A/N: THANK YOU all who answered the questions… you're wonderful. Anyway, I know this has been delayed… I'M SORRY!!! Between Opcon and Tolkien and Easter and Passover…
Anywho, I'm a BAD girl. Aside from my Princess Bride fic, I've started Gundam Moulin Rouge… with Duo as Sattine!! WOOHOO! And then I'm probably gonna do a Fushigi Yugi parody and then… oy. On with the fic already.
A/N 2: for those of you who requested some concrete IY/Kag, sap abound in this fact! And, why was Kagome crying? Read to find out. Poll: should I start adding teasers at the end? *grins maniacally*
Warning: Kissy, kissy. Don't like it? Tough.
Disclaimer: I want Inu-Yasha! Kaze-chan, can I get Inu-Yasha for Easter?! Err… *blushes* right. Not mine.
A/N 3: The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and… Err… he, he… right… continuing on with the fic.
Chapter Four
Well no one told me about her.
"'Higurashi-san!' Hojo called, running after her. 'Higurashi-san, would you like to go with me to the festival tomorrow?'
She smiled, brushing a piece of hair off her shoulder. No well, no Shikon no Tama, no commitments! 'I'd like that, Hojo-kun.'
"Great! I mean, thank you… Can we meet up at eight, at the gold-fish catch?'
'That would work fine… and Hojo-kun, please, call me Ka—' NO!" Kagome shrieked, waking up suddenly. The first thing she noticed was that she was outside. A moment later, she realized she was wrapped in Inu-Yasha's eyes. The third revelation was that she was outside, wrapped in Inu-Yasha's arms. "There you are…" she muttered aloud, taking in her situation. "See, Kagome, this isn't that hard. Now, two plus two is four…" She tried to stand up, but ended up bouncing back as a result of Inu-Yasha's arms locked around her waist. He didn't need super strength to be able to hold her back. 'weeeeeakling!' a familiar voice cheered in the back of her head.
"Inu-Yasha!" she hissed, poking him. They were safe for now—it was past curfew, but she could still them partying in the dorm in front of her. "Inu-Yasha!!" she hissed louder, shoving him outright. Could he sleep through anything? "Inu-Yasha!" She shrieked, pushing him backwards into the fountain. Good plan. Her sleepy mind complimented.
Slight hitch. She added as his arms snagged around her waist and dragged her with him. Desired effect accomplished, Inu-Yasha was now awake. "Bitch!" he yelled, surfacing with a gulp.
"Oh please. Dog paddle or something." She snapped, sinking to crouch on the bottom of the fountain.
He made a face at her and hoisted himself out, somehow managing to keep the upper half of himself amazingly dry. She shrank back from the shower of water as he got out and slunk down further, so that only her blue-clad shoulders were visible. Inu-Yasha had begun to stalk back to her dorm when he noticed she wasn't with him. "Kagome, what…?"
She moved foreword, draping her arms on the rim of the fountain and rested her chin on them. "I.. um… can'tgetout." She admitted, blushing furiously in the faint light.
His response was one he'd clearly stolen from Siri. "WHY THE BLOODY HELL NOT?"
She shrunk down further, wishing she could drown now. "well, uhm… The dress I was wearing was… um… kinda loose fitting? But it… err… Shrinks. And clings…"
"Oh for… Kagome! Your dorm is right there, who's going to see you?" She shook her head stubbornly. "Oh, for…" he muttered, stripping off his shirt. (Asreena says: Cutting in again, sorry. But… Drrooooooooool… I love these scenes as much as y'all do… *purrs*) "Here." He handed it to her. She looked at him blankly. With an exaggerated sigh, he rolled his eyes and turned around. She made sure he wasn't peeking and got out, wringing out her dress before she put the shirt on over it. She started on her hair, walking up to rest one hand on his shoulder.
"Thanks…"
"Feh." He snarled, wrapping an arm around her protectively. "C'mon, let's get you back to your room."
§
"Miroku?" Inu-Yasha asked, pawing through his closet. Miroku, concentrating on getting lipstick off his face, raised an eyebrow in reply. "I used to have five white shirts… there's only four here."
"Didja check the laundry?" Inu-Yasha nodded. "The girl's room?"
"Hentai!" Inu-Yasha growled, heading into the bathroom.
§
"Kagome, are you ever going to stop sleeping in that shirt?" Sango asked, amused, as she helped Kagome wring out her hair. Siri was stretched out on her bed, laptop out, headphones blaring. Aiko, nowhere in sight. Kagome raised an eyebrow and gestured at her pajamas, which included one of the only things they'd brought through the Well—one of Miroku's old shirts.
"That's different! We're engaged. Hell, technically, we're married."
Kagome shrugged. "I'm never going to date again, so… Marriage? Berrrrrrrrrrrrrboom!" Her hand mad a diving motion.
Sango shook her head, brushing out the younger girl's hair. "What did that guy do to you, that you're so adverse to dating, Kagome?"
"What guy?" Kagome bluffed, voice quivering.
"Don't lie, Kagome. The one at your high school. I'm not stupid, I know you still have nightmares about him.."
Kagome shook her head, climbing up to her bunk. "I'd rather not talk about it, Sango, k?" She asked quietly. Sango nodded, staying quiet. With a sigh, Kagome nestled inside Inu-Yasha's shirt, burying her nose in it and breathing deeply. The sent brought back old memories of flying on his back, trying to catch a Youkai.
"Sango… remember when you first joined the team?" Kagome asked, smiling slightly. "And you woke up on Inu-Yasha's back, as we chased after Naraku?"
Sango smiled and shook her head, even though the other girl couldn't see.
"Yeah. And he threatened to drop me if I didn't shut up and stop believing Naraku's garbage…" The two giggled and continued talking long into the night. By the time they fell asleep, neither had noticed that, midway through, Siri's headphones had stopped screaming.
§
"Sesshomaru! I didn't touch your sword!!" the two black haired boys rolled about the yard, taking wild, untrained shots at each other. Every now and then, one of them would actually land a punch, but more often then not the fists just swung at open air.
"You're lying, Inu-Yasha!" The older boy tackled the younger, knocking to the ground.
Suddenly, Inu-Yasha found himself pinned to the ground by an older, taller Sessho-Maru, though both of them were still black-haired and human looking. He struggled to get away as Sessho-Maru pulled back to punch him…
Inu-Yasha rolled out of the way, white hair flying, taunting the older Youkai. "Come and get me, then!" He taunted. He refused to show his fear, but he knew this time, he'd be walking away with more then the customary black eye.
§
Inu-Yasha knocked on the door of the girl's dorm the next morning. Aiko opened the door blearily and blinked at him, eyes full of sleep. "This is a girl's dorm. Go away." She shut the door in his face. A few minutes later, there was another quiet tap at the door. Only, this one was less quiet. This time, it was Sango who blinked up at him.
"oh. You. What do you want?" Inu-Yasha shook his head, all previous thoughts of finding his shirt driven from his head. "I need to talk to you and Kagome. Soon. Miroku, too, when he wakes up." Knowing that tone of voice well, Sango nodded. Inu-Yasha turned to go, before doing a double take. "By the way, have you seen one of my white shirts? It's missing…" Wordlessly, Sango pointed up at Kagome's bed. Over the night, she'd tossed so that her arm was hanging over the edge. Hanging far past her fingertips was the cuff of a white man's shirt, clearly too big for her. Inu-Yasha blinked, shaking his head as he watched her. "Never mind. Let her keep it…" He growled at Sango when she made kissy faces at him.
§
"Hojo-kun… no! I'm sorry, I didn't mean…" She tried to roll away, but he held both her hands together and had her pinned against the edge of the bed. "Hojo-kun… please, I'm sorry, I…"
"Be quiet!" He backhanded her across the face. She pulled away, shocked, refusing to give him the satisfaction of starting to cry.
"Hojo…"
"Kagome! Kagome, wake up, you're dreaming!"
"Hojo?"
"No, Kagome. No, it's me."
"M-M-Miroku?" The monk nodded at her, eyes concerned.
"Are you all right? You were having a nightmare." She nodded, paler then usual, drawing her blankets tighter around her against his hands, though he made no move to grope her. "Want to talk about it?"
Surprisingly, she found she did. Very, very quietly, she explained how Freshman year of high school, Hojo had asked her out. "He was so nice at first!" She admitted, resting her chin on her knees. "He gave me presents, took me out…. I tried to give him stuff back and pay, but he wouldn't let me. But then h-he started telling me I ow-owed him things… I was s-so confused. When I said so, he'd h-hit me. Then he'd start h-hitting me when I m-m-messed up, or when I was l-late… Then he'd start hitting me for n-no reason at all… I wasn't even close to my friends anymore, because of the j-jewel quest… but he tried to c-control where I went, and with w-who… he said I d-deserved it."
"Kagome…" Miroku tipped her chin up and met her eyes, refusing to let her look away. "Did he rape you, at all? Ever?" She shook her head, negative.
"N-no… He'd beat me and th-then leave, and I'd run away…"
"Good girl." He affirmed, hugging her cautiously. "I'm sorry, Kagome…" She shook her head and sniffled the last of her sniffles. "You ready to go face the others?" He asked when she was completely calm. She nodded, pulling Inu-Yasha's shirt more firmly around her. Wearing it and a pair of sweatpants, her hair up in a pony tail, she followed Miroku out of the room. Siri blinked after them, emerging from the shadows obscuring her bunk.
§
Inu-Yasha, perched on a bunk in his and Miroku's room, looked more like an uncomfortable, insecure child then any of them had ever seen. "How much do you guys know about Youkai shapeshifting?"
Sango shrugged, having the most formal knowledge of Youkai. "They have a natural humanoid appearance… they can take the shape of their true Youkai form… big dogs, cats, frogs, etc…"
Inu-Yasha nodded, tucking a strand of hair behind his ear. There he goes again… Kagome noticed wryly. It's becoming a nervous habit… "You know how Hanyous turn human once a month… have their moment of weakness, so to speak? And when a Youkai turns into a Youkai form, their powers increase by nearly a tenfold?" They all nodded. "Well… kind of like the Hanyou secret, Youkai have their own… they can also turn into their human form." Jaws hit the ground around the room. They'd been fighting these things, and all of them had had the power to make it at least a somewhat even match? "They don't have to." Inu-Yasha amended quickly, "The way a Hanyou does. They just have that option. Father used to make us all do that, it made Mother feel more comfortable…" Inu-Yasha stared at the ground, displaying a rare moment of weakness—they all knew he had a soft spot for both his mother and Kikiyo.
"Inu-Yasha, what does this have to do with…?" Miroku trailed off. Inu-Yasha sighed.
"Kagome, Sango, you know your knew room mate, Aiko? If she were male…" Inu-Yasha trailed off and Kagome blinked madly, trying to keep images of Hojo from popping into her head. "If she were male, she'd look just like Sesshomaru when he wasn't in Youkai form." A small noise at the door, barely a whisper, alerted all their battle-trained senses. Siri looked sheepish, standing in the doorway.
"What's a Youkai?"
A/N: Woah. Told you this fic was turning dark… I'm SO SORRY! Please, don't kill me…
I got caught up with the shirtless excellence last chapter, never wrote tys… so here they are for three and four.
Ardicana: Your enthusiasm amazes me… but wow. Thank you so much. I'm SO sorry this wasn't out soon…
Emmi-Chan: Well, now you know what she was so upset about… *eeps sheepishly*
InuYasha-Kun: HOHO?!?! LOL!!!! Hehe… sorry, I just find that amazingly funny..
Kaze-chan: Yep, you guessed it. This is as close to a rape-fic as I could bring myself to write… I'm working on it… I must be the only person in the world who WANTS to write a rape-fic… *shakes her head*
Kumi Boa: THANKYOu for the suggestions! *glomps for you too*
KurroNeko-Yasha: Hehe, thankee… ~_~
Lin-Ysh: Uhm. Dear? I'm drowning, here… *Siri sits on her hands and glares*
MoonAngel 002: THANKYOU for the suggestions. *GLOMP*
PlumBlossoms: Thank you! As always, glad people like it… And thank you for the answers, very very muchly…
Shin-chan: NOOOOOOO! NOT MY CAFFINE SUPPLY! *glomps her coca-cola* It's mine… my own… My precious… it's my birthday present, isn't its, precious?
TsukinoDeynatsu: liking this story entirely too much is a good thing! And thanks for answering the questions… Thanks for the encouragement!
UsagiPegasus: Ok, I don't need you to tell me this wasn't soon enough… *sweatdrop* Workin' on it…
Waku-Chan: Really? We have it ALL YEAR ROUND.
Once again: I'M SORRY! Anf UCK! There was supposed to be kissyness in this chapter… Kagome's regressing. Stupid bint…