Once Upon a Time
Chapter 4: Human Brain, Hanyou Brain, and Corpse Kissing (ewww!)
"This is a hanyou brain. This is a hanyou brain on youkai blood. Any
questions?"
by Aisuru
aisuru_chan@yahoo.com
Author's Notes: I am so excited that I have been getting so many reviews for this story! (ducks as ArtemisMoon throws a heavy volume of fairy tales at my head, only to get poked by Aurelia Lothlorien's spork... how cruel!) Every time I check, I have more reviews, and I can't help but smile! :) See? And I don't even own Inuyasha! Do you like how I slipped that in there? Well, last we saw Kagome, a red-eyed Inuyasha was holding her off her feet by the back of Miroku's robe (which apparently stinks, if you have the hanyou or youkai nose to smell it). Perhaps more importantly, her story was interrupted ONCE AGAIN!!! Now we may never know what happens to poor Snow White! grin
***
Kagome used her brain, trained by excessive education (at least when compared to the education of the others in the cave shelter), to analyze her situation. She was dangling helplessly, several inches off the ground, held in place by Inuyasha, who had just lost control of his youkai blood, making him super-crazy super-strong dog-demon-boy. She could always subdue Inuyasha, courtesy of a magic word and Kaede's rosary, but that would probably hurl him into the fire, taking her and Kouga down with him. Or she could... no, wait. There really wasn't anything else she could do, was there?
Well, if the others could somehow get Inuyasha to take back his sword, his transformation would revert, and he would once again be the over- protective, bad-tempered, extremely rude hanyou that she couldn't help liking *that way*, but at least as a sane hanyou he wasn't going to murder them all! But who could get the sword? It was embedded in the rock ceiling of the cave entrance. Kouga couldn't help, since Inuyasha had a firm grip on his most-likely-broken hand, but even if he freed himself his youkai blood wouldn't allow him to touch the sword. Same deal with Shippou -- pure demon blood. Miroku and Sango could touch the sword, but they would never have the strength to pull it out of the solid rock. Besides, it was best if they didn't attract Inuyasha's attention, as they would be pretty useless against an angry inu-youkai -- heck, they were helpless against an inu-hanyou!
And that left... nothing! There was absolutely nothing they could do!
Inuyasha must have realized this at about the same time, because he used Kouga's damaged hand to shove the wolf-youkai away from them. He then manipulated Kagome much like one would a doll, adjusting and readjusting his hold on her as he removed Miroku's outer robe from her person. His grip was firm but not painful; her feet never touched the ground.
Inuyasha threw the robe carelessly to the cave floor, where it landed in the fire. Miroku lunged for it with a curse, pulling it out of the flames before it could fully ignite and beating out the edges that had been lit. Inuyasha ignored him, choosing instead to sniff at Kagome. He gave another growl of displeasure at what he found: Miroku's scent. He adjusted his grip on her yet again, so his hands were on her waist, holding her arm's length away from him. Then he jumped.
Kagome squealed in surprise as Inuyasha's leap flung them out of the cave. Then she yelped as the full force of the icy downpour soaked through her clothes and hair yet again. The night was pitched black between flashes of lightening, the rain was shockingly cold, and for all she knew Inuyasha was holding her over the edge of the cliff outside the cave. She realized that if she tried to sit him, they could both fall over the edge. She tried to control her shivering, worried that his grip on her might slip. She needn't have worried; he held her steady in the pouring rain until she was quite thoroughly drenched. Then he pulled her towards him, nuzzled her hair aside, and gave her neck another sniff.
There was no warning; one moment she was being alternately nuzzled and sniffed by an uninhibited Inu-youkai, and the next moment she was being dangled from only one of Inuyasha's hand as the claws of his other hand shredded her clothes to pieces. As the sodden tatters of cotton and polyester that had been her school uniform fell to the mud, Inuyasha once again gripped her by the waist with both his hands and held her shivering, naked, and shrieking body out in front of him.
***
As Myouga the flea had once explained, the suppression of Inuyasha's human blood due to a loss of control by his youkai blood led to certain changes in the hanyou. His hanyou body was temporarily infused with power, giving him improved speed, strength, pain tolerance, and endurance. His hanyou brain, however, was not structured to be fed by such strong youkai blood, so his thought processes simplified to their most basic. He acted more on instinct then logic, the strongest instinct being survival at any cost. He lost the ability to speak beyond the intuitive inu-youkai language of growls and barks. The dividing lines between friend and foe became blurred and fuzzy, which made him more dangerous. Inhibitions caused by society's rules and his own insecurities floated away.
The normal Inuyasha, with hanyou blood flowing through his hanyou brain, acted with jealousy when Kouga, Miroku, or even Shippou got too close to Kagome, but he would never admit to her that he felt anything for her beyond disgust and tolerance, which were safe emotions. Things like caresses and kisses were threatening and uncomfortable, causing him to growl at Kagome for rubbing his ears even though the act was comforting and felt so very good. He recognized that any expressions of weaker emotions would make him vulnerable, and were therefore meant to be avoided.
The youkai Inuyasha had no such problems. Kagome fascinated him. Kagome liked his fuzzy ears. Kagome was his to protect. Kagome was his to watch over. Kagome was his to care for. Kagome was his. End of discussion.
Kagome was not supposed to be touched by Kouga, and he told the wolf-youkai this in a perfectly clear exhibition of growls and snarls. Kagome was not supposed to cuddle up in Miroku's clothing, transferring the human monk's smell all over her. If she didn't understand this, it was his job to take care of the problem for her. Kouga was not supposed to attack him when he was holding Kagome, and crushing the bones in his hand had probably convinced him of that fact in a way even a stupid wolf-youkai would be slow to forget.
Kagome was not supposed to smell like the monk. The robe had to go.
Kagome's clothes were not supposed to smell like the monk. Maybe rainwater would wash the smell away... If not, the clothes were no longer functioning properly and needed to be removed from Kagome's skin. Wet cloth would probably chill her, anyway.
Kagome's wet, naked skin was much softer to his touch than the rough, unnatural fabric she had been wearing.
Kagome's shrieking was painfully loud and seemed without purpose since his nose detected no nearby dangers. Laying his ears down flat didn't block out all of the sound. Kagome must be afraid. He should reassure Kagome: pull her tight against his body, wrap his arms firmly around her, and gently hold the back of her neck in his fangs. Good, Kagome had stopped making the sound and had gone very still.
Kagome smelled really good now. She no longer smelled like she wore Miroku's robe. She no longer smelled like Shippou had crawled all over her. She no longer smelled like Kouga touched her shoulder. She didn't even smell like those artificial scents from her soaps and lotions. She smelled like Kagome and rainwater.
The rainwater was cold. Kagome shouldn't get cold, because Kagome was fragile. Take Kagome back to the cave. The cave was warmer. Inuyasha removed his teeth from her neck and jumped back into the shelter.
***
If Kagome was frightened into screaming from being stripped naked by Inuyasha's claws, and stunned silent by his arms tight around her body and the pressure of his fangs against her neck, she was horrified back into action when he brought her back into the cave, dripping wet and as bare as the day she was born, in front of the other members of the shard-hunting party (and Kouga).
Several things happened in rapid succession.
Inuyasha set Kagome down on her feet and proceeded to shake, spreading droplets on icy rainwater throughout the cave dwelling. They splattered on the wall, dripped down the hair and clothes of the other members of the party, and sizzled in the pitiful fire.
The two humans and the two youkai were relieved to see that Kagome appeared unharmed by the inu-youkai. Then they noticed her nakedness. Miroku gasped loudly, his eyes wide as he took in the glorious beauty of Kagome, who was young but wondrously developed. Sango gasped in shock that her friend's modesty was being taken for granted, and put her hand over Miroku's eyes. Shippou, remembering that Kagome was body-shy and respecting her feelings, tolerated Sango's other hand over his eyes as well. Kouga didn't have a reaction; he was actually smarter than that. His hand really, really hurt, and the Shikon no Tama shard in his arm wasn't helping him heal as quickly as he thought it should.
Kagome yelped and tried to put Inuyasha between her nudity and everyone else.
Inuyasha took off his red kimono jacket. Kouga covered his own eyes, concerned that the hanyou-turned-crazy-youkai was going to strip, too, but his worries were unfounded. Inuyasha simply turned around towards Kagome, who was hiding behind him, and wrapped her up in the garment of fire-rat fur. She slipped her arms into the very long sleeves (hanyou have longer arms then humans, after all -- how else could Inuyasha run about on all fours like he sometimes does -- and besides that he was a good deal taller than Kagome, so even had he been human his arms would have been longer than hers), and pulled the garment tight against her, gripping it in the front to hold it in place.
Sango removed her hands from the eyes of Miroku and Shippou. Sure, Kagome was showing a lot of leg, and she had seen proof that there were no undergarments under that shirt, but Kagome had showed off a lot more leg before, so it didn't seem to matter. Then she noticed Miroku drooling, and re-covered his eyes before Inuyasha could notice his ogling.
Kagome recognized that Inuyasha's coat was quite warm from his body heat and, amazingly enough, had stayed dry on the inside despite the torrential rain. Then, having recovered a sliver of her dignity, she tossed her head (only to get smacked in the face with sopping wet hair) and started to say that little word she loves to say when she blames her loss of dignity on Inuyasha. Everything seemed to move in slow motion then. Kagome opened her mouth, brought her teeth almost together with her tongue just behind her teeth, and forced air through her vocal cords, producing an "s" sound. Inuyasha's blood-red eyes widened in realization, then narrowed in annoyance.
Then Kagome's jaw opened a bit more, her tongue curling back away from her teeth, forming the "i" in her favorite little word. Inuyasha sprung.
Kagome had her tongue pressed against the back of her two-front teeth, preparing to make the final harsh sound that would force Inuyasha to the cave floor, but she never finished the utterance. She froze, Inuyasha behind her once again, his arms wrapped tight around her, her feet off the ground, and his fangs putting that frightening and yet illogically soothing pressure on the back of her neck.
Remember, Kagome had the most formal education of the organisms in the cave. She could read and write kanji (although even she would admit her penmanship wasn't the best) and the hiragana and katakana that might not have been invented yet in this time (she wasn't sure). She could speak several phrases in American English, although the whole "r" versus "l" problem still threw her pronunciation for a loop, and her reading and writing in English were tolerable, if you ignored her inability to read warnings written in flour by a dog's paw in a made-for-television movie. She had studied Japanese and world history, could do math (although it took her forever to learn it), and could both read music and draw pictures with proper perspective, shaded with obvious light sources. If all of this learning and mental exercise could be boiled down into one simple thought, it was this: don't subdue Inuyasha when he has his fangs pressed into your neck!
Sango's hand fell from Miroku's eyes. She had been taught about such youkai behavior, but had never seen it played out by Inuyasha before. Quickly abandoning any thoughts of interfering, she pondered the implications of Inuyasha's strange treatment of her dearest friend.
Shippou recognized the action and all it could imply. If a youkai was annoyed with another youkai, they usually killed the other youkai or injured it until it was no longer such a bother. The only real exceptions to this were when the other youkai was much stronger than you (in which case you tried to run away), or when the other youkai was a pup, mate, or den-member. When this was the case, a gentle bite to the back of the neck was usually sufficient to reassure the other youkai of their relationship with you, resulting in an end to the disapproved of behavior. His real parents, a loving kitsune couple, had used this behavior modification technique on him when he was unacceptably rowdy or frightened. It had made sense coming from them. What did it mean for Inuyasha to use it on Kagome?
Miroku, always one to speak what he thought, actually chuckled. "Looks like Inuyasha has found a subduing spell of his own," he said.
Inuyasha ignored everyone except Kagome. When he was sure she wouldn't try to pull that stunt again, at least not for a couple minutes, he released her neck and contemplated what to do with her next. Needless to say, he wasn't going to let her out of his arms again! He thought it would be awfully gratifying to take her to the dark recesses of the cave and further reassure her of their relationship in very pleasant ways, but her hair was still wet. Instead, he sat Indian-style in the circle of the fire's warmth, manipulating Kagome until she was facing the fire, her butt resting in the space between his folded legs, her legs bent at the knee and draped over his calves. He kept one arm tight around her chest, pinning her arms to her sides, and used his other arm to brush her hair forward over her face. He leaned forward a bit, pushing her sodden hair closer to the fire's warmth. She felt utterly ridiculous, and would have objected if Inuyasha hadn't started nuzzling his face against her shoulders and neck. She wasn't sure if he was being cuddly or reminding her how easily he could grip her neck again. Either way, it was enough to hold her still.
"You have to admit she looks subdued," Miroku continued when he saw how much Kagome was not going to fight being manipulated by Inuyasha like one of those action figurines Kagome had once brought through the well for Shippou.
Kagome stiffened.
Inuyasha let his eyes flicker to Miroku and let out a growl of annoyance for the effect the mortal's words were having on Kagome.
Shippou understood the growl, and elbowed Miroku, trying to shut him up.
There was then a long silence, during which Kagome's hair started to dry, Kouga's hand started to mend, Shippou started to nod off, Sango started shifting as she noticed not for the first time just how hard the cave floor really was, and Miroku let his mind wander to all the beautiful women he had met before. This led, of course, to thoughts of women in bed (and doing bed-worthy activities in other readily available places), which then led to thoughts about Kagome's stories. 'Whatever happened to that beautiful princess, Snow White?' he wondered.
"Hey, Kagome," he asked, "whatever happened to that beautiful princess, Snow White?"
"What about her?" Kagome asked. She was sitting on Inuyasha's lap, bent forward, her hair over her face, as he alternately nuzzled, sniffdd, and -- thank goodness the others couldn't tell -- licked her neck. Snow White was one of the furthest things from her mind at the moment.
Inuyasha hadn't growled, and Shippou hadn't elbowed him again, so Miroku continued. "Well, when the story got interrupted before, Snow White had been dropped off in the forest by the queen's huntsman, and the huntsman was planning on bringing the queen the heart of a pig instead of Snow White's heart."
Inuyasha actually paused in his ministrations long enough to snort, apparently in agreement of Shippou's earlier thoughts that such a substitution was ridiculous and doomed to fail.
Not appreciating Inuyasha's attitude, she decided to continue the story with the hopes that it might annoy him. "Yes, well, the huntsman did return to the queen with the heart of a pig, and she fell for the trick, once again confident that she was the most beautiful woman in the land."
Shippou's snort mirrored Inuyasha's earlier one. Kagome ignored it.
"The princess, Snow White, didn't know the woods, and the more she ran the more lost she became. She was scared, and the tree limbs seemed to reach out and grab at her as she ran."
"Plant youkai?" Shippou squeaked, clinging to Sango in fear. Sango knocked him off of her.
"No, it was just her imagination," Kagome clarified. Inuyasha had resumed his nuzzling, sniffing, and licking against her neck, and it was becoming a struggle to stay focused, but she was determined. "She tore her dress on brambles, her hair got tangled in branches, and she tripped over roots. She was very tired and wondered if she would ever be able to rest again. Then she found a cottage. It was a little cottage with a little door and little windows."
"Was it made of straw, sticks, or bricks?" Kouga wanted to know.
"Um, I think it was made of wood, but I'm not really sure," Kagome replied. She almost expected Inuyasha to give some comments insulting her intelligence or belittling stories from her time, but he appeared preoccupied with her neck... 'Not that he had ever spoken in his youkai form,' she reminded herself. He seemed to be doing less sniffing and more licking, his long tongue, rough like a cat's but to a lesser extent, laving over her. She shuddered despite herself, and she wasn't sure it was with disgust.
"So, she knocked on the door of the cottage, but nobody answered," Kagome managed to say, a little tremor in her voice that the humans didn't detect but that Inuyasha certainly did. He combed through her damp hair with his free hand, careful not to snag her hair with his claws. Soon Kagome's hair would finish drying and he could take her away from the circle of the fire's warmth.
The humans in the group didn't understand why Kagome had paused in her narration. Kouga and Shippou, with their youkai eyesight, knew exactly what was going on between Kagome and Inuyasha. Kouga contemplated leaving the cave shelter, but settled for distracting Kagome instead. "Nobody was home, or they just didn't want visitors?" he asked her.
"Hmm, what? Oh, nobody was home," she answered, refocusing on the story. "She was so tired, though, that she entered the house anyway. The cottage was strangely furnished. There was a long table with seven tiny chairs, and there were seven plates and seven cups, all dirty from the last meal. Everything was dusty, and she was tempted to tidy up, but she felt safe in this cottage."
"Why would a princess do servant's tasks?" Sango wanted to know.
"Kagome must have meant that she wanted to see the cottage clean, Sango. A princess would never do servant's work," Miroku said.
"No, she didn't see herself that way," Kagome explained. "She didn't mind cleaning. In fact, she was the kind of person that liked to keep busy. If she saw something that needed to be done, she would just do it. Anyway, she saw a staircase leading up, so she climbed the stairs, curious. Upstairs she found seven tiny beds, so she decided that there must have been seven messy children living in this cottage."
"Pups? Living by themselves? That is ridiculous!" Kouga complained.
"I know you said unmarried women can live on their own in your time," Miroku said, still relishing that concept, "but are children forced to live alone as well?"
"Oh, not at all," Kagome explained. "In my time, there are all sorts of laws and rules about caring for children. Children never live alone. Even if their parents die and there are no other relatives, there are orphanages where the children can live. There they go to school and are fed and have people taking care of them." This idea was so foreign to the group that even Inuyasha paused in the tongue-bath he was giving Kagome... but only for a moment.
"So they weren't children?" Miroku asked.
"No, but I'll get to that later," Kagome said. "She was so tired that she pushed three of the beds together and laid across them, since they were too short for her otherwise. She quickly fell asleep."
Inuyasha gave a soft growl of displeasure and gripped Kagome's neck in his fangs once again. Kagome gave a surprised yelp. Shippou decided to translate. "Um, Inuyasha wants to make sure you know never to do something as stupid as fall asleep in a stranger's house like that," the little fox said, translating both the growl and the possessive action. Inuyasha's growl didn't cease, so Shippou continued. "Kagome, you need to tell him that you wouldn't do something like that."
She was hesitant to speak, being held as she was. Inuyasha's growl vibrated from his chest to her back and from his mouth into her very spine. The pressure of his teeth increased just a fraction, and that spurred her into action with another yelp. "No, of course I wouldn't do that," she rushed to say. "I always let you check out a place first, Inuyasha."
He seemed pleased with this response, lessening the pressure on her neck, although he kept his teeth in place.
"Just continue the story, Kagome," Shippou counseled.
It was hard to think, but Kagome tried to follow Shippou's advice. "Well, of course the owners of the house came home when she was still asleep." Inuyasha gave a short growl of displeasure, but let Kagome continue. "It ended up that they weren't children at all, but dwarves! They told her she could stay with them as long as she kept house for them, but she thought that was a great exchange." Kagome noticed that she was rushing the story now, but Inuyasha's teeth were unnerving her.
"Of course, one day the queen looked in her mirror again and asked who the fairest in the land was. The mirror always told the truth, so it told the queen that Snow White still lived, and that this girl was the fairest in the land. The queen was furious, and she cast a spell that gave her the appearance of an old woman. She went to the cottage during the day, when the dwarves were working in their mine, for that is what dwarves do. At this point the story sort of branches out, depending on who tells it. In some stories, the queen gives Snow White a poisoned comb that scratches her scalp. In some, she laces her up too tightly in a corset, a garment women used to wear to make them look thinner. In other stories, she gives Snow White a poisoned apple. Sometimes, all three occur. The end result is always the same, though: Snow White dies."
"That's it? She dies?" Sango wanted to know.
"I thought this was a story about a girl in bed!" Miroku exclaimed.
"Well, it still is. You see, the dwarves thought she was too beautiful to be buried, so they built her a coffin made of glass and surrounded her with beautiful flowers, but her beauty was more than that of the flowers. She stayed there for a long time, looking asleep, staying beautiful. In fact, she stayed so beautiful that one day a prince, who was riding his horse through the forest, came across the glass coffin. The girl was so beautiful that he kissed her..."
"He kissed a corpse?" Kouga exclaimed loudly.
"That's disgusting!" Sango agreed.
"Even I wouldn't do that," Miroku added.
Shippou stifled a laugh. "Inuyasha did," he snickered. "He kissed Kikyou, and she has been dead for over 50 years!"
***
Author's Notes: Hmm, Shippou, maybe it isn't such a good idea to taunt the not-quite-sane-at-the-moment inu-youkai... Well, everyone should be very happy that I wrote such a long chapter, much longer than any of the previous three (I checked the word count). Let me know if you think I should add some material in the next chapter that will nudge the rating up to an R...
Author's Notes: I am so excited that I have been getting so many reviews for this story! (ducks as ArtemisMoon throws a heavy volume of fairy tales at my head, only to get poked by Aurelia Lothlorien's spork... how cruel!) Every time I check, I have more reviews, and I can't help but smile! :) See? And I don't even own Inuyasha! Do you like how I slipped that in there? Well, last we saw Kagome, a red-eyed Inuyasha was holding her off her feet by the back of Miroku's robe (which apparently stinks, if you have the hanyou or youkai nose to smell it). Perhaps more importantly, her story was interrupted ONCE AGAIN!!! Now we may never know what happens to poor Snow White! grin
***
Kagome used her brain, trained by excessive education (at least when compared to the education of the others in the cave shelter), to analyze her situation. She was dangling helplessly, several inches off the ground, held in place by Inuyasha, who had just lost control of his youkai blood, making him super-crazy super-strong dog-demon-boy. She could always subdue Inuyasha, courtesy of a magic word and Kaede's rosary, but that would probably hurl him into the fire, taking her and Kouga down with him. Or she could... no, wait. There really wasn't anything else she could do, was there?
Well, if the others could somehow get Inuyasha to take back his sword, his transformation would revert, and he would once again be the over- protective, bad-tempered, extremely rude hanyou that she couldn't help liking *that way*, but at least as a sane hanyou he wasn't going to murder them all! But who could get the sword? It was embedded in the rock ceiling of the cave entrance. Kouga couldn't help, since Inuyasha had a firm grip on his most-likely-broken hand, but even if he freed himself his youkai blood wouldn't allow him to touch the sword. Same deal with Shippou -- pure demon blood. Miroku and Sango could touch the sword, but they would never have the strength to pull it out of the solid rock. Besides, it was best if they didn't attract Inuyasha's attention, as they would be pretty useless against an angry inu-youkai -- heck, they were helpless against an inu-hanyou!
And that left... nothing! There was absolutely nothing they could do!
Inuyasha must have realized this at about the same time, because he used Kouga's damaged hand to shove the wolf-youkai away from them. He then manipulated Kagome much like one would a doll, adjusting and readjusting his hold on her as he removed Miroku's outer robe from her person. His grip was firm but not painful; her feet never touched the ground.
Inuyasha threw the robe carelessly to the cave floor, where it landed in the fire. Miroku lunged for it with a curse, pulling it out of the flames before it could fully ignite and beating out the edges that had been lit. Inuyasha ignored him, choosing instead to sniff at Kagome. He gave another growl of displeasure at what he found: Miroku's scent. He adjusted his grip on her yet again, so his hands were on her waist, holding her arm's length away from him. Then he jumped.
Kagome squealed in surprise as Inuyasha's leap flung them out of the cave. Then she yelped as the full force of the icy downpour soaked through her clothes and hair yet again. The night was pitched black between flashes of lightening, the rain was shockingly cold, and for all she knew Inuyasha was holding her over the edge of the cliff outside the cave. She realized that if she tried to sit him, they could both fall over the edge. She tried to control her shivering, worried that his grip on her might slip. She needn't have worried; he held her steady in the pouring rain until she was quite thoroughly drenched. Then he pulled her towards him, nuzzled her hair aside, and gave her neck another sniff.
There was no warning; one moment she was being alternately nuzzled and sniffed by an uninhibited Inu-youkai, and the next moment she was being dangled from only one of Inuyasha's hand as the claws of his other hand shredded her clothes to pieces. As the sodden tatters of cotton and polyester that had been her school uniform fell to the mud, Inuyasha once again gripped her by the waist with both his hands and held her shivering, naked, and shrieking body out in front of him.
***
As Myouga the flea had once explained, the suppression of Inuyasha's human blood due to a loss of control by his youkai blood led to certain changes in the hanyou. His hanyou body was temporarily infused with power, giving him improved speed, strength, pain tolerance, and endurance. His hanyou brain, however, was not structured to be fed by such strong youkai blood, so his thought processes simplified to their most basic. He acted more on instinct then logic, the strongest instinct being survival at any cost. He lost the ability to speak beyond the intuitive inu-youkai language of growls and barks. The dividing lines between friend and foe became blurred and fuzzy, which made him more dangerous. Inhibitions caused by society's rules and his own insecurities floated away.
The normal Inuyasha, with hanyou blood flowing through his hanyou brain, acted with jealousy when Kouga, Miroku, or even Shippou got too close to Kagome, but he would never admit to her that he felt anything for her beyond disgust and tolerance, which were safe emotions. Things like caresses and kisses were threatening and uncomfortable, causing him to growl at Kagome for rubbing his ears even though the act was comforting and felt so very good. He recognized that any expressions of weaker emotions would make him vulnerable, and were therefore meant to be avoided.
The youkai Inuyasha had no such problems. Kagome fascinated him. Kagome liked his fuzzy ears. Kagome was his to protect. Kagome was his to watch over. Kagome was his to care for. Kagome was his. End of discussion.
Kagome was not supposed to be touched by Kouga, and he told the wolf-youkai this in a perfectly clear exhibition of growls and snarls. Kagome was not supposed to cuddle up in Miroku's clothing, transferring the human monk's smell all over her. If she didn't understand this, it was his job to take care of the problem for her. Kouga was not supposed to attack him when he was holding Kagome, and crushing the bones in his hand had probably convinced him of that fact in a way even a stupid wolf-youkai would be slow to forget.
Kagome was not supposed to smell like the monk. The robe had to go.
Kagome's clothes were not supposed to smell like the monk. Maybe rainwater would wash the smell away... If not, the clothes were no longer functioning properly and needed to be removed from Kagome's skin. Wet cloth would probably chill her, anyway.
Kagome's wet, naked skin was much softer to his touch than the rough, unnatural fabric she had been wearing.
Kagome's shrieking was painfully loud and seemed without purpose since his nose detected no nearby dangers. Laying his ears down flat didn't block out all of the sound. Kagome must be afraid. He should reassure Kagome: pull her tight against his body, wrap his arms firmly around her, and gently hold the back of her neck in his fangs. Good, Kagome had stopped making the sound and had gone very still.
Kagome smelled really good now. She no longer smelled like she wore Miroku's robe. She no longer smelled like Shippou had crawled all over her. She no longer smelled like Kouga touched her shoulder. She didn't even smell like those artificial scents from her soaps and lotions. She smelled like Kagome and rainwater.
The rainwater was cold. Kagome shouldn't get cold, because Kagome was fragile. Take Kagome back to the cave. The cave was warmer. Inuyasha removed his teeth from her neck and jumped back into the shelter.
***
If Kagome was frightened into screaming from being stripped naked by Inuyasha's claws, and stunned silent by his arms tight around her body and the pressure of his fangs against her neck, she was horrified back into action when he brought her back into the cave, dripping wet and as bare as the day she was born, in front of the other members of the shard-hunting party (and Kouga).
Several things happened in rapid succession.
Inuyasha set Kagome down on her feet and proceeded to shake, spreading droplets on icy rainwater throughout the cave dwelling. They splattered on the wall, dripped down the hair and clothes of the other members of the party, and sizzled in the pitiful fire.
The two humans and the two youkai were relieved to see that Kagome appeared unharmed by the inu-youkai. Then they noticed her nakedness. Miroku gasped loudly, his eyes wide as he took in the glorious beauty of Kagome, who was young but wondrously developed. Sango gasped in shock that her friend's modesty was being taken for granted, and put her hand over Miroku's eyes. Shippou, remembering that Kagome was body-shy and respecting her feelings, tolerated Sango's other hand over his eyes as well. Kouga didn't have a reaction; he was actually smarter than that. His hand really, really hurt, and the Shikon no Tama shard in his arm wasn't helping him heal as quickly as he thought it should.
Kagome yelped and tried to put Inuyasha between her nudity and everyone else.
Inuyasha took off his red kimono jacket. Kouga covered his own eyes, concerned that the hanyou-turned-crazy-youkai was going to strip, too, but his worries were unfounded. Inuyasha simply turned around towards Kagome, who was hiding behind him, and wrapped her up in the garment of fire-rat fur. She slipped her arms into the very long sleeves (hanyou have longer arms then humans, after all -- how else could Inuyasha run about on all fours like he sometimes does -- and besides that he was a good deal taller than Kagome, so even had he been human his arms would have been longer than hers), and pulled the garment tight against her, gripping it in the front to hold it in place.
Sango removed her hands from the eyes of Miroku and Shippou. Sure, Kagome was showing a lot of leg, and she had seen proof that there were no undergarments under that shirt, but Kagome had showed off a lot more leg before, so it didn't seem to matter. Then she noticed Miroku drooling, and re-covered his eyes before Inuyasha could notice his ogling.
Kagome recognized that Inuyasha's coat was quite warm from his body heat and, amazingly enough, had stayed dry on the inside despite the torrential rain. Then, having recovered a sliver of her dignity, she tossed her head (only to get smacked in the face with sopping wet hair) and started to say that little word she loves to say when she blames her loss of dignity on Inuyasha. Everything seemed to move in slow motion then. Kagome opened her mouth, brought her teeth almost together with her tongue just behind her teeth, and forced air through her vocal cords, producing an "s" sound. Inuyasha's blood-red eyes widened in realization, then narrowed in annoyance.
Then Kagome's jaw opened a bit more, her tongue curling back away from her teeth, forming the "i" in her favorite little word. Inuyasha sprung.
Kagome had her tongue pressed against the back of her two-front teeth, preparing to make the final harsh sound that would force Inuyasha to the cave floor, but she never finished the utterance. She froze, Inuyasha behind her once again, his arms wrapped tight around her, her feet off the ground, and his fangs putting that frightening and yet illogically soothing pressure on the back of her neck.
Remember, Kagome had the most formal education of the organisms in the cave. She could read and write kanji (although even she would admit her penmanship wasn't the best) and the hiragana and katakana that might not have been invented yet in this time (she wasn't sure). She could speak several phrases in American English, although the whole "r" versus "l" problem still threw her pronunciation for a loop, and her reading and writing in English were tolerable, if you ignored her inability to read warnings written in flour by a dog's paw in a made-for-television movie. She had studied Japanese and world history, could do math (although it took her forever to learn it), and could both read music and draw pictures with proper perspective, shaded with obvious light sources. If all of this learning and mental exercise could be boiled down into one simple thought, it was this: don't subdue Inuyasha when he has his fangs pressed into your neck!
Sango's hand fell from Miroku's eyes. She had been taught about such youkai behavior, but had never seen it played out by Inuyasha before. Quickly abandoning any thoughts of interfering, she pondered the implications of Inuyasha's strange treatment of her dearest friend.
Shippou recognized the action and all it could imply. If a youkai was annoyed with another youkai, they usually killed the other youkai or injured it until it was no longer such a bother. The only real exceptions to this were when the other youkai was much stronger than you (in which case you tried to run away), or when the other youkai was a pup, mate, or den-member. When this was the case, a gentle bite to the back of the neck was usually sufficient to reassure the other youkai of their relationship with you, resulting in an end to the disapproved of behavior. His real parents, a loving kitsune couple, had used this behavior modification technique on him when he was unacceptably rowdy or frightened. It had made sense coming from them. What did it mean for Inuyasha to use it on Kagome?
Miroku, always one to speak what he thought, actually chuckled. "Looks like Inuyasha has found a subduing spell of his own," he said.
Inuyasha ignored everyone except Kagome. When he was sure she wouldn't try to pull that stunt again, at least not for a couple minutes, he released her neck and contemplated what to do with her next. Needless to say, he wasn't going to let her out of his arms again! He thought it would be awfully gratifying to take her to the dark recesses of the cave and further reassure her of their relationship in very pleasant ways, but her hair was still wet. Instead, he sat Indian-style in the circle of the fire's warmth, manipulating Kagome until she was facing the fire, her butt resting in the space between his folded legs, her legs bent at the knee and draped over his calves. He kept one arm tight around her chest, pinning her arms to her sides, and used his other arm to brush her hair forward over her face. He leaned forward a bit, pushing her sodden hair closer to the fire's warmth. She felt utterly ridiculous, and would have objected if Inuyasha hadn't started nuzzling his face against her shoulders and neck. She wasn't sure if he was being cuddly or reminding her how easily he could grip her neck again. Either way, it was enough to hold her still.
"You have to admit she looks subdued," Miroku continued when he saw how much Kagome was not going to fight being manipulated by Inuyasha like one of those action figurines Kagome had once brought through the well for Shippou.
Kagome stiffened.
Inuyasha let his eyes flicker to Miroku and let out a growl of annoyance for the effect the mortal's words were having on Kagome.
Shippou understood the growl, and elbowed Miroku, trying to shut him up.
There was then a long silence, during which Kagome's hair started to dry, Kouga's hand started to mend, Shippou started to nod off, Sango started shifting as she noticed not for the first time just how hard the cave floor really was, and Miroku let his mind wander to all the beautiful women he had met before. This led, of course, to thoughts of women in bed (and doing bed-worthy activities in other readily available places), which then led to thoughts about Kagome's stories. 'Whatever happened to that beautiful princess, Snow White?' he wondered.
"Hey, Kagome," he asked, "whatever happened to that beautiful princess, Snow White?"
"What about her?" Kagome asked. She was sitting on Inuyasha's lap, bent forward, her hair over her face, as he alternately nuzzled, sniffdd, and -- thank goodness the others couldn't tell -- licked her neck. Snow White was one of the furthest things from her mind at the moment.
Inuyasha hadn't growled, and Shippou hadn't elbowed him again, so Miroku continued. "Well, when the story got interrupted before, Snow White had been dropped off in the forest by the queen's huntsman, and the huntsman was planning on bringing the queen the heart of a pig instead of Snow White's heart."
Inuyasha actually paused in his ministrations long enough to snort, apparently in agreement of Shippou's earlier thoughts that such a substitution was ridiculous and doomed to fail.
Not appreciating Inuyasha's attitude, she decided to continue the story with the hopes that it might annoy him. "Yes, well, the huntsman did return to the queen with the heart of a pig, and she fell for the trick, once again confident that she was the most beautiful woman in the land."
Shippou's snort mirrored Inuyasha's earlier one. Kagome ignored it.
"The princess, Snow White, didn't know the woods, and the more she ran the more lost she became. She was scared, and the tree limbs seemed to reach out and grab at her as she ran."
"Plant youkai?" Shippou squeaked, clinging to Sango in fear. Sango knocked him off of her.
"No, it was just her imagination," Kagome clarified. Inuyasha had resumed his nuzzling, sniffing, and licking against her neck, and it was becoming a struggle to stay focused, but she was determined. "She tore her dress on brambles, her hair got tangled in branches, and she tripped over roots. She was very tired and wondered if she would ever be able to rest again. Then she found a cottage. It was a little cottage with a little door and little windows."
"Was it made of straw, sticks, or bricks?" Kouga wanted to know.
"Um, I think it was made of wood, but I'm not really sure," Kagome replied. She almost expected Inuyasha to give some comments insulting her intelligence or belittling stories from her time, but he appeared preoccupied with her neck... 'Not that he had ever spoken in his youkai form,' she reminded herself. He seemed to be doing less sniffing and more licking, his long tongue, rough like a cat's but to a lesser extent, laving over her. She shuddered despite herself, and she wasn't sure it was with disgust.
"So, she knocked on the door of the cottage, but nobody answered," Kagome managed to say, a little tremor in her voice that the humans didn't detect but that Inuyasha certainly did. He combed through her damp hair with his free hand, careful not to snag her hair with his claws. Soon Kagome's hair would finish drying and he could take her away from the circle of the fire's warmth.
The humans in the group didn't understand why Kagome had paused in her narration. Kouga and Shippou, with their youkai eyesight, knew exactly what was going on between Kagome and Inuyasha. Kouga contemplated leaving the cave shelter, but settled for distracting Kagome instead. "Nobody was home, or they just didn't want visitors?" he asked her.
"Hmm, what? Oh, nobody was home," she answered, refocusing on the story. "She was so tired, though, that she entered the house anyway. The cottage was strangely furnished. There was a long table with seven tiny chairs, and there were seven plates and seven cups, all dirty from the last meal. Everything was dusty, and she was tempted to tidy up, but she felt safe in this cottage."
"Why would a princess do servant's tasks?" Sango wanted to know.
"Kagome must have meant that she wanted to see the cottage clean, Sango. A princess would never do servant's work," Miroku said.
"No, she didn't see herself that way," Kagome explained. "She didn't mind cleaning. In fact, she was the kind of person that liked to keep busy. If she saw something that needed to be done, she would just do it. Anyway, she saw a staircase leading up, so she climbed the stairs, curious. Upstairs she found seven tiny beds, so she decided that there must have been seven messy children living in this cottage."
"Pups? Living by themselves? That is ridiculous!" Kouga complained.
"I know you said unmarried women can live on their own in your time," Miroku said, still relishing that concept, "but are children forced to live alone as well?"
"Oh, not at all," Kagome explained. "In my time, there are all sorts of laws and rules about caring for children. Children never live alone. Even if their parents die and there are no other relatives, there are orphanages where the children can live. There they go to school and are fed and have people taking care of them." This idea was so foreign to the group that even Inuyasha paused in the tongue-bath he was giving Kagome... but only for a moment.
"So they weren't children?" Miroku asked.
"No, but I'll get to that later," Kagome said. "She was so tired that she pushed three of the beds together and laid across them, since they were too short for her otherwise. She quickly fell asleep."
Inuyasha gave a soft growl of displeasure and gripped Kagome's neck in his fangs once again. Kagome gave a surprised yelp. Shippou decided to translate. "Um, Inuyasha wants to make sure you know never to do something as stupid as fall asleep in a stranger's house like that," the little fox said, translating both the growl and the possessive action. Inuyasha's growl didn't cease, so Shippou continued. "Kagome, you need to tell him that you wouldn't do something like that."
She was hesitant to speak, being held as she was. Inuyasha's growl vibrated from his chest to her back and from his mouth into her very spine. The pressure of his teeth increased just a fraction, and that spurred her into action with another yelp. "No, of course I wouldn't do that," she rushed to say. "I always let you check out a place first, Inuyasha."
He seemed pleased with this response, lessening the pressure on her neck, although he kept his teeth in place.
"Just continue the story, Kagome," Shippou counseled.
It was hard to think, but Kagome tried to follow Shippou's advice. "Well, of course the owners of the house came home when she was still asleep." Inuyasha gave a short growl of displeasure, but let Kagome continue. "It ended up that they weren't children at all, but dwarves! They told her she could stay with them as long as she kept house for them, but she thought that was a great exchange." Kagome noticed that she was rushing the story now, but Inuyasha's teeth were unnerving her.
"Of course, one day the queen looked in her mirror again and asked who the fairest in the land was. The mirror always told the truth, so it told the queen that Snow White still lived, and that this girl was the fairest in the land. The queen was furious, and she cast a spell that gave her the appearance of an old woman. She went to the cottage during the day, when the dwarves were working in their mine, for that is what dwarves do. At this point the story sort of branches out, depending on who tells it. In some stories, the queen gives Snow White a poisoned comb that scratches her scalp. In some, she laces her up too tightly in a corset, a garment women used to wear to make them look thinner. In other stories, she gives Snow White a poisoned apple. Sometimes, all three occur. The end result is always the same, though: Snow White dies."
"That's it? She dies?" Sango wanted to know.
"I thought this was a story about a girl in bed!" Miroku exclaimed.
"Well, it still is. You see, the dwarves thought she was too beautiful to be buried, so they built her a coffin made of glass and surrounded her with beautiful flowers, but her beauty was more than that of the flowers. She stayed there for a long time, looking asleep, staying beautiful. In fact, she stayed so beautiful that one day a prince, who was riding his horse through the forest, came across the glass coffin. The girl was so beautiful that he kissed her..."
"He kissed a corpse?" Kouga exclaimed loudly.
"That's disgusting!" Sango agreed.
"Even I wouldn't do that," Miroku added.
Shippou stifled a laugh. "Inuyasha did," he snickered. "He kissed Kikyou, and she has been dead for over 50 years!"
***
Author's Notes: Hmm, Shippou, maybe it isn't such a good idea to taunt the not-quite-sane-at-the-moment inu-youkai... Well, everyone should be very happy that I wrote such a long chapter, much longer than any of the previous three (I checked the word count). Let me know if you think I should add some material in the next chapter that will nudge the rating up to an R...
