Note: Thanks for all the feedback, y'all! There's a lot of debate out there on what type of clothing Inuyasha wears (some say haori, some say suikan, some say hitatare) and there are convincing arguments for each. However, most people are familiar with the concept of a haori, so that I what I am going to use. I'm not familiar enough with the nuanced differences between the three types of clothing to say definitively :) (There's a really lovely breakdown of what Inuyasha's clothing could be on the Dokuga forums. PM or review if you'd like the link.)
Journey to the Future – Chapter 9
Perhaps in an attempt to apologize, Inuyasha didn't say anything about the vomit on his clothing and led Kagome to a small, natural hot spring hidden in the trees. It was a good distance away from the road, but the hanyou insisted that he could find their way back to it in his sleep.
Kagome had a long soak, making sure to thoroughly clean the angry punctures on her arm. She dressed in a clean yukata, tying back the sleeve to prevent any blood from staining it and hurried to the campfire. While she bathed, Inuyasha had caught and cleaned two rabbits. They smelled mouthwateringly good as they roasted over the crackling flames. He looked so guilty that Kagome felt the last bit of bitterness melt away.
"Oh, god…. Kagome," the hanyou groaned, his ears plastered back against his skull. "I am so sorry. I am such a fucking asshole. What I said was mean and I never wanted to… I never meant to hurt you like that." He grimaced and ran a hand through his short hair. "If it ever happens again, just… just go ahead and purify me."
She startled as she dug through her bag for the first aid supplies Kaede had given her. "I couldn't do that, Inuyasha," she said softly. "Just… try to keep a lid on that temper, okay?" At Inuyasha's frantic nod, she smiled faintly and held out a jar of healing salve and a roll of bandages.
When Inuyasha got a good look at the damage he had inflicted, he cursed himself bitterly. Half of her upper arm was already bruising darkly. On the inside of her bicep were four small punctures that were still bleeding freely.
"I'm so sorr—"
"You don't have to keep apologizing," Kagome interrupted, wincing slightly as he applied the salve liberally over the cuts and bruises before carefully wrapping her arm with a linen bandage. "I forgive you, but don't do it again," she said with a slight smile.
Inuyasha was subdued as he knotted off the bandage and put the rest of the supplies back in the bag.
"Inuyasha," Kagome said, prodding at one of the rabbits to see if it was cooked through. "I do actually need to make a stop at the next village we come by."
The hanyou behavior was still submissive and apologetic as he nodded, his expression eager to please. "Yeah, sure we can," he replied. "I think we're about a day off from one."
Kagome inwardly sighed; she had hoped for the opportunity to barter for supplies a little sooner than that, but she supposed that beggars couldn't necessarily be choosers. She was glad that Inuyasha hadn't protested due to his desire to make up for hurting her arm. Kagome suddenly felt glad that this had happened far, far away from Kaede. The old miko would probably have purified Inuyasha to death right then and there.
She poked through her bag, trying to decide if she wanted to cook their last bit of rice to go along with the rabbit when a foul odor drifted across her nose. Kagome peered at Inuyasha, noticing the stains on the legs of his clothes.
"You may want to go wash up," she reminded him, gesturing at the mess on his clothing.
Inuyasha startled slightly as if he had forgotten about it. Kagome couldn't imagine how he could stand the smell, given his sensitive nose. "Oh, yeah…" he said lamely. "I'll, uh… be right back."
When he returned, soaking wet but smelling fresh, Kagome wished that she had thought to get a spare outfit for him, so he could have hanged up his clothing to dry. Inuyasha waved her off and said through a full mouth that he was going to sleep up in the tree.
"Just don't sleep right above me," Kagome warned. "I would prefer not to have water dripping on me all night."
"Yeah, yeah," Inuyasha said, polishing off his dinner.
Kagome inwardly sighed again. He was so much like her little brother.
"Hey," Inuyasha called, pulling Kagome's attention from the fish she was spearing for breakfast.
She looked up at him curiously. "What is it?"
"Where'd you get that scar on your arm?" he asked, miming with his hand the long scare that was on her forearm.
Kagome bit her lip uncertainly and settled the fish over the fire. She fitted the next one on a second skewer before deciding to go ahead and tell him. "I got it in a bad car accident when I was little. Broke my arm in two places," she said softly. "My dad didn't make it."
Inuyasha grimaced and was silent for a moment, watching Kagome cook the fish with darkened golden eyes. Then his expression shifted quickly to confusion. "What the hell is a car?"
She bit back a laugh and smiled ruefully. "Sorry; it's a bit like a… cart, but made of metal and much, much faster."
The hanyou nodded and remained quiet. Kagome was grateful and relieved that he wasn't asking anymore questions about the accident. Despite happening nearly fifteen years ago, it was still a sore subject and she didn't really want to talk about it.
She sat back, watching the skin of the fish begin to blacken with soft crackling sounds. While the fish cooked, she pulled the yukata with the torn sleeve into her lap and threaded a bone needle with coarse thread. Fortunately the holes were pretty small, so Kagome's inexperience with sewing wouldn't be too apparent. She chewed on her tongue, focusing on making her stitches as tiny and neat as possible.
As she stabbed herself in the thumb for the third time, she set it aside in frustration. Kagome peered suspiciously at Inuyasha, who had taken it upon himself to remove the fish from the fire and was poking at the flesh delicately. Back at Kaede's village, she had seen the gashes on his torso, but couldn't remember seeing the corresponding tears in his red haori.
Kagome felt a little silly for the question she was about to ask, but she just had to know. "Inuyasha, does your clothing… repair itself?"
The hanyou glanced up from the fish in surprise. He wiped a little drool from the side of his mouth sheepishly and handed her one of the skewers. "Uh, yeah," he said, holding out one arm to show off the red fabric that covered it. "My old man left it to me. It's made of fire rat youkai fur, so it's resistant to flames and mends itself when torn."
Kagome sighed. "More magical youkai items…" she grumbled.
"What?" Inuyasha asked, faint amusement glimmering in his eyes.
She blushed and shook her head. Kagome hadn't told him that she referred to his—and now Sesshomaru's, she supposed—hair as magical youkai hair and had no intention of ever telling him.
"It's nothing," she said, picking off a large flake from the fish and popping it into her mouth. She sorted out a few root vegetables that she had found the night before and offered some to the hanyou.
Inuyasha gagged exaggeratedly. "No way… I ain't eating that!"
"Fine, you carnivore," Kagome shrugged. "More for me, I guess."
She wrapped up most of the vegetables and stored them in her bag. They had used up the last of the small bag of rice the night before and were running low on most of their other supplies. Before they left, Kaede had pressed a little purse full of jingling coins into her hands. Kagome had protested, claiming that the old miko had done enough for her, but Kaede had insisted. Now however, Kagome was extremely grateful that she had given in and accepted the money. While bartering services for supplies may have worked in Kaede's village, she wasn't so sure that other places would be quite so accommodating.
Kagome and Inuyasha crouched in the tree line, peering out at a large village completely surrounded by tall, imposing wooden walls. She could make out a few people patrolling at the top of the walls, dressed oddly in skin-tight black outfits and wielding all sort of vicious looking weapons.
"Maybe we should just go to the next one," Kagome whispered. This village looked as if it would kill her just as quickly as it would welcome her. She definitely didn't think that it was safe for Inuyasha to go anywhere near it.
"Damn," the hanyou cursed softly. "That bastard warned me that this place was nearby, but I thought we had gotten past it already."
"What kind of village is it?"
"It's a bunch of damn youkai hunters," Inuyasha whispered, swallowing nervously. "Even Sesshomaru sounded fucking wary of them."
"Well, let's get out of here then," she breathed, elbowing the hanyou in the ribs. For both Inuyasha and Sesshomaru to be nervous about this village, the slayers within must be pretty darn impressive. She couldn't wait to get out of there and actually breathe again.
The hanyou grunted softly and nodded. They backed up slowly, keeping their eyes on the imposing village. Inuyasha gestured for Kagome to climb up on his back, his golden eyes never leaving the tall walls, although his ears twitched in all directions.
She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and as she pressed against his back, she could feel his heart beating slightly faster than normal. Kagome choked back an amazed gasp as Inuyasha leapt effortlessly up into the tall trees around them. He bounded silently from branch to branch, skirting the clearing around the village in the tree canopy.
Inuyasha stopped abruptly, clinging to the truck of a tree. Kagome started to ask him what the problem was and he quickly covered her mouth with a clammy palm. He gestured down and Kagome felt faint at the sight of two slayers walking right below them.
There was a young woman, about Kagome's age, wearing one of the tight black body suits. Hers was decorated with pink hemming and she carried the largest boomerang that Kagome had ever seen. She was amazed that the woman could even pick it up, let alone carry it over her shoulder like that with one hand. She was conversing with a teenage boy, dressed in the same outfit hemmed in blue, who was wielding kusarigama.
"Aneue, I told you that I could handle this alone," the boy protested sulkily.
"Kohaku, father would kill me if I let you go this one by yourself," the woman scolded. "Fully grown bear youkai are extremely dangerous, especially the males!"
Kagome couldn't help holding her breath as they passed beneath them. She was extremely grateful that they couldn't seem to sense their presence in the same way that Kaede could.
Inuyasha waited until the two slayers had completely vanished before jumping silently to the next tree. Kagome rested her forehead against the hanyou's shoulder and let out a shaky sigh of relief. She wasn't sure if the hunters would have attacked them without provocation, but she was really glad that they had managed to remain unseen.
It felt like they were in the trees for hours before Inuyasha finally dropped back down to the forest floor and let Kagome down.
"I can't smell or hear them at all anymore," he explained, running a hand through his disheveled hair. "I think we're finally past their usual hunting grounds."
"Are your senses really that much better than a human's?" she asked curiously, eyeing his twitching ears.
"Keh! There's no comparison," he bragged with a cocky grin.
Kagome hummed thoughtfully, wondering what it would be like to be so attuned to the world around her. "Well, keep that nose and those ears open for another, less deadly village," she suggested with a smile.
Inuyasha huffed and crossed his arms over his chest. "Are you really sure that we need to stop?" he asked. "It's hardly been three weeks since we left the old hag's village."
"Well, if you feel like catching all of our food in a couple of days, then I guess we don't need to stop. But I definitely think we should get some more preserved food before crossing over to Hokkaido," she said thoughtfully.
The hanyou scratched at one of his ears. "I've lived off the land most of my life, so it's not a huge deal for me, but don't humans need more than just meat?"
"To be healthy, yes. But I've been able to find a good amount of edible mushrooms and root vegetables, so I think I'll be fine," Kagome responded. While it would be nice to stop by at a village, even for an hour or so, she also wanted to get to Hitomiko's shrine as soon as possible.
Inuyasha grew increasingly agitated as the sun drifted lower across the sky. He fidgeted and snapped at anything Kagome said, causing a tense, uncomfortable silence to fall between them. He kept glancing at the sky and cursing softly.
"Is something wrong?" she asked tentatively, hoping that he wouldn't bite her head off again.
Inuyasha growled to himself and appeared to be debating whether or not to answer her. Finally, he turned to face her with a surly expression. "It's the new moon tonight," he said tersely.
Kagome was slightly baffled at his irritation. "And… that's a bad thing?" she asked, tentatively.
"Hell yes, it's a bad thing!" Inuyasha shouted, throwing his hands up into the air. He stomped ahead for a few moments before his shoulder sagged and he turned back. "The new moon is… it's when I…" he struggled to get the words out. "Damn it all! I turn human during the new moon, okay?"
She blinked in surprise, unsure of how to respond. Kagome didn't know much how about youkai or hanyou, aside from the legends that her grandfather enjoyed sharing, but she was skeptical about their accuracy.
"Just for the one night?" she asked to clarify. Inuyasha was always prickly about divulging personal information and Kagome was never sure when he would answer or when he would snap at her to mind her own business.
The hanyou sighed. "Yeah, just the one night, but I hate it…" he said quietly in a slightly vulnerable tone. "I feel like I can't hear or smell anything properly; like anyone could just fucking sneak up on me. I don't think that Tessaiga will work for me while I'm human either." He gripped the hilt of his sword tightly.
Kagome caught up to him and nudged his arm with her elbow. When he looked down at her, she gave him an encouraging smile. "It'll be okay," she reassured. "We can watch each other's backs tonight. And even if we do run into trouble, just look on the bright side!"
"What bright side?" Inuyasha asked resentfully.
"I won't accidentally purify you," she giggled.
The hanyou swiped playfully at her and she danced away, giggles giving way to laughter as she broke into a run. Inuyasha chased after her, cursing loudly, but Kagone knew that he wasn't even trying. She was fully aware that he could have caught her in seconds if he really wanted to. The game of chase was bittersweet for her, however. While Kagome was certainly enjoying herself, she was painfully reminded of her little brother. She could only hope that the message that she carved on the well would make it through and he wouldn't kill himself trying to wait for her.
Inuyasha immediately sobered as the sun finally began to set. Kagome was concerned about his unusual behavior, but her curiosity over what was going to happen somewhat overrode the worry.
They stumbled over a tightly clustered copse of trees that was somewhat isolated from the surrounding area. "Guess this is as good as it's going to fucking get…" Inuyasha muttered.
While Kagome set up a small campfire, Inuyasha went hunting. He returned with a pair of surprisingly fat rabbits, which he had thoughtfully already cleaned and skinned before coming back. Kagome didn't mind gutting fish, but she wasn't quite prepared to handle mammals. She'd have to get used to it sooner or later. It wasn't fair to make Inuyasha do it all the time.
The hanyou grunted, drawing Kagome's attention away from the rabbits she was settling over the fire. She watched in fascination as his triangular ears sank slowly into his head, moving down to the side, until reemerging as human-shaped ears. Starting from the crown of his head, the silvery-white hair gradually turned black. It was almost like someone had dumped a bottle of ink over his head.
Her eyes moved to his clenched fists and she saw his sharp claws shrink down into blunted human nails. His face didn't appear to have changed at all, but when he glanced up at her, she bit back a gasp. Inuyasha's brilliant golden eyes had darkened to a rich chocolate brown.
"What?" he bit out grouchily. Even his voice had changed; it was softer and smoother and the accompanying grumble was less impressive than usual.
"It's nothing," Kagome said soothingly. "I was just a little surprised at your eyes. The gold is very striking, but the color they are now is very beautiful too."
Inuyasha startled, bringing a hand up and gently touching beneath one of his dark eyes. "What… what color are they?"
"Haven't you ever seen yourself on these nights?" Kagome asked, slightly shocked that he had lived for over two hundred years without ever having seen his human face. Then she realized that he probably didn't have easy access to a mirror and may have not ever looked at his normal face either.
"No," Inuyasha said, bringing his hand down and clenching it into a white-knuckled fist. "I fucking hate being like this," he spat bitterly. "It only reminds me that I don't fit in with youkai or humans."
Kagome felt a pang of sadness as for the first time she realized the kind of discrimination that Inuyasha must constantly face. She recalled Kaede's warning that he would not likely be welcome in most human villages and she knew that he had never gotten along with his brother, but Kagome had never thought that he would have faced scorn from the youkai as well. It didn't seem right to hate someone for the choices his parents made.
After a moment of awkward silence, Kagome cleared her throat. "They're brown," she said, startling Inuyasha from his thoughts. "But I don't think I've ever seen that particular shade before," which was unusual, considering that the vast majority of the people in Japan had brown eyes. "It's like a really rich, velvety brown." She wanted to add that it reminded her of melted chocolate, but was positive he wouldn't understand.
To her surprise, sorrow crossed the hanyou's face. He softly touched the corner of one eye again. "That's the same as my mother's eyes…"
Kagome was pretty sure that she understood what was going through her friend's mind. "You know, I got my coloring from my father," she said, trying for a light tone. "Black hair is pretty common in Japan, but blue eyes are very rare; at least among humans," she added teasingly. She paused to scrutinize Inuyasha's expression and was gratified to see that he was intensely focused. "After he died, it was really hard for me to look at my own reflection," she confessed.
"Why?" Inuyasha questioned softly, looking down at his rounded fingernails.
"Well, I felt like it was just a reminder that my dad didn't survive the accident, so I hated looking at myself." Kagome twisted her fingers together in her lap and smiled ruefully. "My mom finally noticed what I was doing and told me that she was happy that I had inherited my dad's eyes." She could clearly remember that day as if it had just happened.
"Kagome-chan," Hana said softly, gently placing her fingers underneath Kagome's chin and tilting her face up. "Did you know?"
"Know what?" Kagome asked, sniffling quietly and blinking miserable tears from her eyes.
"It makes me so happy to see your pretty blue eyes," her mother smiled, wiping an errant tear from Kagome's cheek. "Every time I see you, I get to see a little piece of your father too. He's still with us, in both you and your little brother."
Hana turned her around to face the bathroom mirror that she had been avoiding. "See? There he is, right there," she said, pointing out Kagome's big blue eyes. "That color shows that he will always be with you in here," she tapped Kagome's chest over her heart. "Even if you can't always see him."
From then on, Kagome had stopped avoiding her reflection every time she passed a mirror. After that conversation, she had stared at herself for what had to have been hours and had finally begun to see herself in the same way that her mother did.
"My mom told me that my eyes were a sign that my father was always with me, both in my heart and in my memories. You may not like all of the disadvantages that come with being human, Inuyasha," Kagome said with a compassionate smile. "But every new moon, you get to see a little piece of your mom inside you."
Inuyasha was silent as he examined his hands and then brought an inky black strand of silky hair in front of his eyes. "Thanks, Kagome," he said quietly.
Kagome was sure that he would never truly feel comfortable in his human body; it seemed like too much of a liability for his lifestyle, but maybe he wouldn't hate his human appearance so much anymore.
Note (again): Sorry for another extended note, but I received a comment from a guest reviewer and wanted to address it.
To the guest reviewer lamenting Rin's presence in this story,
I am always happy to respond to any questions or concerns regarding this story, but you do need an account and be logged in for me to do so. To answer your observation briefly,
1. In canon, Rin is the reason that Sesshomaru learns compassion, love, and loyalty. She does this without any effort aside from being herself. This story is not about Sesshomaru overcoming his dislike of humans through interacting with Kagome (there are some of those out there) and therefore, Rin is necessary for his character development. If I were to eliminate Rin from the story, it would be very difficult to get where I want to go, plot-wise.
2. I like Rin, so she gets to stay :)