... looks like InuYasha is quite the songwriter," she said, starting to again laugh under her breath. The look on Kagome's face turned to one of perplexment.
"...Songwriter? What?" Sango turned to Miroku, who was still laughing a bit.
"You're right, this is good."
"I know," he said, starting to laugh again. After laughing between themselves for a second, they both turned and gave Kagome a look... a very amused look.
"...What? What is it you guys," she asked. Miroku started to shake his head and chuckle a bit as he looked away and started to walk away from the camp.
"You'll see. Sango, hand her the notebook." Sango handed her the notebook with a smile.
"At least we know what's going on with InuYasha now," she said, turning to go back to the tent. Kagome looked down at the book and began reading what InuYasha had written.
It was a song. It wasn't just any song. It was a love song... and it wasn't just any love song. It was a love song about a girl with long, black hair. Her heart began pounding as she continued reading the lyrics. Her face turned a bright red. She started to shake as she continued, following the song from the first verse into the bridge, and then into the chorus. And there it was, her name. The song was about her.
She nearly fainted. So she was InuYasha's problem after all. She was the reason he'd been so angry. And not only that, she was the reason for everything written here. She turned the page and read the next song, her pace increasing as she reached the bottom of the page, her mind beginning to race. She flipped the page and went to the next one, reading that one even quicker, her mind and heart racing even faster. It was then that she fell backwards, landing on her rear. Unphased, she kept reading. Before long, she'd read through every song in the book, and tears were streaming down her face.
"Oh gods..." she thought to herself. He loved her, he really did. She then remember the music, the distant music which was coming from the forest the night before. She wasn't hearing things. It was InuYasha. And he was playing about her. That's why he was never around the camp, and that's why he was always so defensive about where he was going. Now, it all made sense.
Kagome looked up and took it all in. She thought about everything he wrote, and all of the things he said and done over the last few weeks. Some time later she was still crying, and she didn't know why. It seemed like a dream to her, almost. She began to wonder if the songs, the comments, if anything was real. Her train of thought was interrupted by a robed figure standing over her.
"I see you read the song," Miroku said. "You've been sitting there for an hour."
"I read them all..." Kagome replied, trailing off as she still looked upwards.
"It looks like he really loves you. I didn't know InuYasha could go that deep. Impressive," he remarked.
"Beautiful..." Kagome responded, again drifting off. Miroku let out a breath of laughter.
"You know," he began, "I wonder what he'd do if he knew we'd read his songs." Kagome instantly snapped back into reality. She stood up, grabbed the notebook, flipped it shut, and then ran over to his pack.
"We aren't saying anything," she said. "He's not going to know." She put the notebook back in the bag, and slid the guitar carefully inwards, trying to make it look like as if it had just been dropped.
"Kagome, what are you," Miroku began. Kagome shot him a cold, piercing look. She spoke in a slow, icy tone that surprised him.
"We didn't read his music, we didn't go through his bag, and we didn't know anything about this. Got it?" Miroku understood quickly.
"Alright," he said. "We didn't know about this..." he began to snicker a bit, but then he was quickly reminded of the gravity of the situation from Sango.
"Got it?" Sango said, walking behind him.
"Got it."
The rest of the day passed uneventfully. The group enjoyed another day of relaxing, taking a small excursion from their constant journeying. InuYasha never came back that day, he was in fact nowhere to be seen. Miroku and Sango paid it no mind, but of course Kagome worried about it the whole day. That evening, they carried on their usual routine of eating and talking around the campfire, before Sango and Miroku retired to the tent and Kagome crawled into her sleeping bag. And that's when InuYasha returned...
InuYasha tread lightly back to the camp, his ears again on full alert. He didn't want anyone to be awake when he got back. He simply wanted to grab his guitar and notebook and go. It had become a kind of addiction to him. All day he had waited for his chance to write and play. He silently cursed his spineless, artistic addiction as he approached, stopping for a second to listen. It sounded like everyone was asleep, so he continued toward the camp. He did the same thing that he did last night. Quietly, he slid the guitar out of his pack, took his notebook, and turned around and left.
And just like the night before, he had failed to hear that someone was still awake. Kagome stayed in her sleeping bag on the other side of the tent, quiet as a mouse, feigning sleep the entire time. She waited for several minutes until he was completely gone and into the forest. Once she was sure he was gone, she got up and began to walk in the same direction that he had taken, stepping into the forest. Ignoring any reservation she may have normally had, she continued until she was decently deep inwards. She then sat on a log and waited. It didn't take long before she heard what would guide her to him...
Meanwhile, InuYasha began to play the song that he had written the night before. He had milled over it the entire day, making minor changes as he would think more and more about it. For some reason, it felt like his feelings had amplified themselves by a factor of two in just that day. He was deeper infatuated, in love even, with Kagome than he had been since he'd started to get feelings. He was falling in faster and faster, and as he started to play and sing the song, it started to show.
He started to sing it with more and more passion. He sang it loudly; he didn't care at this point who might heard it. He wanted to be rid of the intensity of these feelings, and this was the only way. A second time he played the song, perfecting it as he went a long, and then he played it a third time, and then a fourth. Every time, he went further and further away from reality and deeper and deeper into his own feelings. Everything seemed to rush and fill together as he went on to sing the song for a fifth and final time.
I'm falling in
Feels like a sin
The way you touch me from within
I'm falling in
Falling apart
How you take and break my heart
I'm falling in
I'm falling in
Can't wait to start, wait to begin
I'm falling in
I'm falling in
And I'm more in love than I've ever been
InuYasha finished the song with the final strum. He was still on another plant in his mind, in a completely different universe, until a the sharp snap of a single twig brought him crashing back to Earth.
Kagome crept closer and closer, until finally she could see him sitting there on a fallen log, strumming and playing his song. She crept still closer, careful not to make any noise. She was only five yards away from him when she decided to stop. She leaned her back against the trunk of a thick, tall oak tree and listened to him.
It was beautiful, simply beautiful. The melody was simple and sang gruffly, but it was still beautiful. Every word that he sang tugged at her. Her stomach dropped deeper with every note, and her heart beat quicker with every verse. InuYasha had written something beautiful, and it was all about her. She almost cried as he repeated the song for the second, third, fourth, and even the fifth time before he finally stopped. She felt dizzier every time he did it.
And that's when she fell.
Her back started sliding down the trunk of the tree. To try and catch herself, she tried stepping outward, causing a twig to snap sharply. Her stomach dropped. She'd been caught.
InuYasha's ears perked sharply. He nearly threw the guitar down as he shot up to confront whoever or whatever had interrupted or discovered him.
"Who's there?" InuYasha said angrily. There was no response. He tried again, this time louder.
"I said who's there?" The quivering voice of a girl responded.
"InuYasha, it's me," Kagome replied. InuYasha's stomach dropped to the ground. He'd been found out.
"Kagome, what the hell are you doing here? Go away!" he shouted.
"No," she said firmly, stepping out from behind the tree.
"I said go away!" InuYasha shouted.
"No." Kagome looked up, staring him in the eyes. She inched closer to him. InuYasha stood there, at first with an angry look on his face, but then when he saw the look on Kagome's, he began to relax his stance. His anger disappeared, and he began to look confused. What was she doing?
"InuYasha," she began, still walking slowly towards him. She wanted to explain herself to him. "I-," she began, quickly cutting herself off. She inched closer and closer toward the dog demon, his yellow eyes glowing and meeting hers. She continued forwards, now only inches from him. She brought herself upwards as she stood up against him, still staring straight into his eyes. His shallow breathing tickled her face as she went in. And then, as their lips met, she closed her eyes.
InuYasha's stomach dropped. His pulse shot through the roof. Instinctively, he embraced her tightly, as if he'd never let her go. He felt the softness and warmth of her lips pressing against his. She tasted sweet as he began to explore a bit with his tongue. However, it wasn't long before Kagome broke this kiss and rested her face against his, her brown eyes piercing his.
"InuYasha," she said softly. "It was beautiful." She then brought them back into their first kiss.
InuYasha's mood improved by the next day, and he would now have inspiration for his new hobby for a long time to come.
And that's it. I do hope you guys enjoyed this. Sorry about that kissing scene and the abrupt ending, I'm really lousy at writing those. I guess so much for short, this turned out way longer than I expected... anyway. Please review if you feel so inclined, criticism is always helpful, too. I probably won't be posting much more after this due to school and work and my music, so like I said, I hope you enjoyed this. Thanks for reading, ladies and gentlemen, I'll see you guys later in the future.
