Disclaimer:
Kai: Onii-chan! Come back! You're supposed to tell all the scary rabid fanpeoples something!
InuYasha: URUSAI! I'm not telling them anything!
Kai: MOUU! Kitsu-chan doesn't own Nii-chan or the show, or anyone from the show or Rumiko Takahashi or….
Kitsuki: -sweatdrops- I think they get the idea, Kai…
WARNING!
Kai: Ooooh, Onii-chan! Look!
InuYasha: Keh! So she finally did it, eh?
Chiidori: Did what? –blinks-
Kitsuki: -meeps and desparately tries to cover Chiidori's eyes- Nothing! I did nothing!
Chiidori: -pulls Kitsuki's hands off her face- Mouu! What's the big…. –catches sight of shoujo-ai in fic- YOU DID WHAT!
Kitsuki: Ehehe…-sweatdrops and smiles apologetically-
Chiidori: YOU WROTE A FIC ABOUT…ABOUT….-passes out-
Kitsuki: Ah! Goshujin-sama!
Kai: Yep, she wrote a fic about you two!
InuYasha: As if anyone would want to read something about two girls…-crosses arms angrily and turns his back on the whole scene-
Kai: -smiles cutely- Don't read if you don't want to! But you've been warned! -steals InuYasha's pants and runs-
InuYasha: KAI! –chases her furiously-
Chapter 1 dedicated to Niwa-kun in appreciation for friendship despite everything ;
SMM-WHAACK!
"Hmph!"
Kagome turned just in time to see the taijiya stomping off in a huff, the sound of her enraged slap still resonating in the air.
'…..here we go again,' she thought to herself, observing the houshi sprawled in the dirt speculatively. She'd tried talking to him about the whole 'personal space' and 'touching' issue multiple times before, but maybe this time he'd listen…
InuYasha wasn't about to wait that long, however. He'd already leapt over the miko's head and landed squarely on Miroku's. "You're slowing us down!" he growled pitilessly at a swirly-eyed Miroku. Kagome and Shippou sweatdropped as Kirara tilted her head to one side. Well, that was one way to deal with him. Now to find the taijiya.
Sango sighed, swishing her feet absentmindedly in the little stream she'd found. It was a well-known fact that the stupid houshi always managed to upset her with his caresses and constant bath-peeking, nor was it any news that he could make her blush most quickly. Kagome had often insisted to her (and InuYasha for that matter) that these were proof that she loved him! Or at least liked him. She shook her head, denying…what? That she liked the perverted horndog? Oh she liked him well enough she supposed, but she didn't really like him touching her and she had never really found herself attracted to him either, certainly not the way he was to her! What if someone else were to touch her though? And again! She'd been down this road before a few times, usually late into the night when sleep refused to whisk her from her reality. If, say, InuYasha were to caress her the way Miroku did so often….As usual, she tried to imagine it and fell over twitching at the pure absurdity of the idea of the hanyou doing anything of the sort to anyone, much less her. But still… if …well, it would be about the same she supposed. He was well enough as a person and even a friend, but the slightest nanometer beyond friendship and she'd shove Hiraikotsu so far up his….she coughed mentally. Nevermind. Then her treacherous mind took a new turn. Say Kagome were to perform such an action…she felt her face heat up almost immediately. 'N-nani!' Even in her mind she couldn't make anything coherent to that one.
Before any more thoughts could form themselves, she heard rustling leaves behind her and turned in time to see a little branch swing back and knock Kagome off her feet with a cry of surprise. Speak of the devil!
"Kagome-chan!" she called, jumping to feet, anxious to help. The young girl was already pulling herself to her feet, a small tear making itself known in as a slash across the bottom of her uniform's shirt. She smiled sheepishly at the taijiya, attempting to cover the rip with one hand and obviously feeling that it was her fault she'd been knocked off her feet, not the tree's.
"A-anoo…Sango-chan, InuYasha's talking to Miroku-sama right now, so maybe we could head back…" Sango raised an eyebrow at the idea of InuYasha actually just talking to Miroku. "Okay, so he's standing on his head yelling at him, but still!" the miko corrected.
"I'd rather stay here for a few more minutes," she replied. "It's just kinda…nice…to get away from everyone for a little, ya know?" She cringed mentally at how stupid she knew she must sound. Mouu, but she was horrible with words!
"Y-ya," her friend replied, turning as if to leave.
"Kagome-chan?" she blinked questioningly at her back, tilting her head to one side much like Kirara. Kagome smiled again, a little confused this time.
"You said you wanted to be alone, ni?"
"U-uun, demo….I didn't really mean you had to leave. I mean…anoo…that is…" she struggled for words, cursing whatever gods had put her together. "InuYasha and Shippou are always so noisy and argue so much over nothing and Houshi-sama's always trying to seduce some girl or worse yet, seduce me ! And Kirara already found me and left to hunt for dinner, but you're not noisy and we don't argue and you certainly don't hit on me, so…" she was shocked to feel the familiar heat rising in her cheeks. "What I mean is…ah…I-I'd kind of like it if you'd stay…" she stared at the ground, cursing more gods and herself as well, hoping fervently that the miko wouldn't notice the light pink tinge under her eyes. What the hells was going on! Why was she so tongue-tied all of sudden around Kagome ! Unless…oh no…that stupid thought had wormed its way into her brain and taken hold! And she just had to go and make that comment out loud about it, too…
Kagome blinked, oblivious to pretty much everything the poor confused taijiya was thinking. "Well, since you put it so eloquently, I have no choice but to stay and keep you company," she teased with a mock curtsy that lead her skirt directly into another sharp-ended branch. She sweatdropped, staring at it while holding her pose. "This will be fun to explain back home," she sighed. Sango helped her out of the tree-trap, noticing, much to her dismay, that the second tree had created a slash that came almost high enough to show off Kagome's underwear and the first tree had been cunning enough to create a tear big enough to display a sneak peek of the miko's reasonably flat stomach. She was not so much dismayed by the ruining clothing or even where the tears were as by the fact that she'd noticed their strategic…locations.
'Why me!' she railed to no one in particular.
After untangling the miko (twice) from the murderous trees while somehow managing to fight down what was becoming a permanent blush, Sango found herself mentally exhausted. Fighting youkai was one thing, fighting off a perverted servant of Buddha something along the same lines, and watching Shippou and InuYasha fight was something else altogether, but trying to fend off her own traitorous thoughts left her drained as nothing else ever had. Forget the fact that it was completely and utterly wrong for her to have such thoughts about another girl, it was completely and utterly wrong for her to think anything of the sort about Kagome ! Kagome had always trusted her and, to a certain extent, depended on her for a great many things. As the only other girl (Kirara aside) in their traveling group, there was a certain bond between the two. She sweatdropped. Traveling group? She made it sound like they were some kind of gypsies or traveling performers. But then…she glanced across the fire at Shippou, latched onto InuYasha's leg as InuYasha had hold of a branch with one hand, ramen in another, and the unoccupied foot balanced against the tree trunk. Then again, it was an accurate description. She sighed and focused her attention back on her original thoughts. Not only could she not think about Kagome like that because she was a girl, she couldn't think about her like that because she was Kagome! She trusted her! Depended on her! There was no way she could let her down! She began eating her share of the instant ramen with a decisive slurp. She refused to fail!
To her credit, Sango lasted quite a good while with her resolve to not let Kagome in on her secret thoughts. But even as she entertained them as stupid little things to pass the time, they grew deeper and deeper, worming little tendrils into her heart. Far before she even began to recognize it for what it was, she was already waist deep in something far bigger than herself.