"We'll see you tomorrow!" Kagome called to Sango, Miroku, and Shippo as she sat on the edge of the well by Inuyasha. He would become human that night, and so she had offered to let him stay in her era. He had complied with an indifferent 'keh', but was visibly relaxed the rest of the morning. It was around 6:00p.m., they were just leaving. Sango smiled.
"Goodbye, and have fun!"
Fun . . . yea . . . if you could call studying fun. She smiled anyway, and nodded before jumping in. Inuyasha followed her down the well. As they stepped out of the mini shrine, a small blur shot out of the house and attached itself to Inuyasha.
"Hey!" Souta cried. "Kagome, you didn't say Inuyasha was coming!"
She sweatdropped, and knelt to pry her little brother of the severely disturbed half-demon. Her mother stepped out of the house a moment later.
"Hello!" she said cheerily. "Kagome, you should have told me your dog-eared friend was coming over. I would have sent Grandpa out on an errand."
"Speak of the devil," Kagome muttered as the old man came out of the house. He gave a yell when he saw Inuyasha, and began throwing spell scrolls.
"Ah! Youkai!"
Inuyasha plucked a couple of papers off of him, leaning over to Kagome, he muttered:
"Your family's almost a weird as you."
She glared. "OSUWARI!"
Inuyasha yelped as he was introduced to modern soil. He jumped up as soon as he was able and followed Kagome and her family into the house.
---
Kagome looked at her textbook, blinking to clear her vision. She was lying on her bed, studying for her finals. It had only been half an hour since she got home, and she was already half asleep. That was not good. She grabbed the tea from her bedside table, accidentally brushing the ear of her companion with her hand. Inuyasha looked up at her for a moment, and went back to pushing buttons. She had given him Souta's old toy cash register to play with. He was completely enthralled, the only noises in the room were the click of buttons, and the small 'ping' the register made when he opened the drawer.
Kagome gave up on her book, and rolled over to face the ceiling. Her arm draped over the side of her bed, near Inuyasha's back, which was facing her. Absently, she began to trace her fingers up and down his spine. He shivered and sat up straighter.
"What are you doing?" he asked, turning to look at her with gold eyes. She pulled her arm back.
"I dunno, sorry," she answered; it was amazing how such a small act could be so awkward between them, when they had shared a sleeping mat if it was necessary to save space. He shrugged, and turned back.
"Keh," he replied. "I never said you had to stop; it feels nice."
Kagome blinked at this open admission, it wasn't often he told her anything. She continued to stroke his back through his kimono, the slow, steady movement soothing both of them. They stayed like that until her mother called them for dinner.
Kagome sat down, and grinned. It was real food! Only Inuyasha . . . was eating ramen . . . again. She sighed, and passed him a pair of chopsticks. Dinner was more or less uneventful; they didn't really talk about their activities. After all, she didn't think her mother wanted to hear about what demon they had killed recently, or Miroku's latest offence against Sango. Kagome's grandfather kept shooting Inuyasha dirty looks, which didn't help. The silence was awkward.
Finally, Kagome grabbed Inuyasha by the back of his hayori, and dragged him upstairs, despite the fact that he was still eating ramen. The sun was just setting, and Kagome watched Inuyasha as he became human. The transformation was always breathtaking, watching his silver hair fade to black, and his golden eyes darken to a rich brown. She was always too busy watching his eyes to notice his ears, but eventually they, too, faded away. Two human ears poked out from the sides of his head, and he scowled at her.
"What are you looking at?"
Kagome blushed and looked away. "Sorry, it's just always so surprising," she whispered. He scowled again, but sat down. Or tried to, anyway. Kagome was shoving him out of the room. He made an indignant noise and she sighed.
"I want to change, okay?"
Inuyasha nodded, and let her close the door on him.
---
Inuyasha sat near Kagome's window, looking out. The sky was without a moon, but the false dawn gave the room a faint light. Kagome was sleeping in her bed. Inuyasha spared a glance back at her, and opened the window, something he had learned to do a little while ago. The moment he moved to go outside, he heard a voice.
"Where are you going? You're human tonight, if you forget," Kagome said. He turned around. She stood in front of him, her hands on her hips. Since it was summer, she wore a light nightdress to sleep, and it barely reached her knees. Her hair was braided, and a few wisps had come loose. Inuyasha felt himself go red. Miroku must have taken over his mind, for him to be thinking about Kagome the way he was. He walked over to her, and smiled.
"I need some air, okay?" he said in a voice that didn't quite match his friendly visage. She hesitated, and he turned and knelt.
"Come with me," he told her.
"Pardon?"
"Come with me," he repeated, a little sterner. She climbed on, and laid her head on his back. Inuyasha could feel her breath making his hair flutter, and something inside him crackled. He hopped out the window, and despite the fact that he was human, managed to land neatly on the ground. The two of them sat on a small bench, and said nothing.
After a few awkward moments . . .
"Arigatou," Inuyasha whispered. Kagome looked at him, surprised.
"What for?"
He didn't know why, but he felt he had to tell her. "For bringing me here tonight. I hate the thought of putting you in danger, and I'm useless like this."
Okay, muddled, but she seemed to get the message.
"I'm glad you're here, too, Inuyasha," she whispered, leaning on his shoulder. He went red, which was becoming a common color for him, but didn't move. A few moments later, he spoke.
"We should go inside, Kagome. The sun's going to be up soon. Kagome?"
She had fallen asleep. He sighed.
"Stupid wench," he muttered, picking her up, and climbing back in the window. Moving across the floor slowly, so as not to wake anyone else in the house, Inuyasha made his way to her bed. He laid her down, and pulled the covers up over her. Something about the sight of her like this, so peaceful, happily dreaming, he felt . . . what? He wasn't sure what it was. But whatever he was feeling, it made him brush the escaping wisps of hair out of her face, and kiss her on the forehead. Then he sat down on the floor, and slept, his head resting on her bed.
When Kagome awoke, Inuyasha was back to normal, and she was in her room. She must have fallen asleep while she was outside, because she didn't remember coming back in. When she realized he must have put her back to bed, she smiled.
'How does he do that? He can be so terribly frustrating at times, and then he does something totally sweet like this. I guess that's why I love him.'
This realization hit her like a sharp shock. Did she really love Inuyasha? His head was resting on the side of her bed, and she couldn't resist. She reached out, and scratched his ears. Maybe she did . . .
Inuyasha woke up to a very pleasant sensation. Someone was scratching his ears. Whoever it was, they smelt nice. He stopped. He knew that scent, it was Kagome. She was the one doing that? He jumped a little, and she pulled her hand back, giggling.
"Sorry, couldn't resist," she said, sitting on her bed with her legs tucked under her. He growled playfully.
"Couldn't resist, eh?" he said, and pounced, tickling her. She gave a squeal, and tried to protect herself, to no avail.
"Inuyasha, stop that! Really . . . ah! Osuwari!"
That had not been well planned, she mused a moment later. Inuyasha came crashing down on top of her, leaving them in what some would call a very awkward position. He was holding her wrists above her head to stop her from fighting back, and somehow during the assault, he had ended up straddling her. His face crashed into the pillow next to her, and his nose was buried in her hair.
He breathed in her scent, and bit his lip. Dammit! She was so enticing, and every instinct he had was screaming at him to mark her right here and now. He lay there for what felt like ages, waiting for the spell to release. He couldn't jump away fast enough when it did. Kagome was blushing profusely, and she coughed.
"Sorry, didn't think about that one. Shoo, please," she muttered, coaxing him towards the door. She shut the door on a very confused hanyou. As she slid out of her nightdress, and into her uniform, she thought about the last week or so. Inuyasha had been really sweet lately. Was it just a passing thing? She should tell him how she felt, shouldn't she? She'd never know if she didn't try. As she opened the door, she decided that for certain, she'd tell him today. She grabbed her backpack and stepped out the door.
"Come one!" she said, bounding down the stairs. Inuyasha followed.
---
They leapt through the well, and touched down carefully. Inuyasha hopped out first, and bent to help Kagome. Unfortunately, she had decided to toss up the bag before her, and it hit Inuyasha in the face. He stumbled backwards and fell on his butt. Kagome heard him give a squawk of indignation, and she clambered out of the well.
"I'm so sorry! Did I hurt you?"
He glared at her. "Of course not!"
It took her a moment to realize he wasn't being sarcastic. They would have to get started back quickly, so Kagome gathered her courage.
"Um . . . Inuyasha?"
"What?" he growled.
"Can I talk to you for a minute?"
". . ."
"Well, ano, I've never done this before. It's just, I don't know if I'll ever get the chance to tell you again, so I guess I should . . . ano, well, I just wanted to tell you . . ."
"What?" Inuyasha's voice held no menace, no impatience.
"I - I love you."
Now, Inuyasha never did figure out why he did what he did next. All he knew was that loving Kagome - and having her love him back - was dangerous. It was like saying 'Hey, Naraku! Want to bait Inuyasha? Use Kagome! Then you can get both of them at the same time' He knew perfectly well that Kagome didn't need protecting, she was stronger than she had been when she started out. That was why he suspected, for the rest of his life, that he had been momentarily possessed. No matter why, he still opened his mouth, and said:
"So? What's your point? Am I supposed to get all warm and fuzzy and shit and tell you I love you too? Not going to happen, bitch. You're nothing, okay? Just a jewel shard detector. You've always known that, haven't you? You're so stupid. Now that you're got all that out of the way, can we go?"
He picked up the yellow bag and turned. He reached the edge of the forest before he twisted his head around.
"Kagome? Come on!"
She wasn't there.
Inuyasha dropped the bag and ran.
---
Kagome blinked back tears. Had he really said that? Yes, he had. She was nothing to him. She loved him, and she was nothing to him . . . She turned around, and ran to the other side of the forest, not caring where she ended up, as long as Inuyasha wasn't there.
How stupid was she? Telling Inuyasha she loved him. What a fool she was.
She tripped on a root, and went sprawling. A sharp pain lanced through her upper arm - she had cut herself. She got to her feet, and kept running. The tears flowed freely now.
Why had she even hoped? She knew what he was like when he was human; everything about him was more relaxed. Of course that meant he was going to be nice! Why should that be anything special?
She had found her way into a clearing, where a small, misty lake formed at the bottom of a waterfall. That meant there was a height nearby. She heard a noise, and looked over. A demon stood at the edge of the clearing. The bottom half of it was a horse, its upper half an adult male. It whinnied.
"I thought I smelt a mare," he said. Kagome racked her brain. Mares . . . they were female stallions, used mainly for breeding. Her eyes filled with horror as the demon moved towards her.
"You're a pretty one, even if you are human. I wonder if that blush of yours goes any lower . . ."
Kagome squeaked, realizing she was, indeed, blushing. She turned and ran as hard as she could - harder even than when she had first met Inuyasha, for now she was an experienced miko who spent much of her time chasing or running from demons.
She heard the sound of hoof beats behind her, and didn't have to turn to know the demon was after her. And the price if he caught her was worse than death.
---
'Stupid, stupid, stupid!' Inuyasha thought as he ran through the forest. 'How could I have been so senseless? She was right there, telling me what I've wanted to hear for so long, and I brush it off! What was I thinking?'
He picked up her scent quickly enough, and followed it. It wasn't hard; he knew her scent perfectly. It was a little bit of Kikyo; that's what had woken him up a few short years ago. But only a little, only enough to make it known from a distance. The rest of her scent was completely unique, something he remembered and recognized, but couldn't put a name to. It was just her.
His brother hated him; other demons did as well. Humans feared him; they were helpless after all. Accepted by neither culture, torn away from the only person who had ever honesty cared for him, his mother. He had been an alien in both worlds. Then came Kikyo. Kikyo had wanted him to change for her, and Inuyasha had been more than willing. No one had wanted anything to do with him for so long, and he had finally come to let himself feel. But there had never been trust. Naraku had told him that once, and it was like a slap in the face to hear the truth you knew but didn't want to know from your worst enemy. The lack of trust had sent him into a 50-year sleep, stopped when a terrified 15-year-old pulled the arrow from his chest.
Kagome . . . she accepted him as he was. She didn't want a powerful demon like Kouga or a human like that boy, Hojo. She wanted him. And he had let her slip away - no - he had pushed her away, because he couldn't believe she would want him. After years of hating himself, here was one person who loved him, and he pushed her away.
He wasn't that stupid. He would find her, and he would tell her exactly what he wanted to, exactly what he should have when she told him she loved him. He would tell her he loved her too.
Inuyasha gave the air another little sniff as he ran. Her scent was laced with tears, which was understandable, but why did he smell blood . . . and fear? He urged himself to move a little faster, remembering something from not-so-long ago. It hadn't been quite a week ago, when they spoke. Kagome sat on the edge of the well, her eyes looking sightlessly out into the forest. He crouched beside her, watching. Protecting.
"What are you doing?' he had asked. When she told him 'Thinking' he laughed. She didn't do that a whole lot, he said, and that got him a firm "osuwari". Painful, but earned. When finally released, he sobered. She looked serious. He asked what she was thinking about, and she gave him a sad smile.
'I was just thinking . . . since we started looking for Naraku, there hasn't been a day go by something hasn't gone wrong. We've lost a lot of friends,' she had sighed. He knew she was thinking about Jinenji, buried near his home, and of Shiori and the young hanyou's mother – both dead as well. He looked up at her, taking her hand after a moment. Both had flushed, but enjoyed the comforting touch.
'Kagome . . . stay safe. I'll give you a day without sorrow, I promise.'
---
Kagome was trapped, her back against the sheer cliff. The horse demon had the lower body of an Andalusian stallion, and the upper body of a man. One would almost call him a centaur, but for the fact that he had only two hooves, which he walked upon. His features were handsome enough, short cropped black hair and brilliantly pale blue eyes set in an angular face, which would have been unusual if he wasn't a demon.
She couldn't run; he would catch her quick enough, and if she screamed, he would knock her out, and no matter what she did, she refused to pass out. Why had she run so far from camp? Better yet, why had she told Inuyasha she loved him? If she had kept her mouth shut, she wouldn't have this problem right now. The horse demon gave a chuckle.
"Come on now, little one, we can make this nice, if you're compliant," he said, his eyes dragging over her body. Kagome couldn't help it; she gave a little shudder as his eyes lingered over her middle body. She lifted her arms to fold them over her chest, but winced and put them down. She had forgotten about the large gash on her upper arm. Blood dripped over the sleeve of her clothes, and she suddenly realized just how much trouble she was in.
'Inuyasha won't be saving me now, what am I going to do?' she thought. The demon moved closer to her, his eyes gleaming, mouth drawn in a lecherous smirk. She bit her lip. Talk not, talk not, talk not. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction of hearing her scream. He was barely inches away now; he reached forward to draw her to him. She shut her eyes.
"Keep your hands off of her!" a very, very familiar voice yelled. Kagome opened her eyes.
"Inuyasha," she gasped. The demon turned.
"Oh. Is this your bitch, puppy?" he sneered. Like a shot he grabbed Kagome by the hips and kissed her roughly, shoving his tongue into her mouth. She wriggled against him, trying to push away. Inuyasha gave a low growl and drew the Tessuaiga.
"Did you hear me?" he yelled. "I said hands off!"
The horse demon licked his lips as he pulled away. Kagome's knees trembled, she felt like she was going to be sick.
"You will bear gorgeous colts," he hissed, leering at Kagome. "First I will deal with you, hanyou!" The demon turned from Kagome, and she ran to the edge of the forest, out of Inuyasha's way. He glanced at her, but turned to the demon before him. The horse youkai pulled a hair from his tail, and tugged at the end until it was long and thick like a whip.
"Let's dance," the demon sneered. He snapped the strand at Inuyasha who jumped away, flipping to land behind him. He slashed with the Tessuaiga, only to have it kicked away by the demon's hooves. Inuyasha danced away from and around the whip, but his opponent was fast. He scored a long cut on Inuyasha's arm. The injured boy hissed, grabbing the limb.
"Hurts, doesn't it?" the horse-man sneered. Inuyasha growled.
"Sankontessou!" he yelled, slashing at him. The demon was scored, but not seriously injured. He snarled, and snapped his whip, not at Inuyasha, but at Kagome, who was running for the Tessuaiga.
"Now, now, little one, we mustn't have you hurting yourself with that big ol' thing," he cooed mockingly. Inuyasha jumped towards the girl.
"KAGOME!" he screamed, grabbing her and shielding her with his body. He hissed as the whip scored deeply into his back. Kagome gasped. But even as the horse demon snapped again and again at Inuyasha with the whip, her hand was creeping towards the sword. The whip snapped out again, hitting the sword and sending it flying into the air, and into the horse demon's hand.
But the Tessuaiga was not meant for a demon like him. It shrunk and crackled. The horse man screamed and dropped the sword, clutching his burning hand. Inuyasha took the opportunity to grab the sword himself. He swung it up and cut through the youkai's stomach. The demon clutched at his newer, more painful wound, and fell to the ground. Blood pooled around him as he died, and a stink filled the air. Inuyasha had hit the intestines, and he wrinkled his nose. Sticking the sword in its sheath, he turned to Kagome. She was already walking towards the forest again. He caught up to her easily.
"Hold on, Kagome. Where are you going?"
She kept walking. "Where do you think I'm going? I'm going home."
"But -"
"Osuwari," she whispered, and Inuyasha had a fleeting glance of her sorrowful face before he ate dirt. He got up and followed her. He had come here to tell her how he felt! What did she think she was doing?
"Hey! Come back here! Why the hell are you leaving?!"
She whirled around. "Why do you care? You said it yourself earlier, I'm nothing!"
Inuyasha walked up to her and grabbed her by the arm.
"No," he growled, looking her straight in the eye, "I'm not playing this game with you any more. No matter what we argue about, it always comes down to this. So I'm going to solve it once and for all."
Kagome looked at him, shocked and a little scared. What was he doing?
Inuyasha let go of her arm, and tilted her chin up. He bent his head, and pressed his lips against hers in a firm kiss.
'Oh my,' thought Kagome, while she still could. He let go of her and stepped back. Her face was flushed.
"There," he said. "Do you get it now?"
When he didn't get an answer, he continued. "You're not 'nothing', Kagome. You never were. I lied, and I'm sorry."
She knew now, she had been stupid. But she had to hear it.
"So how . . . ?" Her voice was barely above a whisper. He gave a lazy, confident smirk and wrapped his arms around her.
"I love you," he told her, and she wrapped her arms tight around him. She hissed as her injured arm protested the movement. He pulled back, his usual look of disdain on his face.
"You're hurt," he scolded, scooping her up bridal style. They made it back to their camp quickly, and if anyone had asked why Kagome wasn't on his back as per the usual, they would have been told it was because of her injury.
Later that night, as everyone settled down for bed, Inuyasha pulled Kagome aside. Everyone pointedly ignored it.
"Inuyasha . . . what are you - ah!"
Inuyasha had scooped her up and jumped into a tree. She wriggled in his grasp.
"Stop that, or I'll drop you," he said. She stopped, and looked at him.
"What are we doing?"
"Going to sleep."
She squeaked, and he sat down, tugging her into his lap and holding her against his chest.
"I can't sleep here, in a tree with you! It's not, not –"
"Proper?" the smirk returned to Inuyasha's face, and he glanced down at Sango and Miroku, who were curled up in Kirara's tail.
"No-one will say anything," he reassured. She looked down - and discovered it was a bad idea. Very tall trees, she discovered, looked even taller when you are going to sleep in them. She wrapped her arms around him, and he kissed her forehead.
"G'night," he said. She smiled and leaned up to kiss him gently on the mouth.
"Goodnight, Inuyasha."
---
This is dedicated to Shui, who BETA's all my stuff, and always makes me fix my grammar, even if it's just a dot. And just because she likes the fluff.
Go black dots!
Now for the Author's Notes:
Okay, this fic is my longest-ever one shot, at eight pages. If Nox (my Harry Potter Post-War fic) had stayed a one shot, it wouldn't have even beaten this one. So hooray for Iris!
Okay, I called this fic Iris, which probably doesn't make much sense. No worries! I have not (yet) lost my mind. Or have I? Whatever, anyway, I do have a method behind my madness. Iris is the name of a song by the Goo-Goo Dolls. This song inspired me to write this fic. I didn't want to write a songfic, so I just called it Iris. I know Miroku and Sango and Shippo aren't very prominent in this fic, and I'm sorry. This was a Inu/Kag fic, and I wanted to focus on their romance alone. I am a great believer, however, in the Mir/San ship. I have counts on fingers uh . . . probably about 5 or 6 ideas for fics that are about the Mir/San pairing. A few of them I've already started. So if you want to see some action there, just wait! It's coming! And the final note, I used a few of songs to help me set the mood of this. If you know me, this isn't unusual. I use music so much. My parents suspect my earphones may be glued to my ears and I just don't want to tell them, they never come off. So here we go:
Iris - Goo-Goo Dolls (This song actually inspired this fic, I didn't get to listen to it after I was inspired when I heard it on the radio as my Mum drove Shui and I to swimming at 6:45 in the morning)
When I'm Gone - 3 Doors Down (This song I used to write the scene I call 'Spinal Tap', where Inuyasha is sitting on Kagome's floor and she's stroking his spine. I also wrote the scenes 'Weirdo', which is the arrival at the Higurashi shrine, and 'Damnable Hormones' which is dinner. I guess you could say I wrote everything from when they reach the shrine to just before Inuyasha became human to this song, but they're all separate scenes )
Whisper - Evanescence (I wrote a lot of this fic to this song. I love Evanescence, and I use their songs in a LOT of stuff. This was especially helpful in writing 'Do You Think I Care?', the scene where Kagome tells Inuyasha she loves him, and he blows her off. Unless otherwise specified, this is what I listened to while writing this fic)
Breath - Swollen Members feat. Nelly Furtado (It's such a cool song. I listen to it all the time, and I can lip sync it perfectly [is that even something to be proud of? OOU]. I used this to write just some smaller, yet incredibly important stuff, like 'Running Water', the scene where Kagome meets our nameless horse-demon. I also wrote 'Dawning Emotions to this song, which is the scene from when Inuyasha becoming human to when he tucks Kagome into bed and falls asleep beside her)
My Last Breath - Evanescence (I was listening to this when I wrote 'Horsetail' - the fight scene. I'm sorry if it sucks, but they're really hard to write! I would have made it longer, but I've never done something like that before, so I think it turned out pretty good! If anyone has any tips or constructive criticism on writing fight scenes, I would love to hear it)
Forever Gone, Forever You and Away From Me: Evanescence (Well, I wrote the editing to this, like Day Without Sorrow, which is the very small but very important Inuyasha's memory thinger. I love these songs)
There we go, so go ahead and e-mail me or leave a review if you have a question or want to make a comment. If you e-mail, please put "Iris Fic" as the subject, or I'll probably delete your mail. I don't care if you want to flame, it's only my LIFE you're criticizing (joking). Trust me, if you flame me, you're gonna get burnt right back. If you would like a list of all the names of the scenes, e-mail me as well!
Hope you enjoyed the new version of IRIS!
Disclaimer: I may not own Inuyasha, but neither do you! sticks out tongue I also own none of the songs mentioned, or the bands.