{.x.o.} | Throes of Passion | {.o.x.}
{x}| Chapter 4: Procrastination|{x}
The fit of rage and cascaded of tears had subsided before he humanistic looking hanyou returned to the dazed damsel in oh-so-much distress. She had taken up refugee in the corner of the little cabin far across from the grotesquely slain monster, her hazel gaze had a dull sheen over it as she lippy stared at the torn body, her arms wrapped around the shirt that covered her otherwise nude figure, and legs tucked in below her to try and stay warm.
"Everyone is relieved to hear you are alright," he divulged on his walk over to hold out a hand for her, he couldn't help but wrinkle his nose at the stench hat had began to fester about the dead demon but for the time being only his sensitive nose could pick up on it. "They'll be happier to see you instead of just taking my word for it, though."
"How many are out there?" She whispered in a distant and ever so distracted voice without even bothering to look up to him.
There were fifty but the infamously lethal band of seven had killed enough that the number dwindled to a mere twenty but she didn't need to know all that, "about two dozen."
To that she just shook her head, "I don't… want to."
"You'd rather stay here?" He inquired with a gesture towards the decaying body, "come on, we have to go."
"No."
It was clear to him that her answer was full of dainty defiance, even if her voice was nothing more than a hush. "Kagome…"
"What… what that man—demon, what that demon said… Ishii-san, do you think it is true?" Finally, her outstanding profound orbs drifted up to his auburn eyes with a hint of gold, "do you think that some of those men want to kill me? That demons really have infiltrated my father's people? That a human would really be so petty as to be paid to betray his own kind? Do you think that is true… Ishii-san?"
He was living proof that even the most secure of sectors could be penetrated but he was not a mortal and not betraying his kind—well, half of his but the other part, the portion he had always cherished, was demon. His mother had agreed to bear him so he could do this, too, so he didn't feel he was doing anything wrong, that he was betraying half his blood… not until he met her, at least. "That thing was just trying to get under your skin, don't let him. Besides," he paused, should he say it? Should he lie again? Why not, that's all he did anyway, wasn't it? He never had to stop to ponder about it before… "Even if it is true, do you think I'd let anyone, human or not, hurt you?"
She gave a meek shake of her head to that. No, honestly, she felt completely safe with him around. There was a warm, delightful feeling in her chest—something akin to true excitement—that she had never experienced before when he was by her side. "Ishii-san, could we… could we just go out the back? Could we just run away and say that—I don't know—I was taken by another demon and you had to come rescue me? Could we just procrastinate on returning to the castle? Please?" She knew what she was asking would get him into trouble but she was also fully aware he'd never say 'yes', she had just been thinking of nothing else but avoiding the trek back and had to ask. If it was anyone else she would never dare to make such a request but it was 'Ishii-san', she could trust him never to tell another that she said such impure things.
That was probably a perfect plan, really. If he were to focus on his original task, the farther away she was from the castle the easier it would be to 'taint' her or allow another demon assault so he almost said 'yes' without another thought. Then the small bit of him that had never existed until he met the innocent girl began to whisper of what a bad idea that was, how she could easily be hurt in the process, that he could really lose her to a demon if they did that, and how much trouble he'd get in for letting that happen.
"I'm sorry," she sighed before he formulated an answer, "I shouldn't have asked… is there any other clothes I could wear, though? I'd feel so embarrassed to walk out in front of all those men in just a shirt." She was barely covered in it, the neck hug low, the shirt itself barely reached passed her bottom, the wind could easily blow it up to expose her most precious and private of regions, the very thought of being so bare in front of so many made her cheeks flush to a rosy color.
"Kagome," caught their attention as they both glanced over to the door, "thank goodness you are alright."
"Miroku," she mumbled, how relieved she was to see her most beloved cousin, if there was anyone in her family that she could ever tell her deepest desires and secrets to it would be him—though, she had still never done so. Her desires, her secret thoughts, were all contrary to what she stood for, to what she was meant to do.
"You look freezing," he frowned as he quickly walked over to kneel down before her and remove his outer most piece of wardrobe to wrap around her, "we need to get you home, everyone is so worried."
"She doesn't want to go," Inuyasha muttered, "she wants to slow her return to the castle."
Her hazels widened as they shot up to look at her guardian, how could he tell her cousin that? How could he suddenly betray her trust like that? Sure, she had not told him not to tell anyone but he should have known! She furrowed her brows and bit her bottom lip as she looked back to her certainly upset cousin, no one would ever want to hear such heresy from their 'precious' sacrifice.
"Is that so?" Miroku mused instead as his violets wandered about the room, "is there a back way out?"
"Yep," Inuyasha nodded, "it wouldn't be hard to get passed whoever is guarding it, either."
"There is a quaint little village not too far away, we could go there for some time, allow her to rest, then make our way back to the castle… we could say we were surprised by a demon that still hid himself in here, that it snatched her and we didn't have time to tell anyone, that we needed to peruse her and the kidnaper quickly."
"Sounds good to me," Inuyasha nodded, "if we leave now we could make it there by dark, get some new clothes, and a few rooms at the local inn."
"She does have a right to see the world she will be saving," Miroku assured as his gaze met with her mystified one, "do you want to do that, Kagome?"
Of course she did, ever so eagerly she nodded her head. But why? Why would they break the rules all of a sudden for her, were they really so sympatric to her hardship? Did she deserve such good friends? Apparently, they were, and for that she adored the two all the more. "Thank you…"
"No need to thank us," Miroku countered as he took her hands to help her to her feet.
"Really," Inuyasha added firmly, the last thing she should be doing is thanking the two traitors, the two that wanted her tainted instead of pure, the two that would bring harm to her… it truly did upset the conscious he never knew he had to hear her always expresses her appreciation for things that would simply lead to her fall from grace.
"Thank you," she just repeated all the same with a grand, heartwarming smile, yet, all it did was bring the duo a dash of pain.
|-{x}{o}{x}-|
"Anything?" She had asked with such marvel.
"Anything," he had confirmed with a nod of his head before he let her go loose in the little boutique filled with beautiful dresses she'd normally never wear—at least, she wouldn't be allowed to. It was of the utmost importance that she emphasized her modesty by donning on simple gowns, nothing that would attract attention to her blessed features, nothing that would express vanity… oh, and she knew it was wrong gawk over all the wonderful, frilly, excessive, clothing. She took a few to try on, some just to play around, and some seriously, but—really—she didn't think that she would actually buy any of them. She had never been allowed such fine garbs, would that honestly change now?
One dress in particular, though, earned her affections as she spun around slowly in the curtained off dressing room. Her little bit more green than hazel eyes locked on the mirror to examine every piece of it. It was nothing gaudy, revealing, or anything of the sorts, it was a humble and ended just above her knees. If she was ever allowed a style of her own she would say the dress was 'her'. It was a sleeveless deep blue with a hue of green dress, slightly ruffled bottom half, a white macramé trim around her neck and down her chest to cover any chance at showing her cleavage.
"Ishii-san," she murmured as she peeked out from the little room, "can we go somewhere else?"
"Do you not like anything here?" He inquired as he dully leaned against the wall; he only purchased a new shirt to replace the one she still wore and quickly at that. Honestly, he couldn't complain about the length it took her to shop, he knew she never had the opportunity before and after ever he had done—and would do—he couldn't feel any malice towards her. It gave him time, too, to speak with the shopkeeper to explain about the demon attack and how it had ruined all of Kagome's clothes, winning sympathy instantly from the kind woman. After all, demons were the bane of all human's existences.
"I do… but it's all so extravagant," she mumbled.
He shrugged, "I don't think so. I thought you'd like this place."
"I do but…"
"Kagome, we're away from the castle, you can wear whatever you want, alright?"
She pouted her precious lips as her gaze wandered about the little store before she reluctantly pushed the curtains open to show him what she had chosen, "what do you think?"
Awestruck was an understatement, if his mind could focus on anything but her he would have been thankful for the fact that her eyes were bashfully upon the floor instead of him or else she would have noticed his blatant staring and partially parted lips. "It… it looks good," he assured as he cleared his throat and glanced away, "but, you might be a little cold."
"Ah, I have just the perfect sweater for that," the eavesdropping shopkeeper chimed as she walked out from behind her small counter to grab a deep beige cardigan. She went as far as to stand behind Kagome and slide on the sweater for her then promptly clasped her hands together to step over to Inuyasha, "now, doesn't she look lovely? Oh, of course she does, look at the way your friend is gawking at you," she laughed lightly as she patted Inuyasha's shoulder, "I have a pair of boots that would go with this outfit flawlessly; too, would you like to see them?"
"What do you think, Kagome?" He questioned as his eyes glanced up her outfit once more.
She just loosely locked her hands together in front before shrugging, "alright… I suppose, if it's OK with you, Ishii-san."
"Perfect," the shopkeeper clapped before she scurried off to get a pair of white stalking, brown leather boots, and even some pretty hairpins to go along with it, too.
|-{x}{o}{x}-|
"I feel funny," she muttered behind Inuyasha on their walk to the inn that they were meant to meet Miroku at.
"Why? You look cute," he replied with a glance back to her before opening the door to the picturesque inn to let her enter in front of him.
"Thank you, Ishii-san," a blush fluttered across her cheeks at that, it was just a compliment… he probably didn't really mean it, all the same, she had never been called anything of the sort.
"Kagome, Ishii," Miroku beckoned with a wave of his hand. Obediently they walked to the relaxed man upon one of the few cushiony chairs, "apparently this is the peak tourist season for this town. They have a quite reputable fall festival so people come from all over to watch the color of the leaves change and join in the celebrations. Unfortunately, that means that almost all the inns are booked. I purchased the last two in all the town."
"At least we got some," Inuyasha retorted with a shrug, "what's so unfortunate about that?"
"Well, it's fine for me, but the two of you will have to share a room—"
"Why?" Kagome squealed, "Miroku, you and Ishii-san are both males," and, apparently close since her cousin didn't feel the need to add a suffix to her guardian's name. That made sense; she could see how their personalities would mesh well, in a very off sort of love-hate friendship sort of way.
"You need to stay protected at all times, Kagome, that's why you two must share a room. In case anything attacks or tries to bring you harm he'll be there," Miroku explained with an ever so confident nod.
"Then," Inuyasha coaxed, "why don't you do that, Miroku? You two are relatives, after all."
"That's true," Kagome chimed with a nod, "we are and you are a highly trained, powerful, priest, you are more than capable of protecting me."
"Yeah, Miroku," Inuyasha grinned, "or are you just lazy?"
"That's exactly it," he assured with a debonair smile, "and you're the one that has been trained since... well, forever, to protect my cherished cousin. I'm just meant to monitor the barrier about the castle."
"A lot of good that did," Inuyasha gripped.
"Just for that," Miroku countered as he stood up and dangled the key in front of the jet-black haired man's face, "you don't get the private room."
"I don't understand why I can't have the private room," Kagome muttered but was ultimately ignored as Miroku walked up the stairs.
"It'll be fine," Inuyasha decided with a sigh and nod of his head to lead her up to the second floor. He glanced to the key number then to the doors until they found the right one and opened it up for her once more; the true dilemma did not start until the door was shut.
There was just one bed in the itty bitty room…
"Uh," he stretched out before glimpsing around the room a little more, "you look really tired… today's been a bad day, you should go to sleep. You'll take the bed; I'll sleep on the floor."
"Ishii-san, that sounds uncomfortable… you should sleep on the bed—"
"No, you were the one kidnapped today, you get the bed, besides, you're the girl," he kept up, "I'll go see if I can get extra blankets and a pillow."
"You should go steal some from Miroku's room," she grumbled as she sat down upon the bed, sinking into the comfy bed right away.
"I should," he laughed, "I'll be right back."
"Ishii-san," she so softly that it nearly got passed him, "do you think… my father is worried about me? Do you think it is wrong of us to slow my return…? Aren't we being lazy? Aren't I being selfish? Aren't you going to be in trouble because of me?"
"No, Kagome," he assured gently, "everything will be fine."
"Thank you," she whispered, maybe he wasn't sure, maybe he was just lying to make her feel better, but it worked, so she smiled softly yet sweetly at his kindness.
"Please stop thanking me," he mumbled, he couldn't take it—it was worse than being stabbed in the heart by an actual knife.
|-{x}{o}{x}-|
"What goes on at festivals?" Kagome inquired giddily as her head turned constantly about so she could try and memorize every bit of the colorful decorations about the town, she didn't even care when she bumped into mass amount of bodies as they strolled down the center street, laced with booths.
"Lots of things," Miroku began, "there is food, games, entertainment, I'm sure they have whatever you desire."
"Dancing, drinks, all that type of things?"
"You and alcohol don't mix," Inuyasha reminded stiffly, his stare constantly evaluating the scene about them. It wasn't like they were in the village around the castle, quite possibly the most secure place in all the land; there was no guarantee of the same safety in the 'quaint' town a grave distance away from the castle.
"Ishii-san," she hushed swiftly.
"You needn't worry, Kagome, I know about your little venture out of the castle to the masquerade," Miroku reassured, he couldn't help but laugh when he saw the astonishment etched into her face.
"It was his idea I take you," Inuyasha elaborated when he glanced to see the hint of hurt in her hazel eyes. "I didn't tell him," he didn't break her trust, not over that, at least... sort of. "He's the one that showed me the hole to get out."
"Oh," she murmured after her gaze had moved to her cousin, "why… did you…?"
"I believe you deserve a little fun in life, Ishii here is more suitable to protect you so I thought he should be the one to take you."
"Thank you, Miroku."
"Not at all, here, Kagome," and with that, he ushered to the closest booth, "would you like to play the game? You just take the little loops and try to get them around the wooden sticks, if you get three you win a prize."
"I want to try," she gasped, "do you think I can do that, Ishii-san?"
He leaned against the post of the booth and nodded, "sure, go for it."
"Do you think you could do it?"
"Ishii, easily," Miroku declared, "but it's about you today, Kagome. We'll do whatever you want at the festival."
"OK," she gleamed. The first try she failed, the second she got one, the third she got two, and finally on the forth she succeed, with a shrill scream she jumped up and down and clapped her hands fervently, "did you see that, Ishii-san?"
"Good job," he halfheartedly praised, it wasn't that he didn't care; it was he couldn't solely focus on her and monitor their surroundings all at once. She was apparently too enthralled in her own success to notice, though, as she laughed and picked out her prize before Miroku shepherded her off to the next sight to see. Festival food was savored, games were played, and small theatrical side-shows about the myths of fall were relished by the girl who had never known the outside world.
"Ishii-san, isn't this wonderful?" She redundantly inquired as her hazels snapped over to him, swiftly her smile faded, "are you not having fun? You seem distracted…"
"It's fun," he retorted as he reluctantly let his auburns move back to her, "it's just… crowded."
"Do you not like being surrounded by so many people?"
"It's hard to keep a watchful eye for any possible danger when there's so many people," her cousin explained.
"Oh," she awed as her hazels moved between both boys on either side of her, "I'm sorry; this must be such a hassle for you two. I'm sorry, I've had my fun, we can return now..."
"No, we're fine," Miroku swore with a shake of his head, "please, today is for your amusement, what would you like to do next?"
"Ishii-san…?"
"Don't worry, everything's fine, I'm sure nothing will happen, just enjoy yourself," he requested.
"Well…" though, she still felt a bit bad about it all, she couldn't deny that she honestly did not want to leave, "there all these signs about the ceremony tonight, I would very much like to see that."
"Of course, of course, whatever you want, Kagome," Miroku soothed after he gave her a pat on the back.
"Thank you, Miroku—"
"Please, no need to thank me," because he, too, felt that pang of guilt each time she did.
|-{x}{o}{x}-|
"Looky, Ishii-san," she chimed as she raised her wrist up to her face, "another charm on the bracelet you gave me is glowing. It's amazing how that happens and so pretty. Why do they change colors like that? I noticed the green but now there is a red and a yellow one, how does that happen? Are they like mood stones?"
"Something like that," he murmured as he gently took her hand to look over the trinkets. The red made sense, rage; he had every intention of sparking that but the yellow…? When did that happen, what did that even mean? In such little time he was able to spoil her sweet soul, what terrible things did that say about him? Or was that merely praising his mission, his purpose, his training?
"How does it work?" She inquired meekly; did he not realize how quickly her heart beat whenever he touched her? Now he was taking her hand into his and though his handsome gaze was on nothing more than the gift he had given her it was still a gesture she was not used to… barely anyone was allowed to touch her and the only males that ever had were family, either Miroku or her father and never really in a tender fashion as 'Ishii' always had.
"I don't know," he shrugged and, for once, he was telling the truth. "Kagome…" he mumbled as his eyes moved up to meet hers, he wanted to confess something, to tell her the truth about the bracelet at the very least, maybe about it all—just a small part but… his watch took in the lightly red hue of her cheeks, the shimmer in her eyes. The daunting truth of it was that she wouldn't look at him like that if she knew the truth, of his blood, that he was a hanyou… half demon, half what she disliked, feared, what she was meant to destroy… she liked him because he was Ishii Genji, the human Ishii Genji. If he wasn't human—well, he wasn't—but if she knew then… then even her gracious, grand soul wouldn't accept him.
Demons did… humans didn't. Not even her, right?
"Kagome, Ishii—" Miroku called out as he made his way through the thick crowd that had formed around the stage in the town center, as soon as he got close enough to see them he stopped speaking. Their eyes were intimately locked, one of his hands was gently wrapped around hers, but his words broke whatever moment they may have been having as Inuyasha noticed that he was still holding her hand and quickly, with a slight blush, let go and turned to face the stage.
"I'm sorry, am I interrupting something?" He grinned grandly and a wink to the glaring Inuyasha as he wiggled his way in between Kagome and the stranger next to her.
"Shush," Kagome scolded as she raised a single finger to her lips, "the show is about to start."
Just as she said that whatever lights brightened the village dimmed so that all focus would go to the elegantly dressed, enchanting woman on stage that began to gracefully sing the ritual festival stories, even though there were no other dancers or actors her melody illustrated the legend entirely on its own. It brought a surreal smile to the deprived damsel's lips; music was not often something she was allowed to enjoy so she soaked up as much as possible and closed her eyes to try and imagine the scenes better. That day was another she'd treasure for the remainder of her life, however short that may be, and, again, her most cherished of memories were spent with 'Ishii' by her side… that only made her smile grow all the more.
"Miroku," Inuyasha whispered after they had stepped back a bit so they were side by side behind Kagome, who both knew was far too focused on the show to pay any mind to them, still they took care to speak quietly. "Her bracelet…"
"I noticed, it means 'sloth', I thought that might happen. She's being 'lazy' in her return to the castle," he shrugged a shoulder at that, "if it counts, it counts. You are doing well, three in such a short period of time."
"Yeah," somehow, though, he didn't feel like congratulating himself. "Should we take her back tomorrow…?"
"They must be in quite the frenzy to try and find her, either we take her back tomorrow or we never do," Miroku asserted, "if she's missing for just a day we can surely spin a story that my uncle will believe, especially if you tell him it," he mocked, "he adores you."
"Whatever," he gripped back, "what if we don't take her back…?"
"Then the demons will get her," that much, Miroku was sure of, "and, I don't know about you… but I would rather do it our way then theirs. I think it's best that we take her back, even if she most likely does not wish to."
"I suppose," he muttered, he had started to truly hate all of this… all that he had been so eager to achieve, but that was his task and he would not divert from his given path, even if a mounting part of him might wish for nothing else.
A/N: Thank you for the reviews, as always, I love to receive them :)
I hope you enjoyed this chapter, too. The next one will most likely be considerably longer so it might take me some time to update. I want to make sure it's good before I publish it. Generally, I was just going with the flow and had a vague idea of what I wanted to do, now I actually have at least five chapters planned out so that means this story should get fairly steady updates.