The bowl sat abandoned beside a red-clad form.
Now, on most days, said bowl would be emptied numerous times before being dutifully washed, then packed away for later.
On this day, the noodles sat in cold, bullion flavored water.
Soggy.
Limp.
Ignored.
But the figure seated against the tree remained uninterested.
His ears twitched intermittently, absently tracking the movements of the others as they moved about the campfire.
It was now the evening of the fifth day after Kagome's 'adventure' and the ramen once again sat on the ground, soon to be disposed of.
It's living companion sighed inaudibly as he stared into space.
When had he lost her?
Three years.
He'd owned the girl's affections for three years. He hadn't been unaware. He'd simply taken it for granted. And if at first he'd been inclined to return them, now that the situation had changed, he'd never thought they'd cease.
Even in death, Kikyo continued to love him. And Kagome was, after all, Kikyo's reincarnation.
But it seemed as if this was yet another way in which the girl's personality had diverged from her predecessor.
His amber eyes shifted to watch the girl with her companions.
A small smile curved his lips as he watched the monk take a face-plant into the dirt after once again having groped Sango. The huntress shook her first at the downed man, but he could see the amusement in her eyes.
Miroku shook off the blow as he got to his feet and reclaimed his seat.
Kagome muffled her laughter behind her hand, blue eyes sparkling in the firelight. She shook her finger in a chiding fashion at the wayward monk, before gathering all of their dishes to take to the river.
It was as she moved toward him to fetch his own that he remembered his anger at her, growling as she approached.
She hesitated, and something in her eyes dimmed, before she squared her shoulders and snatched up his bowl as she swept by him.
Sango glared at him and he returned the gesture. She shook her head in disgust as she moved to lay out their bedding for the night.
Miroku sighed.
"When are you going to stop pouting, Inuyasha?"
The question startled the hanyou a bit, before he bared his teeth. "I'm not pouting!"
"Really? Then what would you call it?"
Inuyasha lunged to his feet and stalked over to the other male.
"How dare you take her side," he hissed.
Miroku closed his eyes, as if looking at the hanyou was tiring.
"It was only a matter of time," he finally murmured. "What did you expect?"
"The bitch betrayed me!"
Inuyasha suddenly found himself backed into a tree, the monk's staff pressed threateningly across his throat. Violet eyes burned in rage.
"How dare you say such a thing about Kagome! It wasn't bad enough that she waited for you all this time? You knew you would not choose her and still you strung her along. What, it never occurred to you that she wished for someone to love her back? If it would not be you to give her such, how dare you behave in so cowardly a manner as to not tell her!"
The hanyou growled at the monk but Miroku ignored him, his staff sparking with holy power.
"That girl has given you everything she had. She has saved your life, provided for your comfort, fed you, clothed you and shared the love of her family. All of it given generously and without reservation. So I will not sit here and listen to you badmouth someone I care for so deeply."
The staff was slowly removed, but Inuyasha was too taken aback to notice.
"Did you think no one else would want her? That no one would notice how special she is? Did you think she would wait forever?"
Miroku turned, eyes briefly finding Sango's as she moved to finish her chores, before backing away from Inuyasha. "I care for you, Inuyasha…you are family to me. But I will not hear such things said of Kagome."
He finished speaking just in time to see Inuyasha vanish through the trees.
Such lessons were always painful. And it was far past time for the hanyou to grow up.
But was he ready?
~*elsewhere*~
Kagome bit her lip as she finished washing the last bowl.
Ironically, it was Inuyasha's bowl. A bowl that she had filled for him over and over again in the past few days, only to have him ignore it.
Why couldn't he just get over it?
Granted, he'd never been the most rational of men and was admittedly quite self-centered on occasion, buthe had never refused food before. She hastily wiped away a tear that threatened to fall.
Kagome slowly packed up the dishes, before she moved away from the river bank, leisurely sinking down onto the grassy hill a few yards away.
'You knew this would be hard. You shouldn't complain about it now.'
She sank her teeth sharply into her lip, the sting helping to drive away the urge to bawl. She wouldn't to cry over his selfishness.
These past days, she had wondered…more than once…about Sesshomaru's dislike of his brother. When seen from the other side, it had looked like simple racism.
But…what if it was something else? Something like what she was currently witnessing?
She'd never thought he would hurt her like this. He had always been the one he considered her closest friend.
"The bitch betrayed me!"
She'd heard him as she'd walked away, something that wasn't that difficult what with the way he'd hollered.
She'd betrayed him?! WAS HE DELUSIONAL??!! How dare he!
That was it….the last proverbial straw. Only she was no damned camel.
She was done.
And just like that…it felt as if the weight of the universe suddenly dropped from her shoulders.
She felt…free.
Kagome went still. It couldn't be that easy…could it?
All this time spent mooning over Inuyasha, her heart breaking every time he left to chase after a shimmer of silver in the trees. Soul stealers that brought him eagerly to Kikyo's embrace like an eager puppy.
'He was the bitch', some resentful, heretofore unknown voice spat.
Her hand flew up, covering her mouth as if someone would hear her sudden mental outburst.
Which was silly…
Actually, it was silly, Kagome thought with a small laugh.
The sudden image of Inuyasha in drag, face panted like a geisha's as he minced along through the woods on his way to dally with his lover, unexpectedly sprang to mind and the laugh became full-blown.
He probably would if Kikyo asked it of him.
But as the amusement faded, she was once again struck by the distinct lack of loss she felt. Had she simply failed to notice how her 'love' for him, or even the affection, had faded?
She must have, because this wasn't simply anger.
It felt like the deepest, most soul-felt release.
Did she hate him? No. But her respect for him was gone.
Which brought her back to now, and her unexpected friendship with a being who, in the past, she'd only held respect for.
That and a great deal of fear.
Now, she could honestly say that she liked him. He had a wicked sense of humor that he utilized with a sly, skillful dexterity.
That and he could actually hold an intelligent conversation. A rarity in her world of arrogant, lecherous males.
Not that he didn't have his own brand of arrogance.
Now that his aim was no longer geared toward maiming Inuyasha and taking a sword that she'd discovered he really didn't desire, that arrogance of his was strangely attractive, often manifesting itself as nothing more than an amazing self-confidence.
He definitely deserved every bit of it, as beautiful as he was.
She still couldn't believe that he wanted to get closer to her. She was…Well, nothing really.
She was so absorbed in her thoughts that she almost missed the sensation of cool satin coiling into her lap, tickling her bare ankles where her feet tucked under her thighs.
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