Inuyasha spent another couple of days training with Tessaiga, learning how to move with a huge sword, and how to readily have his sword transform at will. His training sessions were off and on, as his father had to disappear now and then for undisclosed reasons.
Eventually though, they did have to part ways at last, which was harder for Inuyasha than he had originally expected. Although he had memories of his father from when he was young, it had been such a long time ago. He wasn't exactly like the man he remembered, but then again he was now getting to know him at a different point in his life, under different circumstances. Even if he never got to see him again, at least he had these new memories. They would be cherished, even if most of them involved him getting his ass kicked.
Sensing Inuyasha's now dismal mood, Kagome hugged him from behind, before she positioned herself on his back. He had held her forearm and squeezed it gently, although he didn't say anything. They both remained quiet for the rest of the day, except for brief chatter when necessary. They were back on Honshu already, for their faithful dinosaur bird had showed up shortly after they left The Great Fang's skeleton.
Inu no Taisho had made the suggestion that they seek out a small village called Iwaki, located on the East coast, where the Demon Slayers originated. Perhaps they could convince one of them to join their cause, if they were lucky. So currently, that was where they were heading.
Having gone for nearly a week without a decent bath, they stopped at a large spring, which had a scenic waterfall. It was a short enough hike from the road, and they had found it, thanks to Inuyasha's ears, as it was completely out of sight otherwise. It wasn't the tallest waterfall they had seen, but it was rather wide, and a large volume of water flowed freely. What was unique about this one was that there were also hot springs in several natural pools along the length of the stream as it flowed away from the waterfall.
Inuyasha bathed first this time, and found it impossible to resist ducking under the waterfall, which was freezing cold. To his surprise there was a bit of an alcove behind it. No demons lurked in the shadows at least, so he bathed quickly and exited to dress, before trading places with Kagome.
To give her privacy, he went a short distance away, but far enough to where she would feel comfortable, and promptly leapt up into the tree branches, so that he could have a better vantage point. They had passed a few badger demons a while back, and while it wasn't likely they would come bother them all the way out here, one could never be too sure.
Since the girl was known to take her time bathing, he found a wide branch and perched with his back against the trunk, as he balanced himself with his legs out in front of him. The spring and waterfall were right next to a sheer cliff face, so if anything was to come their way, it would be from this general direction most likely. Nothing but birds flew around, chirping their little beaks off.
Using his ears and nose to detect any signs of danger, Inuyasha closed his eyes as he rested on the branch to drip dry. They had taken the opportunity to wash their clothes as well, which were now laying on some flat boulders to dry in the sun. Currently he was wearing just his hakama, and the breeze filtering through the leafy branches felt amazing on the bare skin of his upper body.
After a while he heard voices,, so he opened his eyes to try and see where they were coming from. They were faint, so still a little ways away. He listened in on them as he sat on the branch, eyes drifting back shut. A male voice was busy talking about saving and healing a bunch of villagers that had been attacked in the war. Another male voice chimed in with a laugh, talking about attacking villagers as part of this war.
That made Inuyasha quickly shift so he was in a better position to leap away and get back to Kagome if need be. He could not see the men who were talking, and realized they also had a woman with them. She was dressed in a lilac kimono and had heavy armor, which was a strange combination to him. There were only the three of them, and they were walking on the road.
Just when he thought they were going to keep wandering right past them, down the long road, the woman suddenly stopped and grabbed the arm of one of the men, the one with the long black braid. "Oh, Bankotsu, this is where that waterfall with all the hot springs is at, isn't it! Quarter a day's walk past the fork in the road, near the Peaks of Nara. We must stop so I can soak for a bit. The minerals here do wonders for the mind and body."
The woman was not a woman, Inuyasha realized, from the sound of his voice. And Bankotsu…that sounded familiar. Bankotsu. 'Oh, fuck!' Inuyasha cursed silently, his eyes round as saucers when he recalled what his father had said. Before they parted, Inu no Taisho had warned them to keep an eye out for a band of criminals known as the Band of Seven and to avoid them at all costs. Rumor had it that they were in league with Naraku, although their purpose was not yet known.
Inuyasha was about to panic as the feminine one hiked up his kimono up to reveal a muscular thigh and started to enter the forest, heading straight for the area the waterfall was in. Where Kagome was currently bathing. A whole stream of curses quietly slipped out of Inuyasha's mouth as he leapt to another tree, before making his way to the ground with a soft thump. "You hear that?" he heard a distant voice ask.
"Meh. Probably just a deer or a boar. Land's full of them," was the response.
As silently as possible, Inuyasha raced back to the hot springs, where he had left Kagome. Most likely she would be in one of them, since she had more of a tolerance for hot water than he did. Just as he expected, she was in the larger pool, submerged up to her shoulders, facing away from him. Since the feminine man was rather quick on his feet, for apparently these hot springs were really calling to him, Inuyasha leaped straight into the hot springs behind her and clamped a hand to her mouth firmly.
Immediately she started to flail and attempt to fight him off, but Inuyasha held her firm. "Shh! Danger!" he whispered into her ear urgently, and thankfully she stopped thrashing the water about and making noise. They had to get out of there, and fast, for Inuyasha could hear the man running through the brush, sticks cracking under his shoes. He was in a cheerful mood apparently, because he had started singing loudly and badly. Most likely he hadn't heard all the splashing that happened a moment ago, but one could never know.
They needed to go somewhere safe and hidden, and fast. Inuyasha's eyes darted around, for they were kind of trapped between the sheer cliffs on one side, and three very dangerous men approaching from various points on the accessible side. However there was one place to go, and with Kagome held tightly in his grasp, he rushed across the large deep pool between the hot springs and the waterfall.
Kagome's face was flaming red as she found herself dragged around like a toy doll by Inuyasha, while she was fully naked. She had barely recovered from the damn near heart attack he had given her when she found herself with a hand over her mouth out of nowhere, only to end up like this, moments later. If not for him stating they were in some kind of danger, she would have killed him right then and there for jumping on her like that.
Inuyasha waded and paddled through the deep, ice cold water, ducking them behind the waterfall as fast as he could. The current was strong here, but not enough to pull them under. In the alcove behind the falls, the rock sloped backwards, kind of like a small cave. Mossy boulders were everywhere, and it would probably be best if they got out of the water, for even he was freezing cold.
Only after Inuyasha scrambled onto the flattest, least jagged boulder he could find, did he become acutely aware how he was holding his fully naked female friend flush against his own body. It was a bit difficult to stand on the rough rock, even for him, so he had one arm around her waist in a tight grip. Fortunately she was quiet, except for her shaky breathing.
"Inuyasha," Kagome gasped, her head still reeling a bit as she tried to calm down. "What the fuck was that all about? I'm completely naked! Are you crazy? Have you lost your damn mind?!"
"Crazy, maybe," Inuyasha chuckled in her ear. He figured they could talk quietly, for the roar of the waterfall would mask their voices quite well, as the three men were all fully human. "You were about to get a few surprise visitors from the Band of Seven." Immediately he felt her tense up in his arms. "The feminine one wanted to come soak in the hot springs. So I had to race back and get here first to grab you and get you to safety."
"How many of them were there?" Kagome whispered. She remembered everything Inu no Taisho had said about them. They were a ragtag bunch of burglers, kidnappers, murderers, rapists, and thieves. They terrified her.
"Three. Unless there were some others trailing way far behind," Inuyasha spoke in her ear directly. It tickled and made her shiver even though she was already shivering from the cold dunk in the waterfall.
"And this was the only course you could take to rescue me?" Kagome asked wryly. She was still blushing like mad and thanked the gods that they were positioned to where he couldn't get a good look at her. Her bare chest was heaving as she tried to regain composure, which was proving somewhat difficult. With all of the chilly, misty air clinging to her skin, it was quite clear how cold she felt. In an attempt to cover herself a bit, she reached up to pull her wet hair forward, letting it drape down to cover both of her breasts.
Inuyasha laughed quietly, his breath hitting her neck, which made goosebumps rise up all over her entire body. She closed her eyes and groaned, for he had no idea what he was doing to her right now. The mortification of the whole scenario was enough of a mood killer for her to not feel entirely aroused over their current position. With her hair now pulled forward, her naked back was flush against his bare chest. She tried not to think about it too much."Yeah, pretty much. There was literally no time to wait on you to get dressed, and I didn't think you would want to be naked and out there with them," he told her.
"Not especially," Kagome grimaced. She was having a hard time standing on the rock, for although it had a lot of moss, she could still feel the jagged bits and edges. The moss just made it slippery, and she felt like she was sliding through his slightly loosened grip. Her feet were starting to ache, and she decided to reposition herself, only to immediately slip.
Inuyasha felt her slide but his reflexes were extremely fast, so he tightened his arm around her midsection before she could actually fall. "Careful before you end up getting hurt." Once she was on her feet, he adjusted his grip to lower around her waist, since he was a bit paranoid as he had come close to accidentally groping her when she slipped just now.
"I'm trying," Kagome whispered. Her feet were probably going to be bleeding by the time they got out of here, but at least she could use her healing powers on them later if need be.
There was just enough of a gap between the rocks and the water flowing down, for Inuyasha to lean over and peek out and see some of the hot springs. Unfortunately, he could still see the feminine man lounging in one of the pools. Behind him, there was another man, and he could tell they were chatting with each other. "I see two of them, and they're sitting there talking," he updated her.
"About what? Can you hear anything with those super doggie ears?" Kagome asked, glancing up over her shoulder at him
Inuyasha just shook his head. "Nope. Not with this waterfall crashing down right in front of me. Way overpowers the sound of anything going on out there past it."
"Oh. Makes sense," she frowned.
"Doubt they noticed anything though, just going by their body language. They looked way too relaxed to be on guard or looking out for anybody," he muttered to her. While that was a good thing, he also wished they would just get to bathing and be on their way. He knew that standing here like this was extremely uncomfortable for Kagome, in more ways than one.
"I'm so cold," Kagome whined after quite some time had passed. She still had a ton of goosebumps, as the mist from the waterfall kept her front chilly and damp. Although she could feel the heat radiating from his body from behind, it just wasn't enough to warm her up.
Inuyasha groaned as he shifted in place. The rough boulder was hurting his feet as well, and his back was aching a bit from being bent over as he leaned back against the rough rock. He had just checked to see if the damn bandits were still there a few minutes ago, and immediately regretted it. Very unfortunately, he had a clear view of the crossdressing bandit lounging, now positioned up higher on the rock, with legs spread wide as he sat there pleasuring himself.
It was extremely cramped standing there behind the waterfall, and he didn't want to bump Kagome off of the boulder, but he had to readjust. So he put both hands on her waist to prevent her from falling, while he very carefully adjusted his stance. The rocks were so rough and he had already drawn his own blood on them.
"I would really love to be able to put some damn clothes on," Kagome grumbled. She crossed her arms over her chest in an attempt to try and shield herself a bit from the mist. "I might have to jump in the hot springs again to thaw out. After they leave, obviously."
"I wish they would just go already," Inuyasha sighed. He was getting anxious having to hide behind the waterfall, and he knew that Kagome was getting very frustrated with everything herself. Surely they would move on soon, right? He waited another several long minutes before leaning to peer out again. This time, he didn't see anybody, but that didn't mean they had left just yet.
"So. Looks like the pool is empty now, the one they were soaking in. I don't think they had any idea that we were here, but you never know. Hopefully they didn't find out clothes and belongings. I'm going to go sneak out of here and check out the area first to make sure that they definitely did leave and that it's not just a trap. You stay right here. Whatever happens, you stay hidden behind this waterfall until I come back to get you and bring you out. Don't even try to peek, or come out after me, no matter what," Inuyasha said firmly. "Promise?"
Kagome found herself suddenly staring into two burning golden eyes, mere inches from her face, when Inuyasha put a finger under her chin and turned her to face him. His gaze was quite intent and made her feel flustered. "Kagome. Do you promise?" he repeated again, making her feel a bit weak, for they were so close she could feel his breath on her face.
"Yes, I promise," Kagome replied quietly. In return she got a small fleeting smile, before Inuyasha slipped out from between the rock wall and her, helping her lean back against it, before he dove into the deep pool. She watched as he swam to the entrance of the alcove, cautiously peeking out and studying the surroundings before disappearing from her sight.
Inuyasha swam slowly, ears perked as he honed in on every sound the forest was making. There were no human voices, but if it was a trap, they would be silent on purpose. Sticking close to the side with the sheer edge, he scanned the other side that was more open, looking for any sign of human life. There wasn't any, thankfully. Although scent didn't last in water, he could pick up the traces of where they had walked along the rocks and the bank on the other side of the stream. They had entered from various points, a little farther south, but then they departed on two main trails.
Fortunately, the three members of the Band of Seven hadn't noticed their clothes, not even the bright red fire rat top, which had been draped out wide across a large flat boulder. Due to the path they had walked in on, and from the pools they had chosen to soak in, the red robe had just barely been out of sight. Kagome's clothes and knapsack were still where she left them, along with her bow and arrows. Satisfied that nothing was missing, he silently crept out to follow the trails of the bandits that led away from the hot springs area.
Inuyasha followed their scents, which headed directly back towards the road, where the three of them seemed to have continued on their merry way. He stayed off to the side, hidden amongst the bushes and trees, racing silently to catch up. Since they had just recently left, within moments he spotted the three figures walking down the road in the distance, seemingly unaware of his presence. Satisfied that they had never noticed or suspected they weren't the only ones at the hot springs, he quickly doubled back to return to Kagome.
Meanwhile, Kagome was having a bit of a miserable time remaining perched on the rock behind the waterfall. The sharp surface of the boulder was digging into her feet, as the moss growing on it simply wasn't enough of a cushion. Her entire body was tense, as she dug her feet into the boulder, while one hand hung on to a protruding rock, as she didn't trust herself not to outright slip from trying to stand normal. Unfortunately, it was taking him quite some time, with whatever he was doing out there, and she didn't know how much longer she could hold on.
At long last, Inuyasha ducked back through the waterfall, wading slowly through the water that was up to his shoulders. The sight of a very naked Kagome standing there made him freeze in place, momentarily forgetting how to breathe, for she looked like some sort of goddess. She still had her hair covering most of her breasts, although he could see the outline and underside of them. She was still hanging on to the rock wall for support with one hand, as her spare hand was down at the junction of her thighs to keep herself covered.
His eyes couldn't help but roam down her body, as she surprisingly didn't seem to freaked out at his presence. All of his hunting and providing had done her well, for she had gone from being sickly thin just a few short weeks ago, to a much more healthy figure now. Her narrow waist flared into perfectly curved hips, drawing his eyes down to roam over the stretch of skin above her hand. Yeah, he was totally drooling right about now. It was very fortunate that he was currently standing in waist deep, ice cold water right now.
In truth, Kagome had been feeling rather shy and vulnerable when he first appeared back, but as she watched him freeze and gaze at her, she found herself stunned by the look on his face. The expression he was giving her was one of lust and longing, clear as day. It made her feel powerful and wanted, and she decided to do nothing but stand there as confidently as she could, while waiting for him to come help her down. So she simply gazed back at him, watching the way he looked at her for several long moments, before wordlessly making his way over to where she was standing.
With some difficulty, due to the very limited space there was to stand on, Inuyasha managed to get himself out of the water and stood next to Kagome. He had narrowly missed crashing into her and knocking her over. "Are they gone?" she asked him. Lifting her head, she met his gaze and held it.
Inuyasha nodded at her. "Yeah. They're far down the road now. I made sure to follow them so I could see them and be absolutely certain. I didn't see anybody coming from the other way either," he told her.
"Good. I can't take it in here any longer," she told him, teeth chattering. She was so tired of standing on the rock against the wall, and her entire body was aching from bracing herself there for such a length amount of time. Her foot slipped, making her wince and yelp in pain.
"I know. Sorry it took so long," he told her. Unsure of the best way to hold her to get her out, as he wasn't simply reacting out of panic, he paused before stooping slightly to wrap an arm around her waist and pull her close. "Um, just hang on to me, ok? I know you're freezing, and this is kind of awkward, but we're going to have to take one more dunk in the ice water in order to get out of here."
"Alright," Kagome groaned painfully. She turned to him and wrapped her arms around his waist, while he held her tightly with one arm, keeping her secure as he leapt down into the icy pool. By the time they emerged into the warmer, more shallow water, she was about to cry from the agony of freezing for so long.
"Well, that whole thing was awkward, wasn't it?" Inuyasha grinned at her. He had retrieved their clothing and brought them closer to the water's edge, so they could finish getting dressed now that they were out in the open.
Kagome flushed prettily and whirled away from him, as she hurriedly pulled the kimono on. At least it was midday, and the sun was high and hot as it shone down on them. "You have no idea! You weren't the one standing around naked! In freezing water at that! I'll be lucky if I don't get sick after all of this!"
"I know, but it couldn't be helped," Inuyasha told her. He glanced at the sky, noting the position of the sun in the sky, to gauge the approximate time. Most likely it was between two and four right about now. "Although, makes me wonder what sort of naked trouble we'll get into the next time we stop and bathe." He laughed and ducked as a stick narrowly missed his head.
Hopefully everybody's enjoying it so far. Feel free to review or let me know your thoughts.