Eight

When Kagome awoke, Inuyasha was already up and stretching. Instinctively, she felt the need to stop him, but she held herself back when she remembered what he kept repeating her. That he was a demon, and that therefore his body could take much more than hers. He also usually looked more insulted than happy with her concern. Still, she couldn't help herself but let something slip.

"Are you sure you should be doing that already?" she questioned with a grimace when he started jumping as though he was testing his legs.

He turned towards her, looking slightly surprised by the sound of her voice, and Kagome thought she hadn't seen his shoulders tense, as they usually did. She wasn't too sure what that meant, and it seemed too small for her to actually dwell on it. But it was a bit unusual for him.

"We're leaving today," Inuyasha answered, his voice as rough and annoyed as it always was. "There's no choice."

Kagome frowned. She was starting to get really tired of his self-destructive attitude and the 'there is something more important than me at stake'. She knew many people would find it noble, moving, maybe even romantic — if they thought a half-demon could be those things — but she had a hard time feeling the same. If it was the only solution, she didn't find it to be so noble, and if it wasn't, she certainly couldn't see why it would be. Self-sacrifice just wasn't her thing.

"We could wait one more day, if it meant you got to rest," she retorted. "It would…"

"We can't. We already lost enough time with the stunt you pulled yesterday," he snarled. "We're not stopping anymore."

The young woman rolled her eyes. Here they were, again. Well, she was done fighting him on that. If he wanted to exhaust himself and to take the risk that his body would stop functioning, then he could do whatever the hell he wanted.

That didn't mean that she wouldn't nag him about it and tell him how right she was when she would, undoubtedly, prove to be.

"Fine," she sighed, already capitulating, much to the half-demon's surprise. "We should eat and leave quickly, then. You're not going to stop me from eating, are you?"

She shot him a fiery look, and he realized that apparently, she had admitted that she had lost this battle, but not the war yet. Part of him felt that she trying to make sure that he would eat, but nah, there was no way she could be that smart — or manipulative.

"Sure, let's eat," he answered on the same tone.

Truth was, Inuyasha felt a bit weird about her, today. Before, keeping her away from him had been purely normal, just his usual way to deal with people. He had noticed, of course, that Kagome wasn't completely like other people, but he had done his best not to think about it and to find explanations to her behavior. Until he could no longer ignore it.

He followed her out of the room. No maids had come to look for them, and they soon understood why when they walked into the dining room where everything had happened the night before. The castle was swarming with people, and more specifically, with young women.

Inuyasha almost instinctively grabbed Kagome's wrist, starting to drag her across them, having smelled the Princess and the Lord. If he didn't, he'd no doubt lose her among those people, although, now that he thought about it, her smell was much nicer than theirs, and he had no idea why he hadn't noticed that as soon as he had met her. Maybe it had grown on him.

He pulled her with him, and vaguely thought about how small her wrist was, and how her skin was surprisingly soft and warm and… Wait. Why was he touching her? And more importantly, why didn't she have anything to say about it?

Realizing what he was doing, he froze, letting go of her as though he had just burnt himself, and Kagome bumped into his back. He turned towards her, trying to see what her emotions was. She blinked when she noticed how worried he looked — not worried, terrified.

"Are you feeling okay, Inuyasha? We should get you something to eat quickly, you're very pale. You probably lost too much blood last night."

Demon blood my ass. Take that. But she was a little worried for him now, so she didn't say anything. She would gloat about it later.

Inuyasha was still staring at her, as he searched for signs of disgust, of hatred, of 'I can't believe this thing dared touching me'.

There were none. Just her bright blue eyes looking up at him and expecting him to say something.

"Yeah. Food," he finally said, and his voice sounded raspy even to his ears. Kagome tilted her head, and clearly wasn't all that convinced, but she just shrugged it off and didn't ask anything, taking that as another proof of her being right. Ha.

Inuyasha's hand turned into a fist and his jaw tightened while he turned his back on her, keeping track of her with his nose to make sure that she was following him. He was terribly confused.

Of course, he knew that Kagome had had no problems with touching him the night before, and she hadn't really seemed disgusted at the time, but he was… Well, not dying, but very seriously injured, although he hadn't let her know that. Things were different now, and yet her behavior didn't change. Even if he had tried to convince himself that she was acting — and he had — his nose told him she wasn't. She was completely sincere.

He should really stop trying to fight this now. If he did, maybe it would stop taking him by surprise. Maybe it would stop getting to him like that. He clenched his teeth, hard. This wasn't good. He knew it wasn't good.

But it felt nice.

They finally found the Lord and the Princess, who were both busying themselves, and it took a moment before they managed to talk to them. Once they were noticed, they were lead in another room, in which food was served to them, much to Inuyasha's surprise. He was used to being ignored even for that sort of things.

Him and Kagome started eating without a word, and she was preparing to break the silence when the Lord and Princess Tsuyu walked into the room. Kagome and Inuyasha stood up, and Kagome respectfully bowed her head.

"Oh please— Don't," the Princess told her with a soft and kind voice. "You don't need to be paying us your respects. If anything, we should be the one thanking you."

"I'm also very sorry that we weren't able to be of assistance to you last night when your friend was hurt," the Lord added quickly. "There was… a lot that needed to be taken care of then."

Kagome nodded, and Inuyasha just couldn't not notice how she didn't correct him about him. 'Friend', he'd said. Were they friends? He had no idea. It wasn't like he'd had one before.

Well. There was Kikyo. But… The word 'friend' just really didn't seem to be fitting for her. He didn't know how to qualify their relationship, and the thought was exactly almost painful, so he did his best to push it out of his mind. He had a feeling he'd been doing that a lot, lately.

"It's okay," she answered. "Inuyasha's fine now, and we saw all those girls outside. Were they—"

The Lord nodded with a sigh, and as his eyes became distant, the Princess grabbed and squeezed his hand in a discreet but tender gesture of affection that didn't go unnoticed by the pair, making Kagome smile happily. She was glad they had managed to save the Lord instead of killing him, although she had no idea how that had been possible. But thinking back on it…

It had been her, hadn't it? She… She'd felt something, back then. She didn't really understand any of it, and even if she may have the slightest idea about it, she wasn't all too sure where it could come from. Sure, her grandfather had been a priest, but from what she remembered, his so-called ofudas had never worked, and she had never though there were actual spiritual powers in her family. That was, if what she had done really was about that, and hadn't been dumb luck.

But she was pretty sure that dumb luck wouldn't have felt as though something so strong was going through her.

"I would tell you to feel free to stay here longer," the Princess said, "but from what I gathered, the two of you are out to help Princess Kikyo, aren't you?"

Inuyasha nodded, and was surprised to see Kagome turn to look at him, silently asking him either what she could tell, or for him to answer. Which… Yeah. He was starting to get used to it, to her treating him like he was her equal, but it felt dangerous. He had to keep in mind that no one would ever treat him like that. He couldn't act like it was normal.

"That's right," he answered, clearing his throat and noticing the surprise in the couple's eyes when he spoke. "This is all strictly confidential," he added, a low rumble starting in his throat, the threat obvious, "but there was an incident at the Castle and I was sent with Kagome for help." He was voluntarily remaining as vague as possible. The Queen had been very clear about it, and they couldn't risk weakening their influence by letting them know that they had been attacked like that.

Kagome held back a small victory smile. He had called her Kagome, again, and he didn't even seem to have noticed. It made her feel… She didn't know how it made her feel. It sent a weird heat in her chest, right where her heart was. It was surprisingly nice.

"Which is why we will be leaving really soon," she added, completing the half-demon's informations as soon as he went back to his silence. "As I'm sure you can guess, we hadn't planned on stopping here." She was trying her best to be as polite as possible. Due to the fact that her and Inuyasha had saved both of them the day before, she didn't feel all that intimidated by them despite their difference of status, but she certainly didn't want to take the risk to anger them. You never knew, with nobles.

Inuyasha grunted beside her, giving his approval.

"Absolutely!" the Princess answered eagerly. "Is there anything you might need? A new horse, food, or money maybe?"

"It should be fine," Inuyasha responded again. "I know of the inns where it's possible to stop, and it would mostly slow us down." He took a second to consider the proposition around the horse, but ended up deciding against it. Kagome wasn't a great rider, and she had gotten used to the animal, at least a little, so it would probably be better if they kept it.

The Princess and the Lord appeared to be a little disappointed by his answers, but they didn't dare trying to contradict the scary half-demon. They soon excused themselves, apologizing profusely to Kagome and keeping their distance from Inuyasha. They were going to try to get the girls home the best they could.

"Hurry up," Inuyasha grunted when they were gone. Kagome rolled her eyes, but didn't answer. She was starting to understand that this attitude was a part of him, but if wasn't the only one. She wasn't completely sure that the other parts were worth putting up with that, but just in case, she was willing to give him a chance.

That didn't stop her from shooting him a glare and from eating maybe just a little slower than she could have.

Ha. That would teach him.


Inuyasha was nervous, and he didn't like it. He wasn't used to being nervous. In fact, he was never nervous. Sure, whenever he was around Kikyo, or at least close enough for her to be aware of what he was doing, he made sure to always be on his best behavior, but he wouldn't have called that being nervous. He was eager to please her and afraid of disappointing her, and… Well, maybe some people would have called that nervous, but the thing was, that was nothing like how he was feeling around Kagome.

He had no idea where it came from, or what it was all about, but it was — weird.

What made him nervous about Kagome had nothing to do with his behavior, though, and everything to do with her. Or, well, how he reacted when she was there.

He knew that, technically, probably, it was good that she treated him like that, but it mostly just scared him. He had a hard time forgetting that there always was a possibility that she could turn on him, and maybe that was why he was so afraid. She made him want to give her his trust, made him hope. Which meant he could get hurt, get betrayed.

But he was starting to think that maybe — just maybe — the strange sensations he got when she was around or when she treated him normally were worth it, which only terrified him even more in return. Because if he felt like that, how would it feel if she betrayed him?

And then, there was the fact that he was starting to trust her.

He didn't trust anybody. Maybe Kikyo, but if anything, he expected her to do the right thing for the kingdom, not for him. Even Kikyo didn't know about…

"Inuyasha? Is everything okay?" Kagome's voice came from right beside him, and he realized that he had slow down enough for her to arrive next to him. Was he already so accustomed to her presence that he let her get that close to him?

Or maybe, given what she'd done to the demon…

"Since when are ya a priestess?" he practically barked at her, watching her frown and maybe feeling a small discomfort as he saw her expression. It was soon replaced by surprise, though, and there was that weird thought, in the back of her mind, that he liked that a little better.

"I'm… not," she said slowly, as though she herself was trying to entangle her thoughts. "I had never…" She made a gesture of the hand. "You know."

"Huh." It was the first time he heard of something like that. Most children with spiritual powers were noticed really early by the headman of their village, and generally sent to the Castle for training. Then, depending on their level of power, they would either become warrior monks, or be sent back to a village, which they would protect. There were still some people who trained with itinerant monks, or with their local priest or priestess, but Inuyasha had heard that this getting rarer and rarer. "It's not common in your family?"

"Well, my grandfather was a priest, but I don't think anything he did ever actually worked. And I've never heard of that on my mom's side."

"You'd never met a demon before, had you?"

Kagome took a minute to think about it, before shaking her head. "Not that I know of, no. Well, except…" She eyed him, a little embarrassed, but for once, Inuyasha didn't mind the reminder to his nature. Because he was a half-demon, and yet nothing in her had reacted to him. Perhaps because she hadn't perceived him as a threat.

"That's weird," he finally snorted. "You should try to get some training after this whole thing's done. 't would probably pay better than being a maid."

Much to his surprise, Kagome actually grimaced at that. "Yeah, well, maybe, but the training takes years, and I've heard that it's pretty terrible for the people who are there. Plus, I'm… well, old for that. I wouldn't want anyone to suspect that I had been hidden on purpose."

Silence fell between them, and Inuyasha realized that she was right. He had a hard time thinking that the men who were so quick to try and 'teach him his place' used to be children who were separated to his parents, and to be honest, he couldn't say he gave a fuck. Their sob story didn't give them the right to harass him, and he wasn't going to pity them. Still, it made sense why some people would want to spare their child from this life.

Also… He didn't have enough experience with parents to think that they would risk their life for their children. Or maybe he had, but he was rusty with that stuff. Parents hadn't been a normal component of his life for a very long time. It was almost weird to be reminded that they were a normal element for almost everyone else.

"D'ya think that's what happened?" he asked.

Kagome bit her lip, hesitating. "I have no idea. Mama doesn't seem like the type of person who would do that. But…" There were all those things about demons, and how she had been raised, that made her wonder more and more if there was more to her mom than she had always thought. "I don't know."

Comfortable silence fell back between them, and Kagome found herself smiling a little at what had just happened. It had been her talking about herself, but Inuyasha had asked. And maybe it was only because of her powers, although she doubted that because he definitely hadn't sounded afraid, but she was still happy about it. She wanted to learn more about him, however this didn't feel like the right time, and she only hoped that she'd get him to open up about himself in time.


This time again, they managed to reach an inn. It was a little later than the last time though, and Kagome couldn't help but feel worried when she saw Inuyasha tensing up next to her. It wasn't much, as the guy definitely didn't show his emotions, but she was starting to be able to see it, and she could only understand too much why it was.

Approaching a place where there might be a monk or a priestess at night, or even just at twilight, as they were doing right now, especially with his appearance, was a risk for him. You never knew how people could react.

Imperceptibly, Kagome slowed her horse down, progressively, until they were both just walking, and Inuyasha's shoulders seemed to relax. He shot her a glance, frowning, and she found herself blushing. He'd obviously guessed what her intentions were, and for some reason, it made her feel as though she had been caught red-handed.

Inuyasha watched Kagome as her face turned red and she looked away from him. He had been annoyed when he had understood that she was trying to protect him, because he could fucking protect himself, but this he didn't understand. What did it mean? She didn't look scared, but he couldn't think of any other reason why she would want to avoid meeting his eyes, and his ears drooped a little at the thought that he had done something to scare her.

"Do you want me to send your food to you, or will you join me tonight?" Kagome asked after clearing her throat.

Inuyasha scoffed at her attempt at small talk, guessing she was trying to distract him from… He wasn't sure. "I'll join," he muttered after a second of thought. Not because he wanted to, or because he enjoyed her company but because… Because… Because her food could get poisoned and that way he'd be there to eventually smell it.

"That's great," Kagome commented, and he could hear the smile in her voice as she said that, and it was so weird, to think that anyone aside from Kikyo would be happy that he was there.

They stopped their conversation when two men came out of the inn, and Inuyasha recognized one of them as being one of Ungai's monks. Real dick, and real powerful.

"Stop right where you are!" he shouted.

Kagome gulped down, and maneuvered her horse so that she stopped in front of Inuyasha. Usually, it would have annoyed him, but for once, he actually felt thankful. That guy wouldn't have hesitated before taking him down.

"That's right, and don't move!"

He started walking towards them, followed by the other guy, who Inuyasha could only guess was his apprentice.

When he arrived in front of them, he examined them carefully. He was rarely ever at the castle, probably hadn't been there in more than a year, so he probably thought that they looked familiar, but he could probably mistake Kagome for Kikyo. There was no way he wouldn't identify Inuyasha, though.

"You're not the princess," he said after a few moments, though, and Inuyasha cursed inwardly. "What is this about? Get her down from her horse," he ordered to his apprentice.

The boy, who was probably around fifteen, nodded sternly and grabbed Kagome's wrist, before yanking at her. Inuyasha's eyes widened with anger, and he took a step forward, growling at them.

"Step back, half-breed," the monk hissed. "Don't think I'll hesitate to destroy you."

"Hurt her, and nothing will stop me from ripping your fucking hearts out," Inuyasha answered on the same tone. "We were sent here by the Queen, asshole."

"I'll pass on your languagejust this once, half-breed, if you happen to have any proof of what you're assessing." The monk's smug smile spoke clearly about what he thought. He assumed Inuyasha was lying, and the half-demon saw the moment coming when he'd attack. He got ready for receiving it when…

"We do, actually," Kagome spat, breaking free of the other man's grip. "It's in the bags."

The monk appeared to be almost disappointed at her words, but with a movement of the head, he pointed at the other to go check what she had said. It brought Inuyasha's attention back to Kagome. Even though she held her head high, he could tell she wasn't all that reassured, and he could only guess she hadn't had the nicest encounters with soldats and monks at the palace either.

He noticed the way she rubbed her wrist, her face tightening with pain, and a flash of anger ran through him, as well as the urge to fucking destroy the man who had dared hurting her.

The man handed a letter to the monk, and Inuyasha watched him read it as he silently stepped in front of Kagome, making sure she was behind him. He had to almost physically resist the urge to reach out to touch her, to make sure she was okay.

What the fuck was up with him and wanting to touch her anyway? First this morning, now this?

"Huh," the man said. "Looks like… You're right." There was only confusion when he looked up at them, and Inuyasha even saw fear in his eyes. He had no idea what was in there — not like he could read — but even though he guessed Kaede hadn't been that explicit, it appeared it had been enough to scare him. Which was good news.

"I apologize for our reactions, Milady," he said, bowing at Kagome. "I assumed you were impersonating the Princess. I had no idea that this was the… situation. If you'll let me, I'll escort you in the inn."

A wave of uneasiness passed through Inuyasha. He didn't like the idea of leaving Kagome with him alone all that much. He knew that he was defenseless against a monk, and he fucking hated it, but still.

However, Kagome defiantly rose her chin, and shook her head. "Thank you, sir, but we don't need your help." Her tone was firm and definitive. She put her hand on Inuyasha's shoulder, and the contact, although it was soft, surprised him. "Let's go, Inuyasha."


It took a little more than a hour before Kagome was settled in her room. She was quick to open the window so that Inuyasha could get in, and while she waited, she examined her wrist. There was a bruise, and although she guessed it would only take a couple of days to heal, it hurt a bit.

"Lemme see that," Inuyasha's voice suddenly mumbled, right next to her. Before she could say anything, he had carefully gotten hold of her arm and was examining her wrist as though it had been made of porcelain. Which, given how strong he was, was possibly true for him.

She noticed how careful he was at not letting his claws hurt her, but also, how his large hands enveloped her. Finally, he let go of it with a growl. "'s not broken."

He stepped away from her again, almost fleeing her presence, and sat down a little further, almost immediately starting to eat. With a sigh, Kagome joined. They ate in silence. She was much more tired than she wanted to admit to herself, and the last experience of the day had been awful, even if she didn't want to say it out loud — both because she didn't want to worry Inuyasha, and because she wasn't sure he'd care anyway.

As for Inuyasha, he was furious, and anger seemed to be creating a hole in his stomach. He was used to being monks' target, and his demon blood made it particularly easy for them to torment him, but he was mad that he hadn't been able to do anything for her. It was unfair, and it felt disgusting that they would abuse her in that way. Plus, he wasn't stupid. He could tell Kagome wasn't fine, he could guess that even though it wasn't broken, her wrist probably hurt.

He just couldn't do anything about it.

He felt so powerless.

Kagome finished eating in silent, and he couldn't help but notice that she hadn't eaten much, which he didn't like, but didn't comment on. He could have said something about how it would only make her weaker, however for tonight, he chose to abstain from that. If she didn't eat again tomorrow, he wouldn't contain himself though.

She expected him to go take a spot next to the window, like last time, but on the contrary, he went to sit next to her, against the wall. Huh. Things had really changed, after the events with the demon, hadn't they? She opened her eyes when she heard the movement, and tried to look at him, to read in his eyes what he was doing that for, but he had already closed his eyes — maybe on purpose.

Still, it made her feel safe.

Kagome easily fell asleep that night.


Oh thank God I finally finished this! I'm so sorry this took me forever, I hope I'll manage to get other chapters out faster (I know I basically said that last time... I can't promise anything but I'll definitely try). Thank you so much for your reviews on the last chapter, the (desperate) review I got recently was actually what gave me the boost I needed to finish this chapter. I hope you enjoyed it, please let me know what you thought of it — as I said, reviews really help! Hopefully I'll see you soon,

Dya.