Well everyone, I decided to write this fic two weekends ago when I was lying in bed with a really bad migraine. It was the type where you wonder whether the headache caused the upset stomach or the otherway around. Well okay, that was just me, but then as I was laying there in the dark, I started wondering, why am I trying to figure something like this out at all? sigh Because I can't manage to bring myself to do anything else or to sleep. God that sucks! Anyway, I won't bore you all with anymore of this crap. I hope you enjoy this story.
Ari: whispers She is so wierd.
Amy: I heard that!
Ari: EEP! hides
Amy: Come back! I won't hurt you...much.
Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha. I wish I did, but Rumiko Takahashi got him first.
Kagome lay suspended in complete darkness. "Ah, blessed darkness, " she thought, "cuddle me to your breast." There was nothing in the darkness. She had no body, only spirit resided here. It was neither hot nor cold. There was no pay or elation. There was only nothing, and she basked in the velvety blackness.
The day ha dragged on for what seemed like forever. Inuyasha found the campsite early in the evening since the whole party seemed plagued by exhaustion all day. "I don't get it," he grumbled as he searched for fish in the stream near the camp. "We just started. They shouldn't be this tired already." He thought back to the previous day.
"Come on Kagome! You're just wasting time. We've got things to do." Inuyasha fumed and paced the length of Kagome's room while she packed.
"Inuyasha." Just the tome alone had him cringing in anticipation. "If you are in such a hurry to get back, then go. I will follow you in a bit, when I'm ready."
"No chance! If I leave, you'll probably just throw yourself on that soft cot of yours and got to sleep. We have a jewel to repair. So let's go!" He was yelling by the end.
"Oswari," the young miko whispered. You shouldn't yell inside. It's not polite." With that admonition, the miko proceeded to pack her things.
"Temee!" growled the slightly flattened Inuyasha as he unceremoniously dug himself out of Kagome's floor. "One of these days, I'm going to return the favor." He mumbled and left her room to go downstairs.
He was still grumbling when he entered the kitchen to find Higarashi-sama pulling food from her cupboards for her daughter to pack. "Ah, Inuyasha-kun, would you like some ramen, while you wait for Kagome to finish?"
At the sound of her voice, the red clad hanyou stopped grumbling and the mention of his favorite food perked up his mood considerably. He nodded curtly that he would like the ramen and sat down beside the table to torment the cat while he waited.
Within minutes a steaming bowl of ramen was placed on the table for him with a pair of chopsticks and he quickly set tot devouring every last noodle. When he finished, Higarashi-sama took his bowl into the kitchen for cleaning, and he went back to "playing" with Buyo.
The poor cat ran out of patience with him after about half on hour of being dance around the room on his hind legs. He pulled at the paws that Inuyasha was holding until one of them slipped free. Then he proceeded to claw the unsuspecting inu-hanyou in the face before running off.
"Ow!" Inuyasha yelled as he jumped up from the floor, holding his left hand over his newly battered nose. He quickly stormed out of the dining area and back up the stairs to Kagome's room. "Are you ready yet?" he whined plaintively.
"Yes." She responded, while toting her gigantic yellow back pack past him and downstairs to her mother. She was getting tired of his pestering, so she wanted to leave quickly. "Oi okaa-san! Do you have any food that I can take with me?" Without a word, her mother handed her two already stuffed shopping bags full of food and goodies. "Ah arigato!" She set her bag down and gave her mother a hug before grabbing everything and heading off to the well house. "Inuyasha, I'm leaving!" she called as she entered the well house.
"Keh!" Inuyasha popped out of the shadows behind the door. He chuckled when he saw her jump at being startled. He picked her up, junk and all and hopped onto the rim of the well.
"Inuyasha, stop laughing." Kagome wasn't finding his little joke very amusing. The look in her eyes suggested heavily that the subjugation command was forthcoming.
"Just remember, I'm holding you. If you say it, you'll be crushed too," he quickly pointed out to her.
Kagome smiled sweetly as his words sank in fully. "I wasn't going to say it." He looked at her like he didn't believe her, but shrugged it off completely. With that, he jumped into the time stream carrying Kagome into the Feudal Era. When they landed on the other side, Inuyasha carried the young woman up to solid ground above, still chuckling at quietly. He gently set her down on the ground and she took a small step away from him. "Oswari." She stated casually without any warning. Then she walked calmly toward Kaede's village without a backward glance.
It took him a few seconds to recover and chase her down, but he had plenty of anger to fuel his speed. He started yelling before he had even reached her side. "Temee! What was that for?"
"You wouldn't stop laughing at me." She replied coyly.
"But you said you wouldn't say it for that." He plead indignantly, reminding her of her statement form before entering the well.
"Did I forget to say 'yet'? Gomen nasai, Inuyasha." She smiled shyly as she entered Kaede's hut. She greeted everyone inside politely and started distributing goodies without a second thought about the conversation she had been having with her inuko.
"What do you mean?" Inuyasha yelled as he barged into the hut.
Without breaking from her previous actions, the miko calmly said, "oswari." Once the dust settled around the hanyou's prostrate body, she reminded him gently "didn't I will you it's not police to yell indoors?" And she continued to hand out the gifts to her other friends.
The whole party stared wide-eyed at the scene before them. Shippou whispered to Miroku, "Kagome-sama's scary." However, he was easily muted by a lollipop as Miroku nodded curtly in response.
The group spent the night there and started out early the next morning, although it appeared that Kagome's mood hadn't changed for the better. Her attitude seemed to permeate the party. Sango had to have slapped the lecherous monk at least fifteen times during the day. Shippou complained more than usual about Inuyasha's antics and Kagome subjugated said hanyou…a lot.
By early afternoon, Inuyasha was drained emotionally from his growing fear of the word "oswari." He found a secure campsite and called for a stop to the day. He didn't even wait for protests or applause before leaving the group on the pretence of finding food. He had to get away.
"What happened between you and Kagome-sama? She seems more upset with you than normal." Miroku approached the creek slowly.
Shaken from his thoughts, Inuyasha simply replied, "Keh!" and left the water to find a pile of twelve fish. "I must have been really distracted," he thought as he looked at the pile.
"Hungry much?" Miroku inquired.
"Shut it bouzu!" Inuyasha growled. "You guys were so slow today, I figured you all needed the extra energy." He grabbed the fish in his hands and bolted back to camp before he had to answer anymore of the monk's questions.
Miroku remained by the river silently shaking his head. "Sometimes, I wonder what goes on in that head of his." He laughed quietly to himself, before involuntarily shivering slightly. "And other times, I'm too afraid to find out." With that sentiment, he gathered some water in a bucket and headed back to camp.
As the two returned to camp, Sango was setting the fire and Kagome was laying out her bedding for the night. The miko just couldn't understand why she was so slow today. "Maybe I didn't get a good night's sleep last night," she thought. As she finished unpacking her sleeping bag, she concluded silently, "Well, I'll just have to take advantage of the early stop tonight." She sighed heavily and sat down.
"Is something wrong, Kagome-chan?" Sango approached her friend with concern.
"I am just tired," Kagome reassured her with a small smile.
"I meant about the whole day. I have never seen you say 'Oswari' to Inuyasha so many times in one day without you returning to your time. Is there something wrong between you two?" She sat down in front of her compatriot a waited for an answer.
"No, I've been a bit more touchy than usual. I don't know why exactly, but I think I'm just tired. Everything will be fine if I just get a good night's sleep tonight."
"Haven't you been sleeping well?" The taijiya asked. Kagome shook her head slowly. "Maybe we shouldn't have left Kaede's so soon then."
Kagome laughed bitterly, "Tell that to our favorite dog-eared friend. He was on my case from the moment he came to my time. By the last day, I rushed just to get everything packed so he'd stop hounding me." (A/N No pun intended.)
"Well maybe you're right, but I'm concerned still. I've only ever seen you this tired once before that we hadn't been fighting a huge battle right beforehand. That was when you got so sick. I don't ever want to see you get that sick again." Sango had genuine worry in her eyes for her best friend.
"Oh no! This is so not the same thing. I think if we can keep Inuyasha from yelling tonight, I will be right as rain come tomorrow." Kagome had a bigger smile on her face this time and Sango couldn't help but be caught up in it.
"Oi, Kagome! What do you mean, 'it's going to rain tomorrow'?" Inuyasha sat down by the fire to prepare the fish he caught for dinner.
The green and white clad girl just rolled her eyes at the dense hanyou. "I said, 'right as rain,' 'not it's going to rain.'" At the blank expression she got from him she decided to elaborate for him. "It means fine or as it should be."
"Keh!" He went back to skewering the fish around the fire. "Why can't you human ever just say what you mean?"
"Kagome glared daggers into his back. "Because we lowly humans try our damnedest to try to confuse the hell out of ignorant hanyou's like you!" the furious miko shouted, and stormed out of the camp in the direction of the creek. She never saw the hurt look in his eyes as she barged off, but he quickly hid his feelings from the rest of the party.
He watched her go and then sighed quietly as he went back to cooking the fish. His fuzzy ears drooped slightly on his head as he contemplated what was wrong with Kagome.
By the time the miko returned to the camp from the waterfront, the fish was cooked and everyone was eating. She sat down, without a word or glance at anyone, and ate one fish. As soon as she finished it, she climbed into her sleeping bag and went straight to sleep.
Inuyasha watched the raven-haired teen fall asleep and grew concerned. He knew she hadn't eaten lunch and her breakfast was small. Now she had only eaten one fish for dinner. "What's wrong with her?" he wondered to himself.
He finished his meal and wandered around the perimeter of he camp making sure it was secure. When he was satisfied, he found a tree near the priestess and sat down with Tetsusaiga resting against his shoulder. Afraid that this girl might be sick again, he took a preliminary sniff of her scent, but he couldn't discern any sickness or "otherness" to her otherwise usual vanilla and rose scent. He decided to stay there and keep watch over her tonight. The inuko was determined to keep her from being disturbed to the point that he even convinced the young kitsune-youkai to sleep with Kirara.