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an Inuyasha fanfiction
by
mkh2
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One note: raised the rating to PG because of one naughty word in chapter 2, though in the context used it wasn't that bad.
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~Who I am~
A love story in three parts:
The hanyou
The youkai
The ningen
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Part 3: The ningen
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The first thing he was aware of was warmth – that and being completely enveloped in a comforting scent. A familiar comforting scent. He slowly blinked his amber eyes open. Evening was falling, the last remnants of the sunset painting the sky in glorious red and gold hues. Shifting slightly, he realized that the warmth had a weight, and the weight had a name.
"Kagome?"
The girl in his arms stiffened and slowly turned to look at him, pulling back, making him wish he said nothing at all.
"Inuyasha?" and she launched herself back into his arms.
They sat for a moment before she pulled away and said, "Now, before the sun sets, would be a good time to get the Tetsusaiga. I tried telling you earlier but…" she trailed off and brushed her fingers over his face. "Just go get it."
He opened his mouth to object then realized why. His senses were slowly dulling and he realized his youkai blood was draining out of him. It was the first night, the night of the new moon, and he would sit as a human under the moonless sky. Standing up, he quickly leapt up into the neighboring tree, pulled the Tetsusaiga free and settled back down next to her, slipping the Tetsusaiga back into its sheath. He patted the hilt, happy to see it back where it belonged and turned to look at her.
He and Kagome sat silently as the darkness fell around them, and as it grew darker so did Inuyasha, the silver hair fading to black, the molten gold eyes taking on a lavender-brown hue. Fangs shrunk and claws were replaced with nails. The change was complete.
He, Inuyasha, the hanyou, son of the great inu no taisho, was a man – a ningen, a lowly human.
And he had never seen Kagome smile more sweetly at him.
"I was wondering what would happen tonight." Her voice, smooth and soft with that special lilt in it fairly danced over his ears.
"What do you mean?"
"You've been in your youkai form since last night."
The news shocked and disturbed him. He was at her side in an instant, eyes roaming over her body, scrutinizing every inch with their worried gaze and hands carefully checking her limbs, gently pressing here and there to see her reaction.
"Did I hurt you?"
"No, of course not – you were very gentle."
Lavender eyes met soft brown ones. She smiled and then nodded to behind him.
"I suggest you put your haori back on."
Surprised, he looked down to see his bare chest, except for his right shoulder, which was covered in bandages. He pulled them off, revealing the smooth flesh underneath. Turning away, he pulled both the top and bottom layers on, trying to hide the flush that had risen to his cheeks as he realized that he had held her against his chest.
"Are – are you angry with me?"
Inuyasha stiffened and turned to look at her, Kagome, the girl her cared more than anything about, though he would rather hand over Tetsusaiga over to his brother than admit it anytime soon. Though… he looked at her face, squinting to see it with only the firelight for aid – weak human senses – he could just make out the beginning of tears glistening… and saying something along those lines was starting to sound like an awful good idea.
"Why would you think that?" He crept along the ground, much the way he would in his hanyou form, and settled next to her. Awkwardly, he draped an arm around her shoulders; she stiffened for a moment before relaxing and leaning into him. He released a breath he hadn't known he was holding.
"Aren't you upset? I didn't force you out of your youkai state as quickly as possible. We lost a day of traveling…and I let you run around without your shirt."
"I ran around without my shirt?" He couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at that as he looked at the embarrassed girl in his arms.
"Well, you didn't really run around, except for in the morning to hunt, but you didn't take your shirts off till after we both ate, and then you just stayed topless around here." The girl got, if anything, even redder, and he couldn't help but admire how sweet she looked like this in the firelight.
"Well, that's okay – I've seen you topless and you've seen me topless."
"Hey!" She pulled away and glared at him. "When did you see me topless?"
He blushed slightly but, pulling her back into his arms, he replied, "That time you sat me off the cliff, or the time you and Sango both screamed bloody murder over some monkeys and Miroku and I stopped chatting to investigate… and then there was—"
"Okay, okay, I get the picture… you forgot about the day we met Miroku when I hit you on the head with a rock."
"That was no rock – that was a small boulder, and I didn't see anything!" Well, he did see… everything …not that he was gonna admit it (he tried his hardest to will the heat away from his face. Anyways, this arguing made him feel more comfortable; it reassured him that nothing had changed despite whatever had happened today – hopefully nothing happened, but still…
He sighed and dropped his head gently on her shoulder, only half listening as she ranted on at him about how he did too see her naked that day (funny, wasn't she yelling just a minute ago about he couldn't have seen her naked?) when he noticed something on her neck. Something… he squinted and moved slightly closer.
A faint red mark.
Standing, he pulled her protesting figure over to the fire and, pushing her hair away from her neck, tugged her collar a bit further down to get a better look. There were small tooth marks all over her and… the faint scent of… him all over her.
"I though you said I didn't hurt you." Inuyasha looked up at her, worry and a little bit of fear – fear of her anger – in his eyes.
"You didn't," she replied, straightening her shirt. "You were very… affectionate," she put it as delicately as she could.
"What? Whaddya mean, 'affectionate?'" He looked at her face closely, trying to make sure she told him the truth.
A delicate flush crept back into her face. She pulled her arm out of his – he hadn't realized he was still holding it – and gently rubbed her neck, a somewhat far away look on her face.
"You took care of me – got rid of the youkai first thing, then you decided you liked me and took care of me… at least, I think that's why you were nice. You licked me, and nuzzled and nipped at my neck – gently – and you slept with me—"
"Slept with you?" Inuyasha looked at her in horror, the blood draining out of his face.
"Not like that! We, last night, I guess you were tired, after defeating that youkai, and having lost so much blood – you were injured, after all – and after licking me you just plopped the both of us on the ground and fell asleep. Then most of the day we took naps together. You know, when you weren't eating or being affectionate." She hoped that she didn't say anything else that might make him upset.
He stared at her for a long moment before sighing. "Tomorrow you're going straight home."
"Why!" she cried, startling the both of them. It was a strange thing, an action that from her was a rare occurrence, and one she hadn't done since the time she was forced home.
"It's not for forever, it's just until it's completely gone." His eyes pleaded with her to understand and drop it; of course, nobody ever said Kagome was a mind reader.
"Until what's gone?" Inuyasha fidgeted and lowered his gaze slightly.
"The ones on your neck, and my scent – it's all over you."
"Of course it's all over me – I was very close to you all day."
"You didn't stop me from licking you? Or did you try?" Inuyasha glanced up at her.
"Um, I mostly just let you, you weren't hurting me and I think it was your way—"
"His."
"Huh?"
"His. My youkai half."
"Aa. I see." She didn't. "It was his way of being friendly."
"It was his way of – never mind. You said mostly?"
"He did get a bit too aggressive, once, but when I pushed him off… I mean, away… he backed off and stuck to just licks and nips."
Inuyasha sighed and flopped over backwards.
"He was marking you." He peeked over at her and saw that she was waiting for him to continue. "As a… potential mate."
"Oh." Kagome blinked thoughtfully and leaned back, glancing at the sky momentarily before looking back at him. "Is that all?"
"Is that all?!" Inuyasha stared at her, aghast. "Is that all?!? Kagome, I could have forced you into being my mate—"
"But you didn't. I don't think you would have, not until I was ready," Kagome interrupted, saying so with the utmost sincerity.
"How do you know?" Inuyasha started tugging at the loose threads on the Tetsusaiga's hilt out of sheer nervousness.
"Because I know you, and you would never do anything to hurt me – not like that, and never on purpose. He's you, and you, whether you are the hanyou, the youkai, or the human will always be Inuyasha to me."
Inuyasha stared for a minute feeling relief wash over him in a calming wave. He let out a soft sigh before moving to sit next to her again.
They sat like that together for most of the night when, as the sun came up, a thought occurred to him.
"What do you mean, when you were ready?"
She laughed.
~End part 3 – The ningen~
Well, here is the third and final chapter – hope you enjoyed. I'm thinking I'll add an epilogue… I mean, this last part suddenly struck me as very cute and I couldn't help but wonder what could be done to Inu-kun to make him squirm. I can't help it – I think he's adorable when he's embarrassed.
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I'm guessing you people might be wondering why I never really made mention of Kagome's name in the last chapter. Inuyasha's mind as a youkai was only just sentient enough to recognize his own name, but other than that it was so animalistic that he only recognized her as a potential mate.
Also you may notice that of the three chapters this one has the most speech/spoken word. As a youkai, so deeply into that mode he was, he was basically incapable of coherent speech, and as a hanyou, being somewhere in between human and youkai, he relies mostly on instinct. The majority of communication is done with actions and tone, so Inuyasha doesn't rely too much on speaking. When he does he uses only what is necessary (often true for my behavior – I'm lazy about talking and usually only say what is absolutely necessary), and it's often thought out, but quite often we see the side of him where, being impulsive and instinctual, will occasionally blurt things out without much thought, thus sticking his foot into his mouth. It's true that he's a bit brash and rather impulsive, but after "observing" him in both the manga and anime I have come to realize that he is actually very intelligent and often displays it in his long bouts of moodiness and falling into deep-thought. (Another thing – he can too read! He does it in Volume 3 Chapter 25 Page 25 of "The Man-Eating Mask" – he's obviously intelligent enough to read the book, even if he doesn't understand math… .) Whoo! What a happy vent.
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7:44 p.m. – 9:13 p.m., 10/09/2003