A/NL Wow, it was a while. alive?
Beta; Cstorm86
The Miko Gets Protective
Kagome was sweating like crazy in her miko attire, despite the fact that the cloth was really thin and allowed air to get to her skin pretty easily. Sango, walking beside her and dressed in a shirt and shorts, had sweat on her forehead, but seemed less bothered than herself. And Inuyasha, who was leading them deeper into the forest and away from the shrine, he seemed to be peachy in the hot, stiff air that hung in between the trees, that shielded them from the worst of the heat provided by the sun.
A part of Kagome just wanted for the clouds hanging near the horizon to come and let down some rain, so it'd get a bit cooler.
And her two stubborn friends wanted her to train in this condition. To be honest, Kagome understood their reasoning - she had to learn to at least be able to duck and evade attacks from youkai in any situation, but she hoped that she wouldn't melt before they were done today.
They reached a meadow, a sizable flat space where they could train without worrying about being found out. Inuyasha looked around it and then turned to Kagome and Sango. He looked as fresh as a spring breeze while wearing his usual thick kimono and having his hair flowing down his back - the mere sight made Kagome want to remove some of her clothing to cool down.
And then, Kagome's traitorous mind supplied her with a memory of him sans some of his layers, from their meeting in the bathroom - and Kagome felt her cheeks heat up with a blush.
'Oi, are you okay?'
Kagome gasped when she noticed that Inuyasha was looking at her with a frown of concern on his face. Sango turned to look at her too and the miko shook her head, lifting her hands in front of her.
"I'm fine, really!" she assured hurriedly. "Just... it's a bit hot..."
"Duh," Inuyasha crossed his arms over his chest.
"You spaced out for a moment there?" Sango said. "We were discussing rules."
"Oh, sorry," Kagome ducked her head. "Rules?"
"Yeah," Inuyasha gestured with his ear towards Sango. "She's your partner. You two attack me. Whoever wins gets the sacred artifact."
"What sacred artifact?" Kagome blinked at him, confused.
"A box of ice cream in your fridge." Inuyasha said with a grin "The one you tried to hide behind the milk bottles."
"What? How do you know? And it's mine, you can't take it to be thr prize!" Kagome objected.
"Now, this is sufficient to keep you fighting," Inuyasha's smirk grew wicked and Kagome glared at him. Sango chuckled.
"I see you're fired up now, Kagome. Shall we rescue our ice cream?" she asked, shifting her grip on the Hiraikotsu she'd brought from the house.
Kagome lifted her hands, her eyes never leaving Inuyasha's face. "You won't get away with threatening Vanilla and Peach With Chocolate Chips, you bad youkai, you! Come, Sango, let's bring him down!"
The slayer grinned in response, and Kagome ran after Inuyasha into the sunlight. The hanyou did a few backflips as he leaped away from the approaching miko, but as soon as he reached the middle of the meadow, he shifted his shape to the big as a bus dog.
After ten steps, Kagome realized that maybe charging a giant canine wasn't a good idea. She had to find a way to bring him down without hurting him. She hesitated for a moment, realizing that maybe discussing a battle plan with Sango could be a good idea.
She almost didn't notice the long, fluffy tail of the dog coming to knock her off of her feet. She heard Inuyasha's mental snicker when she fell to the ground, but it was short-lived, because she grabbed onto his fur and pinned the end of his tail down with her body. She had no weapon, and she didn't want to use her reiki to fight him - actually; she wasn't even sure her reiki could harm him, He was mostly immune to holy energy thanks to the prayer beads around his neck, anyway.
'What are you doing, wench?' the dog lowered his head to look at Kagome, who was clinging to the end portion of his tail, being dragged across the grass as he pulled at it to get it free.
'Restraining you!' she grumbled, yanking at one fistful of thick fur.
'Ow! You can't restrain a youkai like this!' he barked, Kagome yanked at his fur again. 'Stop that!'
"Hiraikotsu!"
Kagome gasped, when she heard Sango call out her weapon's name. It seemed she decided to use Inuyasha's distraction against him. The giant dog barely dodged and growled at Kagome, his nose nudging her.
'Get off! I can't fight with you dangling from my tail!'
'I'm pinning you down! My ice cream!' she cried back at him and shifted so she could wrap her legs around his tail as well.
'Damn!' the shrine guarfian jumped to the side, his tail stiff under Kagome and she realized that she was really doing a good job at keeping him pinned - he couldn't flail his tail freely to keep his balance, it looked like he didn't even want to drag her across the ground as he moved, dodging Sango repeatedly throwing her boomerang at him.
It was sweet of him. But being sweet wasn't the way to get the sacred artifact. Oh no, it was hers and she wasn't planning on giving it away.
"Good job, Kagome, keep it up!" Sango called as she ran around the meadow to where her boomerang, knocked away by Inuyasha, landed.
'Damnit!' the dog nudged Kagome's side insistently. 'Let go!'
Kagome lifted her face from where it had been pressed into his fur (smelling suspiciously of her shampoo) and grinned at him. 'Nope.'
'Kagome!' he whined. 'It's supposed to be a fight, not a...'
'I am fighting! What else am I supposed to do?' she glared at the head trying to nudge her off of his tail. Behind him, she saw Sango readying herself for another attack. 'Watch out!'
As Sango threw her weapon at Inuyasha's side, the dog had no other choice but to leap away to avoid being hit. Kagome shrieked when suddenly the tail she was holding moved sharply up and over Inuyasha's back. She hung from his side, dangling from the last part of the tail that wasn't only a tuft of fur.
"I'll put you down,' she heard Inuyasha in her mind and nodded. She felt his jaws gently close around her, so she released her death grip on his tail. She dared to open her eyes only when the canine deposited her on a bush, her heart pounding in her chest from the brief spinning of the world and hanging from a youkai dog.
"Are you alright, Kagome?" Sango called out from the other side of the dog. Kagome looked at Inuyasha, who was stalking towards where Sango was, his tail curled over his back like an akita dog's.
"I'm fine!" she panted out. "I need to... a minute.."
That was when she realized that she was no longer pinning Inuyasha down. Now he had his mobility returned to him. Cursing inwardly, she turned her head towards the sounds of battle and saw Inuyasha putting his paw over Sango's prone body. He lowered his head to her face, just to be pinched on the nose.
'Fuck!' the shrine guardian growled and then opened his mouth above Sango, letting his tongue hang out. Kagome blinked at that sight, but it didn't take her long to realize what he was planning.
A bead of saliva was about to be Sango's punishment for hitting him on the nose.
'No! Inuyasha, please, don't do that!' Kagome begged, struggling to get up. Sango struggled to free herself, obviously not fancying the prospect of doggie drool shower.
'Vengeance! Almost as sweet as my ice cream!' he chuckled.
Kagome got to her feet and ran forward, outstretching her hands. She didn't think about the ice cream right now. She was too focused on Sango, who was still fighting to get free and away from her wet demise.
"No, Sango!" Kagome cried out and threw herself over her friend, knowing - hoping - that Inuyasha wouldn't want her to get caught in the 'crossfire.'
From the sharp move of his head, she guessed he didn't want that. But, sadly, it was too late. The drop fell.
Oh, kami, it fell...
As if being sweaty wasn't enough...
"Eww, gross!" Kagome and Sango screamed at the same time. Inuyasha's paw was removed, so they could sit up and try to clean the wetness off. Kagome grabbed a handful of grass, praying that inu youkai drool wouldn't stain her miko attire and that she wouldn't stink like a chewtoy later.
When she cleaned her face a bit, Kagome looked up, looking after Sango, who went to get her weapon. Her shirt and shorts stuck to her and Kagome winced, as with every move she could feel the water - or rather drool - logged robe on her back move against her motions.
"You shouldn't have done that, Kagome," the slayer said and picked up Hiraikotsu "You have to attack. Like this!"
She threw the boomerang at Inuyasha, who had been crouching pretty submissively a short distance away. The shrine guardian shifted his forms, easily avoiding being hit on the head.
"That was all you could do?" he barked at Sango, his subdued behavior dropped. "You ain't getting any wins in this way! I'm taking the sacred object and you both..."
"Shut up!" Kagome found new energy at the thought of Inuyasha stealing her ice cream. "It's mine to keep!"
"Keh! Will you throw yourself at my feet again? Good defense plan, wench!"
Kagome was about to shout back at him, but before she could say anything and before Sango could come up with a plan to attack and defeat Inuyasha, a new player joined the battlefield.
A strange man in black in purple clothes, with a shakujo staff in both hands, ran out of the forest, charging the surprised shrine guardian.
"Stay your hand, youkai, and prepare to repent for your wrongdoings towards the fair maiden folk!" the man yelled as he approached Inuyasha, his staff raised to hit him.
