Disclaimer: IY is definitely not mine and I don't profit from this piece.
Name: The shard
Pairing: Kagome/Inuyasha
Word count: 2,874 words
Summary: „Is it a spell? I would have never asked for this aloud." The blush spread under her skin as Inuyasha's eyes became slightly clouded with something close to greed and hunger of the kind she had never seen. With a renown eagerness which surprised the both of them, he crushed her body to the massive cherry desk. His muffled response, in other circumstances, would have been bothersome and unlike him. Now, it was all that she longed to hear. "Doesn't matter to me."
Rating: T
Warning: It might turn into M in part two.
I took a walk around the world to
Erase my troubled mind
I left my body laying somewhere
In the sands of time
I watched the world float to the dark
Side of the moon
I feel there is nothing I can do...
- Three doors down
- part one -
When she pushed away the fabric that draped over the entrance, she realized that the wind had risen. It was cold, the shivers down her spine pushed her back inside the cottage. She threw the yellow bag, now empty, in the left corner, while the candies, the ramen packages (she had given into the temptation to double their number), a few sodas, the ketchup and the mustard were all arranged in a pyramid. On the bed, three pens, a notebook and a history book awaited for her. Homework.
God, not even in Feudal Era did she get free from her school duties... It had taken Kagome some time to finalize the main ideas of her essay, but exhaustion overtook her power of concentration. She decided to take a five-minute break. Still, no sign of Inuyasha and the others, not even Shippou.
"Where are they?"
It was getting dark outside, the clouds rolled over the last remains of a fragile December sun. Trees bowed to the ground in front of an invisible force, the storm was ready to start.
Kagome leaned her forehead into her hand as soon as she found a comfortable position on the floor. Back to work, the woman sighed. They'll return in no time.
Her eyes passed lazily over the sheet of paper, her mind went blank. The woman's throat tightened as she gulped, mentally preparing the introductory sentences. Nara jidai, she wrote the title in a cursive manner, without pressing her pen too hard against the notebook, as to not leave unwanted traces on the other pages, but inside she was boiling. As she signed her name at the top, Kagome Higurashi, her mind wandered. What if they got in a fight?
Well, her brain muttered, it's what they always do, stupid. Frustrated, Kagome pushed herself back until she felt the wooden wall, then pouted.
Picking the history book from the ground, her thoughts flew back to what had to be done. Better do it now, or else you will receive only snappy comments.
The first words in the lesson were irrelevant, so she skipped the paragraph.
Empress Gemmei on the right side, next to some really boring dates, stood straight in an image. A drawing, actually, it depicted the ruler in her full splendor, which completely lacked. Kagome couldn't hold back the yawn any longer. The book fell from her hands, upside down, hiding the face of the woman who once held power over the entire Japan. Rolling her eyes, she dropped on her side and cherished another break. This would totally replenish her powers, and so she steadied her breath and listened to the silence.
Hands pushed and pulled at her shoulders, making her head fall back, but she couldn't open her eyes. It was too warm inside the room and she felt so right, careless and on the brink of a dream abyss. Butterflies, they flew above the field of lilies and Kagome couldn't stop staring at their wings, how beautiful they battered through the air.
"Kagome," someone spoke her name, but she couldn't see who. At the horizon, a bright golden kimono sparkled. It sheltered a small figure, skinny, weak. A woman, she noticed. It was in the way she stepped through the flowers, delicate feet rubbing the silky petals in their way. Anon, as the woman came closer, Kagome saw her face. So white, and her lips were like blood curtains drawn over a line of pearls. The eyebrows matched the contrasts of her presence with their blackness, so did the perfect ebony of the hair, which tickled the small of her back. Beautiful, breath-taking. When Kagome's stare grazed over the empress' face again, she felt the heart in her chest cease beating. That pair of eyes, so dark and bottomless like the abyss beneath her feet, were somewhat familiar. A glint of warmth and intelligence got through the bars of their prison, but Kagome couldn't place them in the puzzle of her memory. The smile from the lips reflected in them as in a mirror, it was kind and inviting. The empress stopped a few feet away.
"Kagome, wake up!" there started the shaking again; she didn't even stir in her sleep.
Kagome watched silently as that milky hand came up to her face in a curious way, the fingers almost touching her chin. There was a growl, followed by an annoyed mutter before heavy and hazy steps darted toward her.
"Move, monk."
Kagome closed her eyes in anticipation, but instead of fingers on her face, she felt pressure on both of her upper arms and her eyelids came up in alertness. The empress, she bared her teeth and dug her nails in the skin of her arms just before -
"Wake up, wench!" It was Inuyasha's voice coming from between those lips and with a force resembling the hanyou's, the woman pushed her back until her bare feet were dangling over the edge of the abyss. When Kagome's toes slipped, a scream pierced the air and the woman's black eyes widened with surprise and concern before their color morphed into liquid amber. The pale skin was no longer framed by dark hair, but by silver strands that were longer and looked softer. Just then, something moved above her head and caught Kagome's attention, dog ears. The scream stopped and was replaced by an angered word.
"Inuyasha!" The hit of Kagome's fist in the middle of the head pulled a wince from the said man, at the same time Miroku pushed his shoulders up in a shrug. She didn't have time to ask, the answer just came. Like always, though, the hanyou took the matter in his own hands. In this case, waking her up.
Automatically, one clawed hand covered the place where her fist made the impact.
"For fuck's sakes!"
The girl took a shaky breath and arched her eyebrows.
"Sit." with that, she turned her back to the annoying hanyou and picked her things up, completely ignoring his collision with the ground and the dissatisfied rambling.
She must have fallen asleep and she didn't realize exactly how tired her body was from all the trips she made, lately. Five hours, at least, she must have slept, judging by the fact that outside the sky was starless and the wind stopped. She saw Sango next to the fire, and Shippou wad sleeping in her arms, though the old priestess was nowhere to be seen. Kagome was a little shocked to see that Kaede hadn't returned from her three-day trip already.
"Where's Kirara?" she asked as she sat down on the ground, but her words nothing more than mere whispers, to not wake the little fox youkai up. He just sighed and pushed himself deeper into the warm embrace of the demon hunter.
"She's gone after Kaede, the three days are up." Kagome nodded silently and pushed a stick into the fire, watching it burn. So she'd been right, the old priestess was still looking for plants.
Out of the corner of her eye, she caught sign of fish, as if the smell wasn't enough. So that was why they were late. The fire was almost ready to be used for cooking. Its colors waltzed from a mighty blue to a fiery red, illuminating the area; the sparks that had the courage to unbind from the burning wood smiled down at their faces with crimson lips, until they dampened down as soon as they reached the cool air.
Lips... that brought the dream back into her mind. Who was that woman? The flashes had been weird, something about her made Kagome feel fuzzy inside, which was pretty bizarre. The golden kimono meant fortune, she was an empress, undoubtedly. Though, she didn't look like Gemmei from her history book. Something about the look in her eyes was extremely familiar. The black of her irises was rare, and neither of her friends or members of the family had it, but the glances , the features, the hands... every little detail was beautiful, graceful. The way she moved through all those flowers, letting the tulips untouched behind her; the light that reflected on her skin as in nacre, was she an angel? The stinging ache inside Kagome's chest intensified as she thought of it. There was a message in that dream, elusive as smoke, but palpable.
A hand flew before her eyes, sending chilly breezes into her face. Tears swelled up, and she blinked to will them away.
"Hey, are you alright?" both Miroku and Sango sat in front of her and tried to get her to focus.
"Yes, yes, I'm fine..." The dismissal was clear, because the two moved their attention to the cooking as Kagome flicked her wrist. She had been zoning out a bit, nothing to worry about. Talking about worrying, there was a missing piece in all that campfire group image. One of its members played truant at the moment. Inuyasha wasn't there, even so, she couldn't help but feel relieved. No more fights over nothing, at least for a few minutes.
The fish ran out fast, two hours of hard labor, as Miroku said, had been eaten in five minutes, but not by Kagome. She wasn't hungry. Shippou, however, was. The kid wore a bright smile on his face ad he patted his now full tummy.
"Now that was delicious!" Sango laughed out loud, throwing her head back.
"It sure was." Miroku didn't seem to agree, he frowned and shook his head before sitting next to Sango. Kagome felt distracted, but even with her eyes glued to the edge of the forest, she could still hear the slap and Sango shifting her weight to block Miroku's hands from her body.
There was a strange sound coming from outside the village.
Everyone was sleeping, but Inuyasha was not back yet. Kaede snored, her rear at Kagome, Sango's face was hidden by Kirara's fur, Shippo lay in Miroku's arms, both sound asleep. Still, the image of the woman's face haunted Kagome's mind. There was a faint pulse at the back of her neck, and shivers of anticipation crawled under her skin like worms. It didn't matter how she positioned herself, the ground felt harder than any night before and there was an eerie silence in the air. A musky smell lingered on the sheets beneath her, but as she rolled over, the smell was still there. Coming from outside, Kagome noticed as she stole a glance at the door.
The sound didn't stop.
Her eyes couldn't catch the view of the upper branches on which the hanyou usually sat, but a feeling bugged her. She knew even without looking that he was not there, his presence lacked. Kagome pushed the futon away from her legs, her skin felt hot, and there was a small voice that told her she had a fever. After all, they were in winter and the temperature at night was considerably low. Clothes that she usually liked to wear weren't thick enough to preserve warmth. With these thoughts in mind, she found herself leaving the cottage quietly and penetrating the darkness of the forest.
What was... that? That noise?
The pulse got even more powerful, it was like a voice calling to her, pulling her into the heart of nowhere. Leaves beneath her bare feet felt like calloused fingers giving her a massage. They hissed like snakes when she stepped on them and her body tensed on its own. Through foggy vision she spotted something moving through the blanket of darkness. Coming forward, her foot passed over a rock and Kagome bit back a hiss of pain. It cut right through her skin.
Her eyes left the shadows' movement for a moment to check her wound, but as she bent her knee a light broke through the leaves. A shard, she realized as her hand grabbed it on its own. She cut herself in a shard. It had been so close to the village and still she couldn't sense its full power.
A barrier of some kind must protect it, Kagome thought, but when she was about to look at it better, she froze. It had a bright yellow iridescence, and there was a small crevice on one of its sides. The pulse was rhythmic, now. Like drums, it filled her ears.
No, do not risk it, her instinct told her. Still, the sound of water slipped through the trees. Just a mere second, Kagome gulped, thinking it will be better to turn back to Kaede's cottage, but her face adopted an inquisitive expression and the shard fell into her pocket before she silently approached the source of the sound. It turned out to be too late when she finally discovered what it was.
Steam floated above the spring, the same place where she and Sango usually bathed. Kagome felt the blush starting to rise to her cheeks.
Moving quietly, Kagome crouched and put her palms against the rocks that encircled the hot water. With her heartbeat fastening, she only prayed that it was just a villager bathing, not some flesh crazed demon. Her orbs watched from above the rock, but saw no one. Her nose warmed up as she took a deep breath in.
If no one is here, then what is that sound?
Kagome spied on her surroundings once again, and decided to go back. Her feet were frozen and hurt, probably even bleeding. The shard vibrated in her pocket, sending her commands to not even dare to think about it, but ignorance was bliss, so to say. She spun on her heels. Just then, the splashing came back and there was a sharp intake of breath, so she reverted in time to meet the sight of her life.
Good God, was all that she could mentally make out, for her lips were unresponding, just like every other muscle in her body.
Inuyasha.
Naked.
Bathing.
Water moved smoothly down a sculpted back, she couldn't react in other way than trace the rivulets as they created a path downwards and disappeared into the spring. Silver hair plastered itself against the powerful column of the hanyou's throat and was swept over one of his magnificent shoulders, leaving the skin exposed to greedy eyes. Kagome couldn't see his front, but it didn't matter as she sipped the view like one of the greatest wines. It tasted like paradise. Instantly, a melting hotness spread through her body, filling her core to the point where her knees buckled under her weight. Then Inuyasha turned around, making the water move in circles around him.
Kagome's heartbeat fastened until she thought she'd go into cardiac arrest. The air she took in wasn't enough to soothe the fireworks inside her stomach, nor the explosion of images inside her brain.
Kagome trailed every single curve she could detect, starting with the collar bone which seemed to give him a false air of fragility, to the muscles that undulated under the skin and tensed with every move. She stared at the way the Adam's apple moved when he swallowed, and how the strands of hair hid parts of him from her. Gorgeous, she thought, intently glaring at the water and the steam that wouldn't let her see more.
The shard was buzzing like a bee, agitation swimming through her blood, starting from the object. It was like the electricity stinging her skin was coming from the small piece of jewel. Do it, she heard it whisper anxiously.
Without registering it, her fingers found the buttons of her shirt. They shortly gave away, one by one, until the cloth fell to the ground. Cold air mixed with drops of water whipped her abdomen and Kagome shuddered, pushing her thighs together in apprehension. Quietly slipping her legs out of jeans, she came forward. That was when she realized that those golden eyes were watching her face, and he was clenching his teeth. Her face could not become even more flushed than it already was, Kagome just trembled slightly and succumbed her toes beneath the water's surface. It burned in a pleasant way, her body was experiencing the same feeling inside and out. Just before the water covered her chest, she let her fingers slip over the back of her bra and released it, throwing it next to the blouse.
Kagome saw Inuyasha's struggle, though he didn't say anything, his eyes flickered to her breasts and then up to her face so rapidly that she wasn't sure if it really happened.
When the hot liquid brushed over her nipples, Kagome sensed them harden, but she didn't stop moving until she was so close to his body that they touched his chest in a silent plea.
His lips parted. Her mouth went dry in expectation and Inuyasha inclined his head to brush his mouth over hers. Kagome closed her eyes, then the contact broke and she shuddered, opening them.
Inuyasha was nowhere to be seen.
