A Muse Songfic
InuYasha's Time is Running Out
Usually the hanyou would wait around the well for Kagome to be back, but today it was different. Usually, it'd happen only if the human girl was away for more than a day, but earlier that day she had mentioned something about muses and wanting to share this with him. Of course, InuYasha didn't understand a thing and had to ask what muses were. As usual, Kagome explained what they were, where they came from and their purposes for humanity, but the half-demon had gotten yet again stuck with what Greece was. The girl only groaned and told him to wait by the lake, that she'd go back to her time for a few things and be back before nightfall.
So there was InuYasha, leaning against a tree, wondering when on earth she'd get back, not that it bothered him for her to visit her time, but the fact that he'd been waiting for her for nearly five hours was certainly not making him any happy. And he was hungry, to top it off.
He kept waiting, though he was restraining himself from getting up and going back to the village, but knowing Kagome, he'd only receive some osuwaris from her and he'd rather wait than go through that trouble… then… Sesshoumaru. He didn't know what was going on, but everytime he found himself alone, his half demon brother would pop on his head, but this didn't wake any of InuYasha's killer instincts, it was more like a Sesshoumaru this and Sesshoumaru that. It was like admiring him but not doing so at will. It was practically driving him mental. Some days he wanted to confide this to Kagome, who understood him better than anyone, but he couldn't bring himself to do it because he felt for some reason that it would hurt the human girl. What could he do? What should he do? And more precisely, why his half-brother?
"InuYasha!"
He snapped from his trance and didn't say anything.
"I've been calling you out for the past minute!" Said Kagome, a mystified look on her eyes. "Anything wrong? Sick?"
"Keh! Even if I was sick I'd recover quickly, I'm not as weak as you humans!"
The girl didn't look to sure about his answer, InuYasha would usually be in a good humor, now that Naraku was gone, but she decided to let it go, she didn't want to pressure InuYasha because she knew there was something wrong with him, even if he wouldn't point it out. He'd tell her when he was sure.
"So what took you so long?" He asked quietly, lifting his face to look directly into her brown eyes.
"Well, I did say I was going back to bring some things, mainly medicines and some treats for everyone," She answered, smiling slightly at the sight of InuYasha's dog ears twitching. "and some personal stuff. But I wanted to be with my family for a while and I needed a shower."
"Oh." InuYasha didn't miss it. "And personal stuff?"
She beamed. "Remember our talk about muses?"
He nodded. Her smile widened.
"Well, I want you to listen to some music from my time, you know, share some culture with you, it might do you some good."
InuYasha narrowed his eyes.
"No, InuYasha, I meant that I want you to know a bit more from my world, get to know me a bit more and my strange habits, according to you." She took out from her yellow bag a small rectangular object with a red shade. "You see, this is an iPod. They're quite popular in the future, you know." She handed the object to him and he stared quizzically at it. "It plays music." With a slender finger she pressed gently the central button that was surrounded by other smallers buttons with odd figures. The screen on top of these figures was a small gray screen that at the touch of her fingers turned on. InuYasha almost dropped it and took out Tessaiga, but Kagome's arm stopped him and she smiled, telling him with her eyes that it was alright.
"So… this thing plays music?" He mused, turning the iPod around, analyzing it.
"Yes, it was recharging while I was back at home, I want to share this with you." Then she took a small black cable from the bag and attached one of the ends that looked sliver-like to the music player in the hanyou's hand. Then, she separated the other end that ended up splitting in two small circles at each end. "There are earphones. You plug this to the iPod and you hear the music form these small circles."
"So…" He took the small earphones from her hand and looked at it. "these things go inside the ear?"
"Not literally inside, but yeah, pretty much and-" She broke off and sighed. "I forgot."
She rummaged through her bag again and took out a similar cable that, instead of having the small earphones, they look like them, except ten times bigger, a plastic diadem-like strap that attached the two earphones. Once more, the hanyou looked bewildered.
"These are headphones, since they're bigger, they have this plastic strap to hold them in place, like this," She put the headphones on InuYasha's head and, being careful with his ears, placed the earphones gently on top of them. Then she plugged these headphones to the iPod.
"They are heavy, Kagome…" he pointed out, adjusting them slightly.
She looked up and smiled brightly. "You're just not used to them. I'll put some Muse, to start with."
"Muse?"
"They're a british band, amazing musicians and they're one of my favorite music groups. They have many music genres, going from alternative to rock opera to space rock. Matt Bellamy, the lead singer, uses vibrato, giving a powerful effect to his songs that talk about many subjects, from love to politics and conspirations. The drumming is just superb, and I know I'm no drummer, but it's worth admiring, and not to mention Chris Wolstenholme, he headbangs!"
Alright then, though InuYasha, that's just Kagome babbling. "But um…" he hesitated for a moment. "I have no clue what you just said. Start over."
She groaned. "Just listen, InuYasha, I'll put you this song, it's called Time's running out. I think you'll like it, it reminds me of you for some reason."
She chose the song and pressed the central button. The song started with some fingersnaps but then Kagome pressed the button again.
"What now?" he groaned this time, cocking his head sideways, looking a bit annoyed.
"Kaede called." She stood up. "I'll be back quickly, maybe she wants to know what the medicines are for… Oh, and InuYasha…" She looked back at the hanyou, who looked innocent now. A fiery glint appeared in Kagome's eyes as she said, "Do. Not. Destroy. My. iPod."
InuYasha's eyes widened slightly only to be replaced by a narrowing of his eyes as the girl waved cheerily at him.
"That stupid brat…" He muttered, looking back the iPod.
InuYasha was a kid by heart, not entirely mature but quite understanding. Having this in mind, we know that kids are quite curious with new objects to them and do not hesitate to press buttons or destroy it because they want to know how it works. The hanyou, curious by heart, began pressing buttons.
"Oh, crap." He mumbled to himself, pressing the button that to him it meant right way and to us would mean forward. He noticed that the title had changed and unconsciously pressed the left way button only to find the original song back. Then he remembered Kagome's expression if he did anything to destroy it. He decided not to take any chances and wait, but by accident his right index finger brushed against the play button and he heard the gentle fingersnaps and how the song began to gain a bit of rhythm. Then it started.
"I think I'm drowning, asphyxiated…
I wanna break the spell that you created…"
This sentence told InuYasha a few things: first of all, he was able to understand it perfectly, he didn't speak English but he was hoping that the fact that he could understand languages was because of his father's demon blood. Second of all, Sesshoumaru came into his mind again. He felt asphyxiated every time he thought of him. Third, it seemed that, now that he thought about it, he might be under some spell because it just wasn't normal to think of the half-brother you loathe so much… But it was irresistible not to think of him.
"You're something beautiful, a contradiction…"
Too true, thought InuYasha. He certainly was a wonder and no other demon was as handsome as him, as powerful… the elegance in his fighting positions, how Mokomoko rearranged itself on his body, the silver mane… He shook his head. That was certainly not normal.
"I wanna play the game, I want the friction."
If by playing the game it meant fight!, then the hanyou had nailed the spot. If fighting with him was the only way he'd be closer to him, then he'd gladly do it. A sigh escaped his lips.
"And you will be the death of me…
Yeah, you will be the death of me…"
That doesn't need being cleared out! He said to himself. He'd beat the crap outta me anytime! But this time it had a deeper meaning…
"Bury it… I won't let you bury it…
I won't let you smother it…
I won't let you murder it…"
This was something difficult for InuYasha to process. Bury their blood relationship was more acceptable. Smother his loathe was far off. Murdering him… he doubted it, he had more chances than anyone else he knew to kill him. But he didn't do it. Sesshoumaru, care for me? Yeah, I wish! Though he though of this and wished it was real.
"Our time is running out!
Our time is running out…
You can´t push it underground.
You can't stop it screaming out…"
Why the hell might my time run out? He mused, leaning back towards the tree. I'll live for a while… no, wait… not in the way the song is stating it. What he really thought was that, maybe, just maybe, he did have feelings for Sesshoumaru, feelings he would never admit unless he brought himself up to confess, thus his time ran out that way. If this was true, then he couldn't bury those feelings, that'd be living in denial, and those thoughts screaming inside his mind drove him mad. But maybe I am mad for having these insane thoughts.
"I wanted freedom.
Bound and restricted…
I tried to give you up,
But I'm addicted."
Now InuYasha mind was getting a bit perverted. He imagined himself being a sick masochist for Sesshoumaru. Being tortured by him didn't seem too bad, after all… Then his lust creeped out of the shadows of his mind and developed that little story in his head a bit more. Practically a slave for his demon half-brother… his natural beauty… He tried to stop thinking about this, the problem was that he WAS addicted to thinking about him and now to those new thoughts of perversion.
"Now that you know I'm trapped,
Sense of elation…"
He's trapped. He was now stuck inside that fiction story his mind created to calm down his lust. He could control himself, he wasn't a total savage, but that feeling… he was loving it. Sesshoumaru… that bastard.
"You'd never dream of breaking this fixation…"
Not that he wanted this little episode to end when he was fully enjoying it. Even if it was a spell that Sesshoumaru cast on his younger hanyou half-brother to humiliate him, well, it wasn't working. He sighed again.
"Yeah, you will squeeze the life out of me…"
That was more literal. How many times had the Lord of the Western Lands tried to suffocate him? He had lost count after ten and then- He has a fucking firm grip!. He could still feel Sesshoumaru choking him, the soft feel of his hand on InuYasha's skin… wishing that that same hand would brush other parts of him instead of fixing all strength on his neck.
"Bury it… I won't let you bury it.
I won't let you smother it.
I won't let you murder it."
Now he was going insane after his lust had calmed down a bit. Now this was personal, if this was some sort of hoax, InuYasha would not allow for him to step on his pride. Keh! The idiot thought I would fall for this?
"Our time is running out!
Our time is running out.
You can't push it underground…
You can't stop it screaming out!"
It's fucking stupid if he thinks I'll forget my pride. That's practically asking for suicide! Now InuYasha was regaining his conscience, but the feeling of care and interest towards his brother hadn't disappeared at all.
"How did it come to this?"
What the hell?! He snapped in his mind, his anger getting the worst of him. I can't get that idiot out of my mind! It wasn't comforting because then he realized it wasn't a spell o hex. His feelings were coming out of the depths and he was feeling ashamed. No, no! Dammit!
The part after this line had relaxed him a bit, but feeling confused and bothered was not something that would characterize him.
"Yeah, you will suck the life out of me."
Just kill me, Sesshoumaru.
"Bury it… I won't let you bury it…
I won't let you smother it…
I won't let you murder it."
This was now telling himself not to deny all those feelings that were buried. He tried so hard to push them back and ignore them but it was proving impossible. He couldn't destroy them by killing Sesshoumaru, he would not murder him.
"Our time is running out!
Our time is running out.
You can't push it underground…
You can't stop it screaming out!
How did it come this?!"
I… I lo-love… Sesshoumaru? Is that it? He asked himself. The answer was "yes" but it was hard for him to digest this, all these years of hatred only to be turned into desires of being with him. His lust was coming back, but he controlled them. Yes, he was in love with his brother, he finally understood why those golden eyes would come to greet him every time he closed his eyes, why his sickly sweet smell took over the hanyou… He desired him.
The song had ended with an addicting "Ooh, ooh, ooh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!" repeated three times. InuYasha pressed the play button only to pause it before the next song started. It was slightly ridiculous how a song of almost four minutes in length could manage to straighten his feelings and drive him mad at the same time. Then he remembered what Kagome had said about muses…
You see, muses are some sort of deities that inspire people to do any kind of piece of art. Not necessarily a painting, but music and writings too and as well as to transmit feelings and transform them in a way people can understand them.
Then he rummaged through his distracted mind to remember the explanation Kagome gave about the band Muse:
Muse, on the other hand, have songs that lyrically speaking, can be simple but once you look through them, you realize it can apply to any kind of situation.
So, thought Inuyasha as he watched Kagome run back towards him, Sesshoumaru can be my muse. Kagome got closer and sat down by him.
"Well," she asked, a small smile on her face. "What did you think?"
"Keh, Muse." Inuyasha groaned. "Very well named, these guys are."
The End.