Ok. Not much of a response on the first chapter, but it hasn't been posted that long, so, that's understandable. To the people who did review, thank you. And remember. If you're reading this story, leave a review. Even if it's only two words, because trust me, I will highly appreciate it. :D Once again, this story is NOT going to be for kids in later chapters. You'll see what I mean.
Chapter two
"Hmm . . . this creature we have before us is a hanyou."
"You mean a half demon? But how? I didn't even think demons existed."
"Are you sure, father? Oh, but he's such a handsome boy too. I would hate to think he was evil."
"His ears are cool! I wanna touch them!"
I felt a set of fingers on one of my ears, tugging slightly, and that was enough to wake me up out of my stupor. I was groggy, to say the least, and my body was sore. I had taken quite the beating, and I now knew killing Kagome was not going to be an easy task. Obviously I'd underestimated her grandfather.
I opened my eyes, and I saw four pairs of eyes looking back at me. I felt a rush of discomfort. "What the hell are all of you gawkin' at, anyway?" I demanded. "Is there somethin' stuck on my face?"
Kagome's mother giggled slightly. "Well, he's certainly a lively one. How long do you think your seal will hold, father?"
Kagome's grandfather stroked his beard thoughtfully. "There's no real way to tell, but I assure you, we've got plenty of time on our hands."
"Seal?" I demanded, and I looked down at my chest, seeing that blasted sutra was still in place. I reached to remove it, but realized I couldn't really move, except for my head. "You've got to be kidding me!"
Kagome lifted her eyebrows. "Not to mention, he's got a foul attitude. I still can't believe he tried to kill me."
I snarled up at her. "Shut your trap or I'll finish the job!"
"You will do no such thing. You can't break that seal, no matter how powerful a demon you are." Kagome's grandfather said rather calmly. "I'm going to take a gander that you're a dog demon, due to your mannerisms and appearance."
"What of it?" I demanded, annoyed he was right.
"That's what I thought. Well, I suppose since I've got you under control, there's no sense in you keeping that locket. You will return it to my granddaughter at once." He reached down, and into the folds of my robe, and withdrew said locket. I glowered up at him.
"You're gonna pay for this, you old man! I'd come up there and finish you off, if you didn't look half dead already!" I snarled.
All of them turned away from me, as if I was a child they could just ignore. "Father, when the seal does wear off, what are we going to do with him? He's obviously a threat to Kagome and I can't just allow that. I won't let my daughter be slaughtered." Kagome's mother said, looking at me a bit more worriedly as I struggled to reach the sutra, but to no avail. I just wasn't strong enough.
"Oh don't worry. I've got a trick up my sleeve that will entirely diminish his threat. He will be no problem at all to contain. You'll have to give me a moment to go to my shrine and retrieve the beads of subjugation." Kagome's grandfather replied. My ears flickered at that.
"Beads of subjugation?" I demanded, as he left the room. I didn't like the sound of that at all.
"Well, you went and broke my chain. I'll have to get a new one." Kagome complained, looking at the broken gold chain to her locket.
"Quit your bitchin'!" I snapped. "I could have snapped your neck like that, you know!"
"Now now, language." Kagome's mother chided, as if I was a child in need of reprimanding. It was infuriating. "That's no way to address a lady."
"You think you can boss me around!"
"So, can I touch your ears?" Sota knelt down by the couch, his expression eager. I looked at him like he was crazy. It wasn't as if I could stop him, but I wasn't gonna give him permission to do whatever the hell he wanted.
"Don't you even dare." I bared my fangs at him.
"It's not like he can do anything, Sota." Kagome reminded her brother, and I shot daggers at her. "Touch away."
"Get your hands off me!" I snarled, and Sota hesitated, before he reached forward and grasped one of my ears again, and tugged. He laughed at my furious expression. "C'mon, it can't be that bad. I'm not pullin' that hard." He said.
"I'm gonna kill you all!" I declared pitifully, as he continued to tug at my sensitive ear.
"Ahh, here it is." Kagome's grandfather returned, and in his hand, he held a rosary. It was a set of round blue beads, and every five beads in the set, there was a white bead that was shaped like a fang. I could practically feel the magic emanating from it, and I looked at it fearfully.
"This is permanent, and he will have no threat whatsoever with this. Luckily, the spell doesn't come into effect until the beads are placed upon the subject and activated. So, the spell will hold forever." he went on cheerfully, seeming proud of this rosary. He walked over to me, and slipped the beads around my neck.
"Take this damn thing off of me right now! I'm warning you-!" My threats were promptly ignored.
"So, how do you get it to work?" Kagome asked, looking at the rosary curiously.
"It requires a trigger word. And, it will work specifically for you, Kagome, as I have just enchanted it to work at your command, that way you will be safe when we're not around. The word doesn't particularly matter, because whatever word you choose will hold his spirit." Kagome's grandfather went on, seeming to puff with pride at his creation by the minute. I grumbled to myself.
"Can't he take it off?" Kagome asked cautiously.
"Of course not. There's not a demon in this world that could remove it. Only you have the power to break the spell and remove it, if you so choose." Kagome's grandfather explained.
"Well, I guess I just need to think of a good trigger word." Kagome put a finger to her chin thoughtfully. "Since you're a half dog demon . . . I've got it!" her eyes lit up with inspiration, and I felt more and more nervous by the minute.
"All of you are crazy." I dared to say, and I was still ignored.
"Well, since it seems everything is good and well, I'm going to go fix that poor boy something to eat. His stomach has done nothing but growl." Kagome's mother said, looking at me sympathetically. I flushed with embarrassment, looking away.
"Well, I guess I'll go to my room and finish up my homework before I go to bed." Sota stood up, and disappeared from the room. Kagome's grandfather followed her mother into the kitchen, and I was left with Kagome.
"Hey." She looked over at me. "Take this thing off." I said, referring to the sutra.
"And I would do that why?" She asked, crossing her arms over her chest and raising an eyebrow at me.
"Because you've got these beads of subjugation or whatever already. So you don't need this fuckin' sutra. So take it off!" I insisted. If I can get her to come over here and remove it, I'll have a split second to kill her before she uses the trigger word to activate these beads. I've got to take that chance.
"All right." Kagome walked over to me, and reached down, peeling the sutra from my chest and stepping back.
In an instant, I was on my feet, and I dove towards her, but apparently Kagome wasn't as stupid as I thought, for she very calmly said, "Sit boy!"
The beads around my neck began to glow a bright pink, and I only had a split second to register this before my face was violently smashed into the floor. I lay there, for a minute, not sure whether I wanted to scream or cry.
"Wow grandpa!" Kagome exclaimed. "You've really outdone yourself this time! This is amazing!"
I picked my face off the ground and groaned. "Oh man . . ."
"Now now Kagome, don't be too rough. He is our guest." Her mom called from the kitchen.
"Hmph. 'Guest' she says. Some guest." Kagome muttered, and looked down at me. I was still on the floor, contemplating whether or not I wanted to get up. I wasn't so sure I wanted to provoke her. I didn't think I wanted to be 'sat' again.
"Keh!" I finally picked myself up off the ground and stood up, avoiding looking at Kagome. I was pissed, that was for sure, but there wasn't a damn thing I could do about it. So I plopped down onto the couch, sitting indian style, and folding my arms in the sleeves of my fire rat robe.
"What's the long face for? You should have known that would happen if you tried to attack me." Kagome said, and sat down beside me. I glared over at her.
"Don't push my buttons, bitch! I've got enough trouble as it is, dealin' with you!" I snapped.
"You're so rude!" She accused. "And to think, I actually wanted to hug you."
"Well whose fault is that?" I said snootily, turning away from her. "You're the one hugging random strangers. I can't help it if their personality doesn't suit your taste."
"You're the one who gropes random strangers!" Kagome accused. " 'It was an accident' he says. Yeah right!"
This sparked my temper. "It was! I don't have any interest in you, trust me."
Kagome flushed with embarrassment, and crossed her arms over her chest, pouting and looking away from me. "Hmph! Well excuse me!" Unable to come up with an intelligent response, I just grunted, "Keh." and I looked over at the wall, so I didn't have to look at her.
Stupid, frustrating, annoying human . . . "Well, here we are." Kagome's mother entered the room, carrying a tray laden with food that smelled absolutely wonderful to my empty stomach. My ears perked up slightly. That was one thing that drove me insane. My ears would move on their own when something caught my interest, or when I was extremely emotional. It made me feel self conscious sometimes.
She set the tray down in front of me on the small table in front of the couch, and said, "Well, eat up! Let me know what you think! I'm always eager to know what people think of my cooking!"
"Oh, uh . . . sure." I felt a bit embarrassed, because I wasn't used to having someone cook for me. I was used to hunting and cooking for myself. No one but my mother had ever cooked for me before. I slid off the couch and reached down, picking up the chopsticks. I was quite aware that Kagome's mother was watching me carefully, along for Kagome, obviously trying to gouge my reactions to the food. It was a bit unnerving.
I hesitantly took a bite, and chewed slowly, and the flavors in the food were great. It was the best food I'd had in a long time, and that was saying something, as I could be pretty picky at times. "It's good." I admitted. "Not bad."
Kagome's mother flushed with pleasure. "Oh really? Well, I'm glad you like it! If you want seconds, just let me know! There's plenty more in the kitchen!"
I blushed a little bit myself, and continued to eat, very aware Kagome was staring at me as her mother returned to the kitchen. Finally, I grew tired of it. My ears flicked with annoyance. "Are you gonna stare at me the whole time?" I demanded, glaring at her.
"I'm just trying to figure out what's going on in your head." Kagome admitted. "You were so intent on killing me, but . . . right now . . . you don't seem like the type of person to kill."
"Keh! What do you know?" I looked back down at my food and continued to eat.
"Well, I know that you hesitated." Kagome replied.
"What are you talkin' about?" I demanded.
"Well, before, when you had to kill me, you had plenty of opportunities to kill me right away. But you didn't. You even said you didn't want to kill me." Kagome pointed out. "So you can't be all bad."
"Hmph!" Don't over analyze things, wench! I just don't like killin' girls, is all! But for you, I can probably make an exception!" I dared to say, and looked at her in fear when her expression darkened.
"Why you . . . SIT!"
"NGH!" My face hit the floor despite the fact I was already sitting down, and I whimpered, my ears flattening to my head.
"You really should learn not to be so rude. I wouldn't have to 'sit' you if you weren't-" Kagome cut off as my face hit the ground again. "Oops! That one was an accident! Really!"
I bolted up from the ground, fangs bared and fists clenched. "You think this is funny!" I snarled.
Kagome stared at me with wide eyes for a minute, before she began to giggle. I looked at her like she'd grown a second head as giggles turned into full blown laughter, and she was clutching at her stomach.
"What in the hell is funny about this situation?" I demanded. She had to be out of her mind!
"What isn't funny about it? Oh my . . ." Kagome sighed, and wiped tears of mirth from her eyes. "I'm sorry, I really am. I didn't mean to make you do it again."
"Hmph! I'll get you back for all of it." I promised menacingly.
"I'm sure you will. Look, you should probably tell me your name. I think we've been through enough for an introduction now." she commented, as I resumed eating.
"I don't gotta do nothin'. You don't need to know my name. All you need to know is I'm gonna have that locket and there's nothing you can do about it." I replied haughtily.
"Oh really? That's funny, considering all I have to do to make you obey is say the word 'si-'"
I reached over and clamped a hand over her mouth. "Don't you dare finish that."
"That's what I thought." Kagome said smugly. "Now, are you going to tell me your name?"
I sulked a bit. "It's Inuyasha." I muttered.
"Hmm. It fits you. All except the 'friendly' part." Kagome commented. "I'm Kagome Higurashi."
"I know who you are." I muttered, choosing to ignore her comment on my name.
"Then you might want to call me Kagome instead of 'wench' or 'bitch'." she replied, and she had me there. "Now that that's out of the way, I want to try something."
"Eh? What are you- Hey!" She reached up and grasped one of my ears, and tweaked it. "Get your hands off!" I swatted at her hand, but she ignored me, and continued to tweak it. It didn't hurt or anything, but I didn't like people messing with my ears. I hated it. It made me feel more like a dog than anything else.
"I love your ears." Kagome admitted, and I hated the blush that lit my face at her statement. "They're great."
"Hmph. Funny you mention that." I finally managed to weasel out of her grip, and a look of disappointment crossed her face. It would have been amusing if I hadn't already been irritated.
"Say, Inuyasha, so now that you're here . . . well, how did you get here?" Kagome asked, pulling her knees up to her chest.
"Keh. Through the Bone Eater's well. How else?"
"Really?" That seemed to perk her interest. "But that's . . . grandpa's never allowed either me or Sota to get near the well, much less travel through it. So you can really travel through time? Are you from Feudal Japan? Your kimono is very old."
"Well, the year is 1426 where I'm from."
"The Warring State's era." Kagome confirmed. "It's 2011 here."
"What!" I outburst. I had gone that far into the future? No wonder there were so many things here that made no sense to me.
"Yep. So you're a long way from home. And . . . your reasons for coming here are to get this locket I have?" Kagome questioned. Then, her expression darkened, and her tone became sad. "And to kill me?"
I felt my ears lower, and I couldn't look at her without that guilty feeling again. "Well, uh . . . yeah, more or less."
"I see." Kagome sighed. "You said before that killing me was orders you had been given. Who told you to kill me?"
"Hmph! That's enough questions, don't you think?" Personally, I didn't need Kagome getting involved in all of this mess. I had enough on my hands, dealing with what I had to deal with. Naraku was enough of a hassle.
Speaking of him . . . what am I going to do? I'm at a huge dilemma right now. He didn't necessarily give me any time limit, but he did say that the Bone Eater's Well would practically take me straight to Kagome. He would expect me to have the locket by now . . . and for Kagome to be dead. So . . . what can I do? She's got these stupid beads of subjugation on me. It looks like I'm stuck here. I groaned quietly under my breath. Too many problems to think about. If I don't get back to Naraku soon, who knows what will happen?
"It must be someone who really doesn't like me." Kagome went on, pulling me from my thoughts. "But I've lived here my whole life. If it's someone from the past . . . I don't know why they'd want me dead. What do you think, Inuyasha?"
"Ugh, look, I don't know how his mind works." I muttered, and it was true. I had no idea why it was necessary to kill Kagome. It made no sense to me, and only Naraku had all the answers. To be honest, I really didn't even know why he wanted this damned locket. All I knew was that he had a promise to keep when I brought it to him.
"You're awful touchy you know. You should really loosen up." Kagome commented, and I watched her warily as she scooted closer to me. I tensed a little.
"And you should really scoot back over there. Why do ya gotta be so close all the time?" I complained, and blushed when she scooted closer, a look on her face that said quite plainly she was now doing it just to annoy me.
"Maybe 'cause I like you." She smiled at me, and my face was practically on fire. She likes me?
"But you don't know me." I muttered, embarrassed. "And I don't like you, so your feelings are kind of useless."
"Well that's fine. I know you wouldn't admit it even if you did like me." Kagome replied. "And I don't mean I'm in love with you. I just mean . . . you're different than anyone else I've ever met. You're rude, but you're fun."
Mrs. Higurashi stuck her head back in the room, and when she saw how close Kagome and I were sitting, a secret, knowing smile came to her lips. "Kagome, I'm going to go prepare a place for your friend to sleep."
"Ok mom." Kagome replied.
"I'm not her friend!" I protested, but Mrs. Higurashi had already disappeared again. "All of you are out of your minds!"
"Our family is a little weird." Kagome agreed. "So, luckily for you, winter break starts in a few days, so I'll have a long break from school, and I won't have to leave you alone."
"Who said I was stayin' ?"
"I did. It's obvious you've got nowhere to go. You're in a strange world and you've got no friends here and no support. You'd starve if we just kicked you out. I mean, you can always go back to your world . . ." Kagome trailed off.
"Not gonna happen!"
"Then I guess you're stuck here with us." Kagome retorted. "So once winter break starts, I can really show you around. It'll be fun. I'll teach you lots of things about this era."
"All right. I've got a bed for you to sleep in." Mrs. Higurashi reappeared, and smiled at me. "It's late, so the both of you should go to sleep now."
"Ok, thanks mom. C'mon." Kagome reached down and took my hand, and I blushed again as she pulled me to my feet and tugged me toward a set up stairs and led me up.
Once in Kagome's room, I saw there was a small mattress now on the floor, covered with blankets. I sighed, and promptly, I went and sat down, leaning against the wall.
"What are you doing? Mom made this bed for you." Kagome said, sounding annoyed.
"I'm not sleepin' there." I muttered. "I always sleep like this. I never sleep in a bed."
"But she-"
"If you've gotta problem with it then you can take it and shove it! I'm sleepin' like this and there's nothin' you can do about it! So get off my back!" I snapped, and Kagome glared at me.
She flopped down onto her bed and I watched curiously as she hit a switch on a round thing on her nightstand, and the light went out. The round thing had a weird shade on it, and it was pink, and that was where the light source had been coming from. I decided I'd ask Kagome what it was later.
There probably won't be a later. I'm gonna take that necklace as soon as she falls asleep and then I'm outta here. No more lingering. I thought grimly, and closed my eyes, faking sleep.
I wasn't sure how long I stayed like that, but it wasn't long until Kagome's breathing and heart beat slowed, and she was sound asleep. I rose smoothly, and padded over to her bed, thankful she had carpet to keep my feet from making noise on the floor. I watched her in her sleep for a moment. She looked so peaceful, and her thick black hair spilled all around her like a halo. She almost looked . . .
I shook my head quickly. I wasn't going to think anything like that. "Damn. Might as well get it now." I whispered to myself, and I reached down, and very carefully slid the necklace from her neck. Once the locket was in my hand, I felt a rush of satisfaction. I would just have to explain the circumstances to Naraku when I returned, and if he didn't like it, then he wouldn't get his fucking locket.
I turned toward her window to leave, but something stopped me. Kagome sighed in her sleep, and then I heard her mumble, "Inuyasha . . ."
I froze, and I looked back toward her. "Is she dreaming about me?" I stepped back toward her bed, and my heart was beating just a little faster. I couldn't believe it, honestly.
Kagome sighed again. "Sit."
My face hit the floor, and I growled as I bolted back up and glared furiously down at her, my fists clenched and raised. Her dream is my nightmare! I thought angrily. "Damn, she's a heavy sleeper. I better get outta here. Feh. It's almost been fun, kid." I looked at her for another moment before I slid her window open and jumped out, and started heading for the shrine.
So he takes the locket anyway. Damn traitor. :P Let's see where he's gonna go with it, shall we?
Review please! Always appreciated! :D
