Chapter 11
Kagome was curled under the covers of her bedding in the corner of her shared bedroom with Inuyasha. The thought "shared bedroom" sent tingles down to her toes and she deemed herself not quite over the influence of whatever had been in the clearing.
She would have to remove all of her skin to forget the feel of Inuyasha's hands, the strength in them and the control he had over that strength as he held her passionately to him. She may have been able to deal with it if all he did was hold her but the memory of the slightly rough feel of his tongue across her abdomen was making her crazy.
He's just a male, you've dealt with men before. She thought desperately to herself. But the few times Hojou had held her and the one time he had kissed her combined didn't evoke half the response that Inuyasha could by just looking at her.
She flatly refused to take out her headphones, for fear of hunting down Inuyasha if the strange music from the forest was still ongoing. Her one rap album was on repeat, it was the least romantic music she had and it usually just brought out the angry feminist in her when they talked about pimps and hos. But this time the idea of being a certain half-demon's ho was a lot more attractive a prospect than it should have been.
A familiar presence nearing made her burrow further into her blankets. It wasn't until a hand reached under the layers of bedding to lightly touch the top of her head that she emerged, blinking in the sudden light. Inuyasha sat cross-legged in front of her, his haori draped over his knees and his hands still wet with blood.
When he didn't attack her with his lips she took out the ear buds and quickly retrieved her medical kit. "Did you find out what it was?" she asked as she gently took one of his hands and examined the scrapes on his fingers.
He shook his head wordlessly. He looked like he'd been through hell and back again, pieces of bark clung to his hair and his blood had flecked his kimono in several places. "Definitely a demon. One I didn't recognize."
Kagome anesthetized his scrapes but didn't bind them as they would heal quickly enough to make bandages unnecessary. She also carefully wiped droplets of blood off his face where he had splattered himself.
Inuyasha kept his eyes downcast. "I'm sorry Kagome."
"For what?"
"I… I almost… my control is definitely… not as good as it should be." His shoulders slumped dejectedly. "I almost… took advantage."
Despite her blush Kagome laughed. "I think that there was a bigger chance of ME taking advantage of YOU. Your self-control was admirable Inuyasha."
"But you were under the spell for longer than me! I should have reacted sooner instead of making you go through something you didn't want to."
She put a hand under his chin and brought his eyes up to meet hers. "Inuyasha. That spell was not making me do anything I didn't want to do. I don't think it would have worked if I didn't think of you… like that." There was still color in her cheeks as she said it but her voice was clear and strong in its conviction. "It was just making me do it a lot faster than I'm ready for." She dug through her backpack and pulled out a pair of black sweatpants and a white shirt that was too big for her but was too comfortable to throw away. "Here. Put these on and we'll wash the blood and dirt out of your clothes."
"You… want to be with me? Like… Like that?" He looked dumbfounded.
"You. Are. An. Idiot." She hugged him tightly. "The only thing I don't like about you Inuyasha is how little you think of me. Everything else is… well, it's what brought me back to this era."
"I don't think little of you!"
"You think I don't have the capacity to love someone like you." She smiled and lightly flicked his nose. "Bad dog."
"Stop treating me like a dog!" But the admonishment was half-hearted, he was too busy being happy to be really angry. "So… you did come back for me?"
"Nah. I just felt so bad about breaking Shippou's heart." She teased, then her expression grew serious. "We do need to be careful though, there's a pretty dangerous demon out there."
"And it's targeting us." Inuyasha said, clicking two pieces of the puzzle into place. "Because I saw Kikyou on the mountain and I wasn't affected the way I was with you. I could control myself." He frowned. "Spells and stuff like that really aren't my strength, we should talk to Miroku about this."
Kagome tried to stifle a giggle. "Oh this is going to be a fun conversation."
"So." Miroku leaned back, a serious and thoughtful expression on his face. "You think someone cast an enchantment of lust on the two of you."
Inuyasha nodded seriously. "It was like my body had a mind of its own, I had no control at all."
"And you as well Kagome?"
She nodded in acquiescence. "Definitely uncontrollable."
Miroku sighed heavily. "I think I know what's going on."
Kagome rolled her eyes but Inuyasha stared at him with rapt attention.
"I'm not surprised at you Inuyasha, but Kagome, your parents really should have explained all this to you."
"Miroku…" Kagome started exasperatedly.
"No, it's ok, this is all perfectly natural. Often when one is in a state of denial as long as you two have been your bodies can take over. I myself have had to use all of my self-control on many an occasion."
"So we're not the first people for this to happen to?" Inuyasha asked seriously.
"My friend, these kinds of animalistic urges have been plaguing those with a moral code since before there were morals or codes. Since the beginning of time."
"Oh jeez." Kagome covered her face with her hands.
"So we're dealing with a really old demon."
"Why I myself have been overcome with lust more times than I can-… what? What demon?" Miroku broke off mid-reflection to look at Inuyasha confusedly, then understanding dawned on him and he nodded. "Some may call it a demon, others call it just the base wickedness inside us all. You are lucky my friend that you have found a woman with a drive to match your own."
"I think it grew stronger as time passed because I was gradually affected but Kagome was overcome all at once and so she had a stronger reaction." Inuyasha explained.
"Well we've always known you were a passionate girl Kagome. You are indeed a very lucky man my friend."
"Lucky? I wouldn't say lucky, we barely escaped with our clothes on!" Inuyasha protested and Kagome groaned.
"Resistance is futile Inuyasha, it always wins in the end." Miroku nodded sagely.
"Miroku! For Buddha's sake! We were caught in a spell by a demon, it played some kind of music that influenced us and Inuyasha tracked its scent into the woods!" Kagome burst out, unable to take it any longer. "While I am attracted to Inuyasha, this was different! It was like when Tsubaki cursed me."
The monk was silent for a moment. "A demon casting lust spells so strong no one can resist their pull? Where can I get one of those?" The last was murmured to himself but both Inuyasha and Kagome caught it.
"No Miroku, that's bad. This would have been rape." Kagome took Inuyasha's clenched hand in her own. "It wouldn't have been your fault Inuyasha, I already told you; you showed amazing restraint. It would have been rape to both of us because someone else was forcing us to act."
"I'll look into it." Miroku promised. "I just don't understand because it doesn't make sense. Why would someone want you two to become sexually involved? What benefit could it possibly have to a third party?"
A humanoid female demon walked down a badly lit tunnel and into a dank room filled with iron cages. Two of the cages had occupants, one of whom was a human boy, dirty and frightened. The other, unlike the first, was a female child so white and skinny it was clear they had been in captivity for a length of time.
"You were right." The demon commented in a silky tone, gently spinning the cage with the pale child in it. "They are strong, strong enough to resist my spell."
The child nodded mutely.
"The strongest power to come into the world will be born of the union of a half-demon and a priestess." The demon recited liltingly. "You're sure this is the baby of the one called Inuyasha and the priestess Kagome?"
The child nodded mutely again.
"I will try harder then. It is essential that they conceive for my plans to be realized. I MUST consume the child. I MUST have that power." The raw desire for power was evident in her every syllable. "If they resisted my enchantment then I must grow stronger so they cannot overcome me. I need better food." This last was directed at the healthy albeit frightened child. "Still. I will make do with human children for now."
She reached slender hands with fingers that were just long enough to be inhuman through the bars of the still cage. The fingers grew longer until they looked like huge pale spiders and she pierced the flesh over the boy's heart and the base of his skull.
As quickly as his eyes had widened in fear, they dulled and took on the flat vacant expression of the recently dead. The other child looked away, knowing what would happen next; once the life and soul had been drained the demon would throw the empty shell to her "pet."
The squeak of the cages hinges and the sickening dull thump followed by wet cracking sounds confirmed what the girl had already seen so many times before.
"Keep watching their future little witch, I want to know in what order to kill them."
"Yes Aruji." Came the barely audible response.
As the light receded with the demon's departure, silent tears cleared the dirt away from a white face as the girl began to cry.
"Bull shit!" Inuyasha said with vehemence.
"Read 'em and weep buster!" Kagome flipped over her last three cards. "Three jacks!" She pushed the towering stack of cards towards him. "Take 'em!"
He growled as he picked up the cards a few at a time "Hey! You lied about the eights!... AND the fives!"
"Well you didn't call BS on those didja?" Kagome stuck her tongue out at him. "I win."
Sango put down her cards with a sigh. "Again."
"It's not my fault you guys are such terrible liars! And Inuyasha, you look ridiculous."
The half-demon touched the bandanna he'd tied over his head. "It aint my fault that you cheat!"
"I do not cheat. It's not MY fault that your ears give you away every time."
"You should have stopped looking!"
"You should learn how to lie better!"
"No wonder the lust spell didn't work, the twins are more mature than you two." Sango grinned, having been filled in about everything by Miroku.
"Not funny." Kagome growled, gathering the cards into a pile again.
"You know Inuyasha. I think this is the first time I've seen you in different clothes." Sango commented, ignoring Kagome. "It's actually very flattering."
"It's too tight." He complained, pulling at the sleeves of the shirt grumpily. "The pants are ok."
It was true, the shirt that was so loose on Kagome fit Inuyasha like a second skin, and the pants that she had to roll up at the bottom fit him perfectly. She was immensely grateful that she had kept them when her mother gave them to her after one of her shopping trips.
"Come here." Kagome said, putting away her cards with an exasperated smile. "If you did any worse of a job brushing out your hair there'd be a whole tree in it."
He glared at her but dutifully turned his back so she could reach his hair.
Miroku snorted from where he was poring over a scroll. "She just wants an excuse to look at your butt."
Inuyasha's back was to her so he missed Kagome's blush as she mouthed "I'm going to kill you!" at Miroku with exaggerated stabbing motions. As he was still reading the scroll, he didn't notice.
Kagome took advantage of the monk's preoccupation and glanced down at Inuyasha's backside. His hair covered most of it but when he had first emerged dressed in the clothes she gave him she had actually walked into a doorframe from being so preoccupied with the way the pants clung to his butt and thighs. Lifting a four hundred pound sword like the Tetsusaiga did have its advantages.
"Hah!" Kagome jerked her gaze up guiltily to meet Miroku's accusing stare. "I TOLD you."
She glared at him, willing him into silence with her eyes. Unfortunately for her, Miroku had been quelling under Sango's glare for seven years and Kagome's just didn't measure up.
"Like what you see Kagome?" He teased.
Kagome curled her hand and beckoned to Miroku. "I've got a whole bunch of sacred energy just begging to be used here, why don't you come a little closer?"
"Thanks but I'm working hard on a cure for a lust spell, see, traditionally the best cure would be to just go with it but since the two people in question are stubborn beyond all reason…"
"Don't push me monk, I will purify your ass."
"I don't think that's the part of his anatomy that needs to be purified Kagome." Inuyasha put in. "I think there's three inches of him that could use a thorough cleansing though."
"THREE INCHES?" Miroku yelled furiously. "There are a great many women in Japan who would beg to differ sir!"
"And just HOW many women would that be?" An all-too familiar battle aura enveloped Miroku from behind as Sango glared down at him.
"… One." He replied meekly.
"You bet your sutra it's just one. And she's not defending your honor." Sango turned on her heel and left the room.
Miroku sighed heavily. "I guess I'm sleeping in the twin's room tonight."
Kagome giggled and took the bandanna off Inuyasha's head. Armed with a large-toothed comb and a hairbrush she set to work cleaning the woodchips out of his hair, humming to herself as she worked. When she finished with the comb and put it down Inuyasha whimpered. She smiled to herself as she started working with the brush and he stopped whining. When she was sure Miroku wasn't looking she reached up and rubbed Inuyasha's ears.
He slumped back, whole body as limp and relaxed as a sleeping puppy, with his head in her lap. His newly brushed shining hair spilled over on to the floor surrounding them. So much of their time was in battle that she savored quiet moments more than any other. The few times they had relaxed before Naraku had still been out there. She had never seen him as completely at ease as he was now, secure in the knowledge that he had a family and was loved.
She was so lost in contemplation, massaging Inuyasha's temples and ears, that she didn't notice Sango return to the room. The complete silence finally got her attention and she looked up to see both Sango and Miroku looking at the two of them with gentle smiles on their faces.
"I… uh… missed a spot!" She pushed Inuyasha back up into a sitting position and started brushing his hair again. He made little happy dog noises as she scratched his scalp with the brush bristles. "Okay I'm almost done." On her last stroke of the brush the hair she had been working the hair turned darker. "Huh?"
She pulled the brush through again and the hair turned even darker. She looked bemusedly at the brush, then back at his hair and stroked again, the hair faded to black. "Oh! New moon."
Inuyasha turned around, normal human ears in place and he met her dark eyes with his own.
"We should go Miroku." Sango whispered, pulling the monk to his feet. "Inuyasha is much more open about his feelings when he's a human. We should let them have tonight."
They crept away quietly, leaving the two humans gazing into each other's eyes.
