Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters from the Inuyasha universe, but I sure do love playing with them. The rest is mine.
Chapter 14
Kagome waited until Inuyasha was in the shower before sneaking to the sozo box and requesting a uniform identical to the one Haruto wore.
She was sure it had a more technical name, but she just described the brown color and look and was pleasantly surprised when it worked. She also requested some colorful face paint to draw pointed stripes on her cheeks. When she was finished and had pulled her hair down to hide the shape of her ears, she slunk out of Inuyasha's room again.
She didn't bother with a key this time. What was the point? It didn't work last time, and she didn't know where Inuyasha kept his.
Besides.
She didn't plan on coming back.
Kagome quickly made her way to the "elevator" and pressed a different button, going all the way to (what she assumed to be) was the bottom level.
The doors opened and she kept her head down, trying to fade into the background and not be noticed as Inu Youkai bustled about her. She meandered through the halls, attempting to walk with a sense of purpose and seem like she knew what she was doing...even though that that couldn't have been farther from the truth.
Finally, she found a large open room. It looked like a docking area or cargo bay of sorts, and she felt her heart leap into her throat.
Had she really found it?
She wasn't going to let herself get her hopes up.
She was still far from home free.
But...this looked like the place they would keep the pods! There was a wall that was completely missing from one side of the ship, exposing it to space. It was a bit of a mystery as to why everything hadn't been sucked out - could there be a force field of sorts? There was still so much she didn't understand...about so much.
A loud mechanical whirring sound came from the large opening, and she watched as a silvery speck in the distance rapidly became larger and larger until she could identify it as what could only be described as a ship. A smaller one...but a ship, nonetheless!
She had found it!
She internally allowed herself a moment of joy as she casually walked over to a tall stack of large crates, pretending to examine them. She made sure to position herself in just the right way so that she could keep an eye on the ship as it docked. She watched as the engine was turned off and a man opened the door on the side, hopping out as a small group of men joined him.
"Well? How did it go?" one of the men asked.
"I don't know what the hell he was complaining about," the pilot replied. "She handled just fine for me out there. I think we should just lube up her gears and tell him the problem has been fixed."
"Ha...lube up her gears. Your mate must know all about needing that, eh?" a third man interjected, and the pilot just scoffed.
"You're just jealous because you've never been bound to a mate."
"You don't know that!"
"Yeah? Well...if you were and you split ways, that's even more pathetic!" the man shot back before a fourth stepped in and told the men to break it up and move along.
Mate...why did that term feel so...familiar? It was like she had heard it before...what did it even mean?
She shook her head and decided it wasn't important. She needed to focus on other things. More important things - like getting the hell out of here.
She slipped away to examine another stack of crates a bit closer to the recently docked ship, and she attempted to look inside. She was still rather far away...but this was as close as she could get, and maybe she could still learn something useful.
She could just barely see the control panel inside. It looked...complex, to say the least. There were so many buttons and levers that she was absently reminded of the control panel in that Pixar movie about the emotions. What was it called again? Inside Out? Yeah. That felt right. It looked like the puberty board in Inside Out.
Crap.
How was she ever going to figure out how to use that?
She took a calming breath and watched as the small group of men dispersed - probably to get oil or something to "lube up her gears" - and she nervously slunk out from behind the crates and toward the ship.
It looked sleek. Futuristic. Beautiful.
Like if Tesla made spaceships.
She was sure Elon Musk wasn't far behind as it were, but this was a Tesla a thousand years in the future.
She quickly glanced around and when she was satisfied that no one was watching her, she slipped inside.
The thing somehow even smelled of a new car. How was that even possible?
She shook her head, refocusing her attention back on trying to figure out how to make this thing work. There was a large panel in the center of the consol that vaguely reminded her of the panel in the shower. It was just big enough for her hand, too…
She nervously placed her palm onto the black screen, and she jumped when everything lit up and a holographic wheel popped out at her. It reminded her of a race car steering wheel. It was almost a circle, but not a whole one - the top and bottom had been cut off so that there was only a semicircle stick on either side, and the center was littered with a cornucopia of buttons. She couldn't even begin to fathom what all they did.
"Going for a joy ride?"
"Fuck!" she swore, placing a hand over her racing heart as she turned to see Inuyasha casually leaning in the doorway of the ship with his arms resting on either side of the frame above his head. His hair was a bit damp and clung to his shoulders and face in long platinum tendrils.
He looked about as happy as she felt.
"You scared me," she breathed nervously as he pushed away from the frame and sat down in the open seat next to her.
"Good," he replied crisply. "You know how it feels, then."
They were silent for a moment before he whispered, "I thought...after earlier...I thought you were done running away from me."
"I'm not running...I was just exploring."
"Looking like that?" he countered, raising his brow.
"I was trying to fit in."
"Then, next time...perhaps you shouldn't put stripes on your cheeks and wear that outfit. It's very contradictory, you know."
"I didn't…"
"I know," he sighed. "Brown is a low-born color. Those stripes only appear on those who are high-born. It's a physical trait passed down through blood. Next time you try to escape, pick a different color or leave off the stripes," he advised.
"I wasn't trying to—"
"—You don't have to lie, Kagome," he whispered. "You're scared, and I don't blame you. This is...a lot. It's terrifying and someone tried to kill you today. I'm a bit surprised it took you this long, frankly."
She blushed and looked away from him before squaring her shoulders and regarding him again. "Yes. I am. And it only took this long because I thought I could try convincing Haruto to show me where the pods were."
"This isn't a pod," he grinned. "It's a fighter ship. It holds much less fuel than the one you think you want...but Kagome...you don't want any of them. I told you - we're too far out now for a pod to get you home."
"I don't believe you."
"I thought you trusted me?"
"I don't know if I can!" she cried out. "One minute I…" she trailed off, unable to bring herself to describe the maelstrom of emotions swirling within her.
She couldn't tell him that she could go from feeling completely safe and taken care of when she was with him to the exact opposite in the blink of an eye. He wasn't always truthful with her. He kept things from her.
Important things.
Like the fact that he was marching her off to have fucking heart surgery.
"I want to live. That's the one thing I do know."
"Then stay," he whispered, pleading with her.
"I don't want to. I don't want the surgery, Inuyasha. I don't want to die!"
"You won't," he promised, reaching out and taking her hand and cupping her cheek. "I would sooner die than let that happen. The surgery...I won't lie. I'm terrified of it too. But unless we get that thing out of you, Haruto won't be the last to try and take it by force."
"Then teach me to fight."
His brows rose and his mouth opened slightly in surprise.
"I...what?"
"Teach me to fight," she repeated. "If Haruto won't be the last, then teach me to defend myself."
"Kagome...no…" he sighed.
"Why not?"
"We'd just be putting a bandaid on the actual problem. They will never stop coming for you now that we've found you."
"Then teach me to fight and lose me."
"You know I can't."
"Well, I can't have the surgery."
"So we're at an impasse, huh?"
"It would appear that way."
He turned from her and leaned his head back in the seat, looking up at the ceiling with desperate, hopeless eyes as his ears lowered to his head. It was like he was begging it to give him some sort of answer.
"What if we ran away together?" she breathed before she could stop herself or think about what she was saying. "You don't want to bring the jewel home any more than I want it removed.
We could run.
You could explore the universe like you always wanted to, and I could go with you. We could protect and take care of each other," she whispered, her head subconsciously moving closer to his as he turned to regard her.
"We could be free...we could live by our own rules...we could be happy…"
His face softened into longing, and his eyes shifted to her lips.
"I want that," he breathed, his head lowering to hers. "I want that more than anything…"
"Then let's do it," she pleaded as she moved closer to him and cupped his cheek, gently rubbing it with her thumb. "Run away with me…"
"Kagome…I…"
"Please, Inuyasha," she replied, their heads so close that their lips almost brushed against each other as they spoke. She could feel his hot breath against her skin. "Come with me. We can start over together."
"I...I can't. I can't betray Inusekai."
She pulled away from him and pushed his chest as hard as she could, surprising him and forcing him out of the ship. The doors closed automatically and locked as he tumbled to the ground.
She had her answer.
A/N:
If you think I'm the worst now…Just you wait. MUAHAHAHAHAHA! Thanks as always to Saucy for the edits. You pushed to get this done today despite all the personal shit, and I adore you for your dedication. Love you!
I'm behind on Ars since we did a double post this week, but I'll get to them tomorrow!
Also…WE'RE DOING ANOTHER AMA AFTER 15 GOES LIVE! Get ready for more details next time folks!
Story Rec of the week – Your Lying Smile, Dawnrider
WHERE'S THE REST DAWN!? WHERE IS THE REST?!
If you have a story rec for me to give to others, HIT ME UP! Here or tumblr, I'm happy to spread the word!
Thank you for all the amazing reviews as always though…You guys rock and they always make us smile!
Next chapter goes live Friday, March 6.
Till then!
-Lemon Lush