Title: Just Speak Your Mind!

Genre: Romance, Angst, Humor

Rating: PG-13 (T)

Summary: When Kagome gets angry, really, really angry... Sesshoumaru suddenly is forced to say exactly what he thinks in every situation imaginable? She'd always wanted to know what was going on in that head of his, but this is just awkward! The fact that he's now joined the group demanding her to remove an accidental curse is decidedly NOT helping.

Updates: Lolz what updates? Just kidding. I know I'm really unreliable and I promise you, I am repentant. Just not enough to actually change that about myself. I will finish this story eventually though!

Disclaimer: Most of the characters aren't mine. But I figure that goes without saying. This IS a fanfiction site.

Some helpful vocabulary: youkai = demon, miko = priestess, Shikon no Tama = Jewel of Four Souls/Sacred Jewel, hanyou = half-demon, Sengoku Jidai = Warring States Period, youki = a demon's aura/powers, reiki = a priestess' aura/powers, houshi = Buddhist monk, taijiya = demon-slayer, neko = cat, inu = dog, dai/tai = big, powerful, as in "taiyoukai"/"daiyoukai", neechan = term of endearment for an older sister

Update: 6/30/17: I am now editing this entire story, slowly but surely, before going on with the updates. My writing style has changed a lot in the past three years, and if I were to continue this from the last chapter it would be a bit incoherent. Plus I foreshadowed too much and all the surprises I had planned for the later chapters won't actually be surprises at this rate. So just bare with me if the later chapters don't make much sense with the earlier ones: it just means I haven't edited them yet. I'll put this note at the beginning of each edited chapter to let you know which ones they are. Happy reading!

-oOo-

Chapter 1: Zap

Routine played a surprisingly large part in the life of one Kagome Higurashi, priestess of the sacred jewel, shard-detector extraordinaire. Every morning from the age of four to fifteen she had gone to school. She had paid attention all day like the good little student she always was and walked home every evening, climbed the stairs to her family's shrine, and eaten the dinner her mother had prepared for her, her grandfather, and, later on, her younger brother. It was a pleasant but rather repetitive childhood.

Then she'd turned fifteen, and everything had changed: trekking from the bottom of the shrine steps to the top had been replaced by trekking all over Japan looking for jewel shards; delicious home-cooked meals had been replaced by instant ramen, protein bars, and whatever (hopefully not poisonous) berries and fruits they could find; her perfect attendance record and near-perfect test results had been replaced by an attendance record of around 5% and test results that she didn't even want to think about.

At first it had been exciting. She travelled through time to fight mythical creatures with her miko superpowers, for crying out loud! But then reality had set in and the endless routine had set in once again: wake up at the crack of dawn with Inuyasha breathing down their necks to get going and "FIND THOSE DAMN JEWEL SHARDS, WENCH!"; walk/trot/run/ride on Inuyasha's back when neither of the first three was fast enough for him, all day long; maybe find a jewel shard and get it back from some nasty youkai, who would then explode all over them, courtesy of the Wind Scar, effectively ruining the rest of their day-especially when this happened to take place in the morning; and finally settle down to eat for the FIRST TIME THAT DAY when they were all so exhausted they couldn't move another inch, usually when it was already too dark for Kagome to get much effective studying in, Inuyasha complaining all the way.

In short, it wasn't the most pleasant of routines.

Which is why, one excessively hot day in early August, Kagome Higurashi decided she had had enough.

"Inuyasha!" she called determinedly, hands on her hips. "We're stopping for a break right now!"

The hanyou gave her an annoyed look over his shoulder, but the fact that he'd even bothered to show that he'd heard her was an improvement. "Feh," he mumbled, his eyes returning to the road in front of them as he continued walking.

"Inuyasha, don't make me say it," Kagome threatened. "It won't take that long," she went on. "Just a few minutes. It's really hot outside and if we keep walking like this for hours on end we're all gonna get heat exhaustion and not be able to step into the sun for days. Do you want that? No? Then I suggest we stop now."

He shot her another of his looks. Hint: it wasn't a particularly kind one. "No."

When he looked away again her eyes narrowed, and a spark of anger lit in her chest. "Inuyasha," she said, straining to keep her voice calm. She had promised herself they would go about this the nice way, unlike their usual yelling fest, but good grief, it was like he wasn't even listening to what she was saying! "Please, may we stop?"

"No."

Somewhere deep inside her yet another string snapped. She stopped short. Inuyasha kept going, but she ignored him, turning back to Sango, Miroku, and Shippou. Kirara was currently in her small form, collapsed on her mistress's shoulder. The four were in a state similar to hers. They looked at her wearily as she tossed her hair over her shoulder.

"We're stopping for lunch," she announced. Behind her she heard the crunch of Inuyasha's footsteps cease, but she paid him no mind and stepped off the dusty road they'd been following and into the trees to their right. With a few last apologetic looks at their hanyou companion, the rest of the party followed suit. Inuyasha glared at them for a few moments before grudgingly plodding after them.

Kagome took deep, calming breaths as her companions followed her deeper into the shade of the forest. It was a bit cooler there, but not by much. They had basically gone from "unbearable, sweltering, suffocating heat" to "slightly-more-bearable, sweltering, suffocating heat". She watched as a squirrel walked across the deer-trail in front of her. She'd never seen a squirrel walk before. Didn't they usually bound or something?

She sighed, adjusting her battered yellow backpack, and looked around. She was currently in a clearing, large enough for everyone to sit down and eat comfortably but small enough that the whole thing was still shadowed beneath a canopy of deciduous foliage. She let her backpack slide off her back to the leafy forest floor and stretched before taking a seat on a big rock and rooting through the faded monstrosity for food. By the time the others had caught up to her (she walked quickly when she was upset), she had already pulled out a few bottles of water and set them on the ground in front of her.

Inuyasha paced in circles around the clearing as she began preparing food, muttering about how useless humans were. Kagome pointedly ignored his rudeness. She'd been doing a lot of that lately. She didn't really know if it was the fact that he'd been complaining more than usual that caused that, or the fact that her "care" level had been on a steady decline. Probably some combination of the two.

"Stupid humans…" he grumbled. "We've only been walking for a few hours…"

Just shut up, Inuyasha.

She winced internally at her thoughts. Since when was she this rude? She'd have to have a talk with him tonight, when she was less hot and significantly less exhausted. But then again, when wasn't she hot and exhausted these days? It was the dead of summer. Even the nights were unbearable, sweltering, suffocating, etc. Her classmates in her own time were on summer vacation now, holed into their respective homes and under-appreciating the true value of air conditioning. And it seemed like the very moment the weather had heated up Inuyasha had decided if they didn't get the shards right-this-very-moment something awful would happen.

She snorted. Like what? What could happen that hasn't already? It had been three years since the start of their little "adventure". Naraku probably had all the other shards now. She thought of the four measly shards in the bottle around her neck and touched it delicately with her fingertips. Maybe that was why Inuyasha was so anxious to keep moving ahead. He wanted to be certain all the shards possible had been discovered by either them or Naraku before they tracked down the evil hanyou for the final battle.

Which didn't really make that much sense to her. Like, if the found him now and there were still shards out there, there wouldn't be any chance he could get his hands on the whole jewel during the battle, make his wish, and destroy them all. But if they waited until Naraku came to them looking for shards, it would be on Naraku's own terms, and that didn't seem like a good idea at all.

It wasn't like Inuyasha would have even considered listening to reason, though.

She had been so engrossed in her thoughts that she hadn't noticed the low growl building in Inuyasha's throat. When Shippou asked him what was wrong Kagome looked up from her task. The hanyou was growling loudly now, squinting into the trees and sniffing the air simultaneously. "Inuyasha?" she asked, confused.

"Bastard," he snarled and promptly dashed off into the trees.

The camp remained frozen for a few seconds, staring after the disappeared hanyou, before springing into action. Kagome jumped to her feet, taking up her bow and quiver, and Sango and Miroku stood. Kirara transformed and everyone crawled onto her back, Shippou taking his place on Kagome's shoulder. As soon as everyone was aboard the youkai cat, she took off in a streak of flame.

-oOo-

"BASTARD!" came the inevitable roar as Inuyasha brandished Tessaiga at his brother, sweeping it in a massive arc and bringing it down in front of him. Sesshoumaru jumped neatly out of the way. The dust cleared to reveal several scratches in the earth's surface, like a huge demon had reached down and scraped his claws along the ground.

Kagome groaned. This was bound to be long and painful and extremely annoying. Especially since Inuyasha hadn't eaten today. Especially since it was hot as balls out.

Kirara landed swiftly a few yards from the scene just as Inuyasha aimed another strike at Sesshoumaru. Kagome slid slowly off Kirara's back, followed by Sango and Miroku. Shippou remained with the neko youkai as they retreated to the treeline. The brothers disregarded their appearance and continued to duke it out in bright flashes of youki and clouds of dust.

Kagome sneezed. Gosh, it was so dusty today…

"Kagome-neechan!" She turned her head to see Rin waving enthusiastically at her from across the battlefield. Jaken was frowning at the tiny girl, most likely spouting something about how she should be more respectful to Sesshoumaru-sama, but the taiyoukai's young ward just grinned at Kagome.

The older girl's face lit up and she waved back at Rin. Over the past couple years since the girl had started tagging along after Sesshoumaru they'd become fast friends. How could they not, after all? Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha had a run-in at least once a week, like clockwork. Again with the routine. Rin found her way over to the group and she and Kagome joined Kirara and Shippou, taking shelter from the sun and stray spurts of youki beneath a large tree. Rin chattered happily as Sango and Miroku joined them, ignoring Jaken's squawking protests.

"DIE, DAMN BASTARD!" Crash!

"So, Rin, have you and Sesshoumaru come across Naraku lately?" asked Kagome, offering the thin girl a slightly melted chocolate bar from her backpack and a water bottle. She took a mental not to fill them up soon.

Rin bit into the chocolate eagerly. After a few moments she responded. "No. Naraku's left Sesshoumaru-sama alone for a while." She took another bite.

"No Shikon shards, either?" asked Kagome.

"COWARD! STOP DODGING, DAMN BASTARD!"

Rin shook her head just as Jaken hurriedly told her to lie. Kagome rolled her eyes at the toad and glanced back at the fighting brothers. Inuyasha was, as usual, swinging his sword around like an idiot, and Sesshoumaru was, as usual, giving him a look that said very clearly he thought the hanyou was beneath him as he dodged every blow with practiced ease. Y'know, Inuyasha, you'd probably actually hit him every once in awhile if you could cool your head a bit.

"But we did hear about a demon that way"—she pointed to the south—"that has a shard. That's why we were coming to get Kagome-neechan."

Kagome looked back at Rin, her brow creasing. "You mean Sesshoumaru was looking for us?"

Rin nodded vigorously. "Sesshoumaru-sama didn't tell Rin or Jaken where we were going, but I think he was looking for Kagome-neechan."

That's weird, Kagome thought, leaning back against the tree trunk.

"DIE! DIE YOU FUCKING ASSHAT! AHHHHH!" Smash!

Okay, this has gone on long enough. Kagome frowned and pulled herself to her feet, hands on her hips. Fighting she could deal with, but neither Rin nor Shippou should be hearing such foul language. Her glare fixed on Inuyasha, she squared her shoulders and strode purposefully out onto the battlefield.

"Inuyasha," she said dangerously, tapping her foot on the ground.

"SHUT UP KAGOME! CAN'T YOU SEE I'M IN THE MIDDLE OF SOMETHING?! DAMMIT!" He swung his sword around again.

Kagome gritted her teeth. "Don't make me say it!"

"YOU'RE DISTRACTING ME! GO WAIT IN THE WOODS OR SOMETHING!"

There. That was it, right there. The final straw, and the dam came crumbling down. Every offhanded comment about humans and their weakness, every time Kikyou had shown up and Inuyasha had gone all goo-goo-eyed flashed through Kagome's mind. It was as if every pent-up anger and complaint for the past three years had been leading up to this one point. Her eyes burned. "Sit, Inuyasha! SIT!" The hanyou immediately crashed to the ground, but she wasn't done there. "SIT! SIT! SIT! SIT!"

She stomped forward to the edge of the Inuyasha-shaped crater. "Oh my God, Inuyasha, could you be less mature?! SIT!" Smash! "Go 'hide in the woods'? What am I, made of glass? SIT! We walk all day, every day, and yet you still get pissed off every time we ask for the shortest break! Don't even think about getting up yet! SIT! SIT! SIT!"

Her friends gaped at her. Even Jaken had stopped needling Rin long enough to stare in shock at the girl. Sesshoumaru watched with mild interest as his half-brother was pounded over and over again into the hard earth.

"What were you thinking? SIT! Swearing like that in front of Shippou and Rin?! Do you EVER think about what you say? SIT! SIT! SIT! SIT! SIT! And picking a fight with your brother every chance you get? Did you ever think that maybe you could, I don't know, ACT LIKE AN ADULT FOR ONCE?! SIT! AND ANOTHER THING! From now on, I decide when we stop and when we go! SIT! There will be no more walking for hours on end, not on MY watch. SIT! AND ANOTHER THING! From now on, you are NOT to go looking for trouble with Sesshoumaru for ANY reason! Next time you need to go relieve some male hormones go find Kikyou. I'm sure she'd be all too happy to help. SIT, INUYASHA! SIT-SIT-SIT-SIT-SIT-SIT-SIT-SIT-SIT!"

Kagome panted, staring down at Inuyasha, who was now thoroughly bruised and lying at the bottom of a hole that was at least twenty feet deep. Her friends watched, all holding their breaths, as she took a step back from the crater and struggled to breathe normally.

She glanced over to where Sesshoumaru was standing, his sword still held in his one hand, giving her a look that could only be described as monotonous. How was that possible anyway? How could a look be monotonous? She glared into his golden eyes. "And you," she said, her voice dripping with venom. "What the hell is wrong with you? If you had something to say you should just say it, smart one."

He merely narrowed his eyes a half millimeter at her. She hadn't thought it was possible for another string to snap, but it did right then.

"Oh my gosh, would you show some emotion for ONCE IN YOUR LIFE, SESSHOUMARU?!" she screamed, jabbing a finger at him. She didn't even notice the pink energy that was swirling through her, concentrating in her hand—the one she had pointed straight at him. "I WISH YOU'D JUST SPEAK YOUR MIND FOR ONCE!"

Zap!

Kagome's jaw dropped as suddenly the energy that had been collecting in her hand was released, arcing through the air so quickly even Sesshoumaru didn't have time to dodge. It hit him square in the chest and he flinched backward a couple steps before regaining his footing. Kagome faltered, shocked. "Uh… I…" Before she could utter another word she found herself suddenly pinned about three feet off the ground to a tree with Sesshoumaru's hand pressed around her throat. His fangs were bared and his eyes were tinged blood red.

"You smell, human wench."

-oOo-

Thanks for reading!