Kagome returns through the Well one evening and finds Inuyasha missing. A little investigating on her part reveals a very frustrated hanyou… unsuccessfully trying to ride her cycle!After a few minutes of priceless amusement, Kagome pities Inuyasha and steps in to try and teach him how to ride the "iron cart" What happens, then?
In this fic, Kagome's eyes are blue-grey. I know a Kagome with brown eyes makes much more sense, but I'm sticking to how she is in the manga. =)
This fiction is rated for language, just to be on the safe side.
Thank you for reading… I would really appreciate it if you would leave a review. Make my day! =)
Nominated for Best Humorous Fiction by the Feudal Association. :D
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha.
Kagome's 'Evil' Iron Cart
"Hello, I'm back!"
As Kagome's cheerful voice floated into the small hut, its occupants, a small kitsune, an old and venerable-looking miko, a monk with handsome features and a strikingly beautiful Taijiya, turned their heads towards the sound with warm smiles on their faces.
A smiling 15 year old girl stood in the doorway, her raven hair spilling onto her shoulders. Her wide, expressive blue-grey eyes were dancing with happiness at seeing her friends again. Framed by the evening light, she was beautiful.
"Kagome-Sama, welcome. I must say it is a pleasant surprise to see you here this early. Inuyasha hadn't planned on barging into your home in the other world until later!" Miroku said, looking up at Kagome from his seat in the corner of the hut.
Kagome laughed, "No, it's okay, really. I thought it was too lovely a day to ruin with Inuyasha yelling at me! And, since we were here recently, I didn't have much to pack. Most of my supplies were intact."
"But, you got some candy, right? Because I know for a fact that you didn't have any candy left!" Anxiety over missing his favorite treats was written large on Shippou's face as he eyed the rather large yellow bag Kagome was carrying on one shoulder.
Kagome comforted him with a quick hug and assured him, "Don't worry, Shippou-chan! I've brought you candy. It was rather convenient actually, because I could buy it at the same store that sold Ramen. Goodness knows we need more of that! And, that reminds me… where is Inuyasha? Shouldn't he be around here somewhere?"
Sango, who was busy polishing Hiraikotsu, replied, "Oh, I saw him go into the woods quite some time back. I must say he looked like someone who didn't want anyone following him… kept looking over his shoulder! I don't think he noticed me, though."
A volley of emotions suddenly hit Kagome. Her face fell. The happy smile dropped off her face and she seemed to shrink into herself. She wore a resigned expression and one could see her hurt from the little lines forming around her eyes and mouth. Kaede stiffened as well, her lined face creasing even more in worry and distress.
In an instant, Sango realized that both women would be thinking of the undead miko, Kikyou. Kikyou was a highly sensitive subject… hitting Inuyasha, Kagome, and Kaede in different ways, but each one's pain was just as deep as the other's. She turned to Miroku in horror, silently pleading with him to use his gift of soothing and persuasive words to set the situation straight.
Miroku hastily got up and said in placating tones, "He's not off to see Kikyou-sama. I didn't see any Shini-Dama-Chuu around, I'm positive!"
While the elder miko's face relaxed, Kagome's lower lip still trembled and she kept her face down. Miroku walked up to her and locked eyes with her.
"Kagome-sama, believe me, Inuyasha is not with Kikyou-sama. We would have seen the Shini-Dama-Chuu otherwise, wouldn't we? Now, in all certainty, he is pacing about, his silly head filled with thoughts of getting you back… Give it another quarter of an hour and you will see him jumping down the Well, impatient to see you. Now, why don't you go surprise him? He'll be glad to see you this early, let's see if he manages to come up with an excuse to grumble this time! His bark is worse than his bite, you know that Kagome-sama. Now, go… This glum look is a travesty of your usual sunny smile!"
After this, the smile really did come back to Kagome's face. Noting the change, Sango's guilty expression finally slid off her face and she turned to Miroku with a grateful smile and mouthed, "You did well."
Trying his best to hide his slightly proud smirk, he grinned kindly at Kagome as she went out of the hut in the direction of the woods.
"Sango dearest, how about a reward? I did well, after all!" Said Miroku with a suggestive look.
SMACK!
As Miroku ruefully rubbed the lump on his head, a highly irked Sango returned to polishing Hiraikotsu while Shippou and Kaede shared exasperated looks.
XXX
In a small clearing, right in the middle of the thicket, lay an extremely aggravated hanyou, unsuccessfully trying to ride a cycle that was now slowly getting bent out of shape. "Kagome rides this thing all the time, and it looks so easy. I've got to figure out its trick!" he thought savagely.
Twigs and leaves were tangled in his disheveled, silver hair; his face was streaked with dust; his hands twitched with irritation; his mouth was set in an angry scowl; his eyes sparkled with frustration which was laced by a determination that did not allow him to give up yet. And so, he stood, picked the cycle up from its rather forlorn position on the ground, and began to mount it. Again.
As soon as he was on the cycle, his legs fumbled to find the pedals and for the umpteenth time, the edge of his long, red hakama caught on one of the pedals. He tried to shake it off, but couldn't. Feeling the cycle wobble ominously, he instinctively started pedaling, effectively twisting his hakama even more. Now his foot was hurting… it was all twisted in the wrong way! He tried reaching one hand down, the other one firmly on the handle, to free his leg, but all he managed to do was tilt the cycle way too much in just one direction. Desperately leaning over and trying to regain his balance, Inuyasha's free leg slipped off the pedal, the metal ends scraping his heel painfully.
"Ow, Fuck!" Inuyasha swore roundly and as he attempted to wipe his sweaty face on his sleeve, he realized all this circus had not gotten him farther than about two paces.
In the moment it took Inuyasha to grasp this exasperating fact, he lost complete control of the cycle and he crashed to the ground, the cycle on top and his hakama still wound around the pedal.
"Ow. Ow… Damn! Come loose, you stupid… fucking…"
Inuyasha's frustration was rendering him quite incoherent as he angrily tried to free his hakama from the pedal.
A few yards away, Kagome was having the time of her life. Since the whole point of a surprise would be lost if she went around the woods calling out Inuyasha's name loudly, she crept around quietly, trying to figure out where he was. She was gob smacked when she found Inuyasha wrestling with her cycle pointlessly. She found the whole situation supremely funny…which was why she was still hiding in a bush, watching Inuyasha topple off the cycle within a minute of him getting on it. Even as she chuckled with suppressed laughter, she realized that she would have to go and stop Inuyasha before long, or she would end up with a twisted and bent piece of metal for a cycle. She wished she had left her bag at Kaede's hut. She hadn't even stopped to put her bag down, and now it was feeling a little heavy. "Just half a minute more," she promised herself.
But, just as she thought this, she saw Inuyasha take a particularly bad fall after pedaling the wrong way, grazing his face against the edge of the handle hard enough to draw a thin line of blood.
"Inuyasha!" Worried, Kagome put down her bag, hurried out of her hiding place, and ran to Inuyasha, who was sitting in a cloud of dust, the cycle on its side a few yards away.
"Kagome?" Inuyasha squinted at her. "Why-What are you doing here?"
"Um, I think I could ask you the same question! What are you doing here? With my cycle?"
"Keh! That iron cart is useless! And, it's evil! Why do you ride it, Kagome? You could get hurt!"
"Like you are, now?" Kagome sighed. Listen, baka, I know how to ride my cycle and it's easy. You were just doing it wrong."
"You were watching me? What gives, wench? Keh! That is so rude! Thought it was some kind of highly entertaining show, watching me fall?"
For a moment, it looked like Kagome was in pain; her whole face was screwed up as she tried to remain impassive. Suddenly, she snorted, the memories of Inuyasha clambering on the cycle, flailing for a minute or so, and finally tumbling to the ground amidst much swearing and growling flooding her mind.
Horrified, she clamped a hand on her mouth and tried to stifle her laughter. Inuyasha narrowed his eyes at her and she redoubled her efforts to hold in her giggles.
Finally, though, she burst into laughter. She laughed, and laughed…until tears pooled in eyes. Finally, her peals quieted into chuckles and after she blinked her tears away, she saw a livid and fuming Inuyasha in front of her.
"Inu-"
"Bitch! How can you laugh? I've been trying to ride that cart thing over there and getting beaten up again and again and… I'm telling you, Kagome! There's something wrong with it! It's as if it's evil… I mean, I just couldn't control it! I was just trying to work it out! And here you're laughing! When I'm all beat up!"
The angry humiliation in Inuyasha's voice gave away to hurt and Kagome felt bad.
"I'm sorry, Inuyasha. That was insensitive of me. There's nothing wrong with my cycle. Like I said, you were just doing it wrong. Here, calm down. I'll help you ride it and soon you'll be an expert! Okay?"
"Keh."
Taking that as a yes, Kagome smiled encouragingly at him, walked over to the cycle, picked it up, and said, "Inuyasha. Your hakama kept getting caught in the pedal. Ever thought of hiking it up a little? Good. Now, come here. I'll show you how to ride a cycle."
As Inuyasha shuffled over, his hakama bunched at his knees, she dusted the cycle and grinned at Inuyasha.
She made him sit properly on the seat, helped place his feet correctly on the pedals, placed his hands on the handles and instructed him to pedal forwards. She held onto the cycle from behind as Inuyasha slowly moved forwards, so that he didn't lose his balance and fall off. She guided him and instructed him on using the brakes as Inuyasha kept pedaling.
"There, Inuyasha, you're doing it! Keep going, and don't worry because I'm holding on from behind… Good job!"
"Hah! This is easy!" crowed Inuyasha, as he turned his head towards Kagome with a gleeful expression on his face.
"Okay, I'm going to let go now, Inuyasha. Just keep pedaling and you won't fall."
Kagome felt like a proud parent as she let go of the cycle and watched Inuyasha gingerly pedal his way around the clearing.
"Alright! That's excellent. We'll continue later, Inuyasha. Come on, just brake carefully and we'll go back to Kaede-baa-chan's hut."
Face screwed up in concentration, Inuyasha carefully pressed the brakes, with all his strength.
Unfortunately, the cycle was in no condition to function how it should have. After Kagome riding it on many miles of rocky paths and an entire afternoon of crashing down repeatedly and being manhandled by Inuyasha, its wheels were shot and frame was rickety and rusted. When Inuyasha depressed the brakes with all his might, the handle bent.
As Inuyasha felt the cycle tilting again, he started pedaling, to try and regain his balance.
This, however, was too much for the poor cycle. It crumbled and fell to the ground, taking with it, Inuyasha.
As Inuyasha and the cycle both disappeared in yet another cloud of dust, Kagome ran forwards and gasped when she saw the twisted piece of metal that was once her cycle.
"OW! Oh, fuck! Look, Kagome! I told you… I told you this thing's evil!" howled Inuyasha.
"Inuyasha! Cycles aren't evil! You did this to it! Ohh…how am I supposed to get around now? This is entirely your fault!"
"My fault? How?"
Kagome was about to yell back an answer when she saw Inuyasha. His hair was no longer silver, but a muddy in-between color, with twigs and leaves and dirt in it. His face was sweaty and streaked with dust. Even his normally bright fire-rat robes were a duller shade, with his hakama bunching limply at his knees. He also bore a dozen nasty looking scratches, some of them bleeding. He looked rather defeated.
Taking pity on him, she sighed, "I'll tell you when I'm cleaning up your wounds. Up you get, we're going to the nearest pond. Lucky I have my bag with me, really."
Grumbling, Inuyasha got up and shuffled in the direction of the pond, with Kagome marching behind him.
XXX
Sitting under a tree and dressed in only his white kosode and his hakama, a now clean Inuyasha winced every time Kagome rubbed a scratch with cotton soaked in anti-septic.
As he saw her methodically cleaning all his scrapes and putting on the bandages carefully and gently, Inuyasha felt a little bad about destroying her cycle.
"Kagome?"
"Yeah?'
"Listen… I'm sorry I broke your-your 'saikill', okay? I just wanted to try it out."
Kagome smiled, "It's alright… It was getting old anyway."
Inuyasha looked into her earnest face and truly wanted to make it up to her.
"You don't need it, anyway! As for how you're going to get around, I'll carry you, okay? I'll take you where ever you want to go! Carrying you around ain't very difficult... Just tell me when and where, okay, wench?"
Kagome looked up in surprise at the intensity in Inuyasha's voice. When she saw his eyes blazing with the honesty of the statement, her heart flooded with warmth; she felt all her love for him surge to the surface. Looking into his face, her breath caught.
"Inuyasha…" she whispered as she leaned closer to him, "Thank you."
Without thinking, she gently and tenderly kissed his cheek.
Inuyasha's eyes widened in surprise. He immediately turned his head towards Kagome, and before he knew it, their lips bumped.
Instead of pulling back in horror or mortification, like he'd expected her to, Kagome leaned farther in and opened her mouth ever so slightly. Inuyasha, in turn, cupped her cheeks with his hands and returned the kiss. It was a sweet, yet passionate kiss, leaving nothing to be said. Kagome's hands inched their way up and she lost them in Inuyasha's long, luxuriant hair.
After what seemed like a blissful eternity, they drew back. Kagome shyly looked away, her face an admirable shade of red. Inuyasha looked dazed, his head swimming with heady thoughts of Kagome and her wondrous scent.
When Kagome looked sidewise at Inuyasha, a tiny smile playing about her lips, he gave her a crooked grin and murmured, "Hell of a thank you."
XXX
Again, thanks for reading my fic. I hope you liked it… Leave me your thoughts with a review!