There and Back Again

Chapter Eighteen:  First Contact

            'Inu-kun, I want to go for a walk.'

            Inu nodded and rose, collecting his swords.  Ruri followed him outside, and saw Inu's uncle lounging on top of the hut.  He sat up when he saw them.

            "Oi, Hoshino."

            "Hai, Inuyasha-sama?"  Ruri looked up to see him toss her Tetsusaiga to her.

            "You fought well, for a little kid.  You might someday live long enough to have pups of your own if you keep fighting like that."  The hanyou was in complete darkness as to why Ruri's pale face suddenly turned completely crimson.  Inu-kun walked a little way down the path, pretending not to hear her thoughts on the matter.  Had his uncle heard those same thoughts, there wouldn't have been much mystery to him as to why she was blushing.  Ruri hurried to catch up with him.

            The two wandered through the forest for a while in silence.  Neither said anything nor even thought very much.  Both forced themselves to think about the weather, bird calls, trees.  They reached a sunlight-filled clearing in the forest which was covered in a thick carpet of grass.  Ruri laid down in the green, staring up at the sky.  She felt more than saw her friend seat himself beside her.

            'Inu-kun, are we monsters?'

            Inuyasha blinked at the question.  'No more so than anyone else in the world considered abnormal.'

            'Baka.  You know what I mean.'

            'Baka yourself.  I gave the answer I mean.  Freaks, monsters, lepers.  The human race has a tendency to hate whatever it considers to be something other than normal.'  He flopped back against the grass to stare at the sky with Ruri.  'Whether someone is a monster or not has nothing to do with appearance, blood, or skill.

            'Laymen, Johnson, my mother and grandmother.  They're all driven by greed and hate.  Motivation is all that matters; they've chosen to paint their own souls black.  The mechanics of a situation often are irrelevant.  Yurika-san and Akito-san did not give birth to you, but are indeed parents to you.  Even though she wears no ring yet, Yurika-san is more of a wife to Akito-san than many women who have worn a ring for decades, and vice versa.'

            Ruri nodded.  'And even though Yurika-san has issued orders which resulted in people dying, she has no blood on her hands.'

            'Exactly.'

            They stared at the sky a while longer, as Ruri pondered what they had said.  Inu appeared content to say nothing, so it was Ruri who broke the silence next.

            "Inu-kun..."  She looked over to him and stretched out her hand.  After inadvertently rendering each other unconscious the night before, they had both carefully avoided coming into physical contact with each other.  Inuyasha let his hand extend as well, and let the skin of his palm brush against hers.  He held his hand at that point in space for some time as the tides and emotions that churned inside their minds crashed against each other.

            Neither was sure what the other was experiencing.  When they were not in contact, communication along that mental channel was simple, an altered version of the same way they talked with everyone else around them.  When there was physical contact, however, it was a far different story.  The youkai understood now that the amount of contact between them really did directly affect their link.  If and when Ruri returned to space, they would probably only be able to faintly hear each other.  With their minds active now, they were torrents against each other.  Inuyasha saw an image before him that he didn't recognize.  It must have been from Ruri.  It was a man in a rather bland blue and black uniform, who was either youkai or hanyou but definitely not all human.  His ears resembled those of himself and his father Sesshoumaru.

            Ruri audibly giggled next to him.  'That's Spock, baka.'

            'I thought you didn't care for twentieth century television.'  Inuyasha recognized it now.  He hadn't watched much Star Trek, but what he knew about Vulcans and mind melds did seem appropriate right now.

            'Baka.  Just because I'm not a big anime fan like Akito-san doesn't mean I don't like all of it.'

            'Point taken.'

            Ruri closed her hand around his and they felt the tides crash further into each other.  If it was this chaotic now, what would it be like if they ever-

            Inuyasha felt Ruri quickly let go of his hand.  Where the hell had that unbidden thought come from?  He blinked.  When he thought about it, he was forced to admit that, yes, she was a beautiful girl, and would become an even more beautiful woman.  But that thought... he'd never even entertained those thoughts.  With the receding of the tides between them he became able to sort thoughts back into what she had thought versus what he had thought.  That particular thought didn't fall into his column.

            'Baka.  Why did I let myself think anything like that? I'm thirteen; I don't understand adult things like that.'

            Though she had sat up and was turned away from him, the son of Sesshoumaru could feel her embarrassment.    He moved to sit behind her, and placed a hand on her shoulder.  Ruri could tell that he was trying to control his mind's output as she felt a wave of compassion and caring move across her.

            'Ruri, you have nothing to be embarrassed about.  Sure, I'm surprised to hear you of all people say... think that.  I guess I was being prophetic when we first got here and I said we shouldn't worry about trying to hide anything from each other.'

            Ruri smiled slightly, her face still red.  She turned to face him.  'Inu-kun, will you... kiss me?'

            Inuyasha leaned forward and gently kissed her forehead.  He felt the wave of disappointment in her.  'When you're eighteen, Ruri-chan.  Until then, we should keep -kun and -chan literal.'

            'Promise?'

            'Do you think it's possible for me to lie to you?'

            'Baka, no.  Promise.'

            'I promise, Ruri-chan, to kiss you properly when you turn eighteen.'

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