Chapter Nine: Meet and Greet
Kagome woke up to the darkness of the night and angry voices all around her, accompanied with the feeling that her throat had shrunk two sizes, and a throbbing head.
It took her a moment to realize that the darkness that she was seeing wasn't the night, but the inside of her eyelids. Her head demanded silence, pulsing with every loud word that was spoken around her, and she tried to slip back into unconsciousness. But as she slowly came more and more into the world of the awake, the more her senses kicked in, the more she became horribly aware of the ongoing around her. Hearing had kicked in.
Or rather, the on going's carrying her.
The angry voices were trailing in the distance, but she could hear them screaming her name. The furious voice, however, was right next to her, and she could hear the words vibrating throughout her body. Close contact had kicked in.
The air was thick, but sharp and cold, tasting damp and slightly moldy. Taste had kicked in.
There was someone supporting her by her shoulders and her knees, carrying her bridal style. Her body was jolting forcibly and with every step that this person took, (they were running quickly) her head burrowed again and again into the rough fabric of the clothing of the one that carried her. Something thin and soft gently brushed her hair with each movement. Hair. She could feel and hear the pounding of the bare feet of this person, tapping on the compact soil. Touch had risen.
The smell of pine reached her nose, along with damp soil and wet grass. There was the clear touch of night air…and something else. A comforting smell that somehow made her relax with her heart speeding up gradually. She remembered being afraid of this smell, some long time ago, but that time had passed, and she no longer cared. She liked this smell.
"Kagome-san! Wake up! Kagome-san!"
Who would address her in a caring tone?
"What the hell is wrong with you!"
Although failing to recognize the voice or words that were spoken first, she defiantly recognized the second phrase.
Kagome's eyes shot open to bright red fabric in her eyes. She pulled her head back slightly in alarm and brushed the silver hair that tickled her cheek and blinked the sleep from her eyes and she focused her eyes on the serious face above her that was concentrating intently ahead of her.
A slight fanged frown was engraved on his face. A sharp nose and serious, focused amber eyes.
Silver hair.
Kagome's body acted on its own accord, yelling first then pushing his chest away.
"WHAT THE F--"
She fell in an ungraceful heap, and seriously damaging her rear on the hard packed dirt, Inuyasha tripping just as gracefully over her doing a full-frontal very painful looking face plant.
Wasting no time, he sprang right back up to his feet, seized her cloak neck and dragged her into the bushes.
When a decent ways into the woods, he suddenly let her go and slumped against a tree.
There was an incredibly long moment of silence while they both stared at each other, both faces saying the one message that could not be interpreted.
Kagome's face clearly said 'What the hell just happened' While Inuyasha's firm staring blatantly said 'You are in so much trouble and you don't even know it yet.'
Fortunately before either could voice their thoughts, there was a whirring through the air and the tree which Inuyasha sat against suddenly exploded right above his head.
Kagome screamed and Inuyasha scrambled away from the tree on all fours, his eyes as big as saucers.
"W-wh-what the hell was that?" Seemingly recovered from nearly loosing his head, Inuyasha stood up, his eyes snapping around the small area. His nose twitched slightly as he sniffed, and his ears were darting rapidly. He wasn't disappointed.
Sango stepped out of the thick trees, holding her enormous boomerang in one hand. Striding quickly over to Kagome's side, she sent a glare of daggers at Inuyasha.
"Darn. I missed."
There was a rustling in the bushes, and Miroku appeared on Kagome's other side.
"But I won't." He was raising his hand and making to take off the prayer beads wrapped around his hand, completely unaware of the curious looks he was receiving from both Sango and Kagome. Before he could completely remove them, Kagome snapped back to her senses and cried out.
"What on earth are you two doing!" Both stopped in their tracks and looked at her wide eyed. Sango was the first to speak.
"We…we were…rescuing you." Miroku nodded solemnly, and Kagome stared in disbelieve at them.
"From what?"
"The youkai!" Sango sputtered. "The one that burst from the house with you in its clutches! You were unconscious, so we came after you!"
Miroku nodded again. "It's good that we caught up."
Kagome gawked at them. 'They don't get it.' "But I don't need rescuing!"
Sango scowled. "Kagome. Perhaps you didn't get a good look at what was running away from you." She thrust an accusing finger at Inuyasha, who was still in a defensive position, but it was somewhat relaxed, partially from shock. "It was probably going to run off and eat you!"
"Oi." Inuyasha deadpanned, eyebrow twitching. "I'm still here."
They all ignored him.
"No, you don't understand!" Kagome bit her lip. "He's…my…owner."
There was a silence.
Miroku and Sango stared blankly at her, and then at Inuyasha, who was now sitting cross legged against the shattered tree, arms crossed and staring right back at them defiantly.
"You're owner…This is…but he's just your age!" Miroku laughed.
"Oi."
"You didn't tell us that he was just a teen Kagome." Sango said with a small smile.
"Oi."
"I mean, from the way you described him, we thought he'd be more…" She thought for a moment. "Fierce. Not so…" She gestured at him. "Young."
"OI."
"Come with us, Kagome." Miroku offered her his hand. "You don't have to stay here anymore."
"Yeah." Sango smiled at her. "There's this little shack that we know of, you could stay there with us, it'd be great."
"OI!"
They all looked at him. He was on his feet now, and looked righteously pissed.
"Don't I get a say in this?"
Stupid question, obvious answer, was the message written on Sango's face.
"No." Then she hurled her boomerang at him. She turned to Kagome and said, "Quick, go now! This'll take care of him." Kagome wanted to cry out, her promise to not kill Inuyasha painfully aware in her mind, but her thoughts were cut short by a loud screeching sound.
She turned her head in time to see Inuyasha with his arms out clawing the boomerang back. It was steadily pushing him backwards, but after a moment, it fell with a heavy thump to the ground.
He lowered his hands and looked at Sango with an amused smile on his lips. Then he sprang into the air, for a moment they all lost sight of him, then he landed right behind Kagome. Sango yelled "No!" and Miroku lunged for them, but it made no difference.
Inuyasha grabbed her by her upper arms and smiled wryly at them. "Thanks, I'll take this." Then with a sudden leap, they were shooting over the treetops, back to the mansion.
He didn't go through the doorway--through a window instead. It took her a moment blinking her eyes to adjust to the dark room that she realized that she was in his room. The room that she had only ever seen in the dark, the one time that she accidentally caught him changing.
He was still clutching her waist as he crossed the room quickly. He shut the door as quietly as possible and then let her go, as he went to go light a lamp. The room was illuminated several moments later, and even in those several moments later Kagome still stood awkwardly in the middle of the room.
He pointed at a chair sitting across from the door, and she sat. Any moment now, she was expecting a blow.
But he just stood in front of her furiously. When she didn't speak, he prompted her.
"So do you have anything you have anything to say in your defense?"
'Tell him everything. No, deny everything. Go the clueless route. Lie. Run from the room screaming.' Kagome couldn't see that going over well. 'Jump out the window. No. Go clueless.'
"I'm sorry?"
"Do you want to tell me why you were sneaking around a youkai's house all the way across town?
"I…wasn't?" He raised an eyebrow.
"You weren't."
"No."
"Then what were you doing?"
"Uh…Midnight stroll?"
"With a demon slayer and a monk."
"Yes."
"You're such a damned liar."
"Yep."
He sighed and sat down on his bed across from her. He was looking at her, but his eyes had softened and he didn't seem as angry anymore.
"What were you doing anyways? You're not stupid enough to have just run blindly into a fight like that."
Kagome sighed and looked down. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."
He flopped back down on the bed and grinned at the ceiling. "Try me."
Suddenly it didn't feel like she was talking to the youkai who was her owner--the youkai who pinned her to that tree what felt so long ago--the youkai whom she swore to hate. He was no longer that. He was just…a friend. Like she used to have before the war. An old buddy that she told her secrets to, that was just like what this moment felt like.
So she told him. Everything.
All about Sango and Miroku, their plans, the system, how they met, freeing the slaves, the revolution, what happened not nearly an hour before. Everything.
He was silent the whole time and just laid eagle spread on the bed, gazing at the ceiling. If she didn't know better, she would think that he was tuning her out. But she did know better, and she could see that both ears were still, and pointing in her direction.
Nearly twenty minutes later she stopped and took a deep breath. "And that's all."
There was a long silence as he seemed to digest and contemplate what had just been told to him.
"Your right." He said finally. Kagome's heart soared. He believed that what they were doing was right!
"Your right. I don't believe you." When your heart's flying three feet above your head, you'd be surprised at just how far it could fall.
"You…what?" Her voice croaked unexpectedly. "But…why?"
He sat up and looked at her straight in the eye. "Because I don't see you're motive."
She stared.
And gaped.
And stared some more.
"What do you mean you don't see our motive?" She nearly shrieked. "We're slaves! How can you not see the motive behind that? Slave equals no freedom!" He was shaking his head, and she stopped, breathing hard.
"That's not what I said. I know why others would do it, but it's not other's that I care about. What I asked is I don't know your motive." She kept staring at him blankly. "You have everything here. Food, space, a bed, warmth, and as much freedom as I can give you. You're allowed to leave when you want, no one here hits you, beats you or…uh…otherwise abuses you." There was a slight touch of blush on his cheeks, and Kagome looked away.
"I know I'm well off," She whispered softly, "but others aren't. The boy's house that we went to tonight…he had no bed. His master was so…harsh. Cruel." She looked up at him and was furious to find her vision blurry. "I can't be happy if I know how much others are suffering."
He watched her quietly, then nodded his head softly. "As long as you promise not to go looking for youkai."
'What?' "W-what? What are you saying?"
"I'm saying don't get caught again, because I won't be there to save you're ass every time."
"You're…giving me permission to fight against your own people." Kagome stated cautiously.
"I don't remember saying such a thing." He cocked his head and grinned at her. "I don't know a thing about this." He clambered to his feet. "Do you want some water?"
Kagome leapt to her feet. "No! I mean, yes, I would, but I'm the slave remember? I'll get it." She strode across the room determinately, but he just laughed and pushed her lightly away.
Or at least, he must have meant to push her lightly. But he was a youkai, and instead she felt like she'd been hit by an elephant and fell flat on the bed.
"I'm not that lazy. You stay here, I'll be right back." He ducked out the door.
She lay there for a while, and then rolled on her side. The bed was very comfy…and it was late (or early depending on how you looked at it) and she was very tired…She closed her eyes and thought over the events of the evening. A lot had happened, and she'd had a lot of shocks.
She was still lying there contemplating when she heard him re enter the room. She was just about to sit straight up and apologize for dozing, when he spoke first.
"Heh. Knew you'd fall asleep." There was a clunk as the glass of water was placed on the table next to the bed.
'Eh? I was supposed to fall asleep?' She stiffened when she felt the covers being pulled gently over her.
"Sleep well."
As she drifted out to dreamland, a thought occurred to her.
'When I woke up and Lord Inuyasha was carrying me…when I smelt his kimono, it smelled all of him. But I wasn't angry, or afraid. I was…content. Relaxed.'
'What's wrong
with this picture?'
SBF: But what now? With Inuyasha knowing about the raids, and Sango still planning on going full steam ahead with the plan to raid the mansion, what will happen? And if Sesshomaru is coming back?
NOTICE: As you are all aware I'm sure, I didn't update last week, and I'm so sorry. But I have an excuse. My dad was in a car accident, and had to go to hospital. I know a lot of you might not think that that's a very good excuse, but he had a broken leg, but for a long time we didn't know his condition, and we were really worried. It would have been a crappy chapter anyways.
SO I'M REALLY SORRY! I tried to make this chapter extra long to make up for it!
Thank you to all who reviewed, but it's really late at night and I'm way too sleepy to thank you all individually for it. You know who you are, and I really appreciate you're support.
Special thanks to:
cat demon92
The only one who threatened me because I was late. I'm so sorry I made you sad cat demon92!
Next Update: (I WILL update this time) Sunday April 16
