A/n: Well, I'm back. I got one more poll result for this chapter and the vote is tied now.
Kouga/Kagome: 1
Inuyasha/Kagome: 1
So, I really need some poll responses this time!
Review Responses:
Shinobi-chan: These review responses seem to be getting shorter and shorter each time I update -.- Thank you for your review and I just want to say that I admire you for you interest in lesser seen topics because I know that so many people (no offense to them in the least) use such cliché topics and… yeah, stuff… lol.
Chapter 6*
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Halfway home, Kagome began to regret her choice on leaving. She knew there was going to be a brawl and she just left. Could she have been… scared?? Okay, so Inuyasha's face still haunted her thoughts… Maybe she was scared of that serious, hard look. It just—it didn't suit him at all… It looked so out of place. She liked the carefree Inuyasha, the one that could joke around and play along with any joke she attempted. I didn't like how angry he'd looked, she admitted that in a second. She was frightened of him and she was scared of what he would do when Kouga showed up, so she took the instinctive route and just… left.
She did that often. She walked away a lot of times when he'd get angry like that; he knew that if he tried to stop her that he'd get slapped… hard. For behavioral reasons, of course.
Kagome sighed deeply when she approached the shrine steps, still varying in her choice on whether to go back and check on the boys or to forget about it. She pondered hard on the bottom steps for what seemed like a long time (Though, in all actuality, it was barely five minutes) before at last leaving her book bag at the temple steps, decidedly coming up with her conclusion, and dashing off to where she'd left the two teens.
She had an obligation: to make sure they didn't kill each other. Kouga had come to her in the first place and, in her opinion, she was in charge of his safety. Inuyasha had a different story behind it but, in the end, the conclusion came to the same obligation as she had to Kouga – considering she seemed to be the only sane one around. She had to make sure that nothing happened Kouga or Inuyasha… tough work, really. She only hoped that Kouga wasn't as bad as Inuyasha when it came to temperament because that would be disastrous!
By Kouga's angry face, though, she recollected, he seemed just as furious to see me with Inuyasha as Inuyasha was about seeing me with Kouga… Oh, she had a handful, all right! Kagome slowed to a walk as she rounded the corner to the street where she'd fled from before, panting softly. Oh, I hope they're both okay!!
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The street was empty, she noted with annoyance when she reached the precise spot where she had left Inuyasha and Kouga. She scrutinized the premises for hints on their disappearance – Just like the detectives off that show on TV… Kagome realized with a quiet laugh – and didn't find a thing, not even a drop of blood. Well, unless wind blowing the tree was a clue. She felt rather relieved at that, but there was still the matter as to where they'd gone. She stomped her foot in frustration, fed up with her search, seconds later, and shrieked in aggravation. "They left!" she cried out with rage. But, she realized, if no one's here… Then, why didn't I see Inuyasha on my way back here? She gave up with her thoughts moments later, and, shrugging, she wondered aloud, "He must have taken a shortcut or something…"
I hope they didn't actually fight… I'm really afraid to see the damage if they did… She sighed again and treaded home. "Please be okay, Inuyasha," she said aloud to herself, "You, too, Kouga…"
Inuyasha jumped down from the high branch in the tree where he'd hid and watched Kagome leave, turning the corner again dejectedly. He had the urge to call out to her, apologize maybe… But he knew better, that with his damages, he'd better clean up first or Kagome would only make it ten-times worse. He sported a black eye, swollen lip, and bloody knuckles from his squabble with Kouga.
The said boy hopped from the tree beside Inuyasha's to watch Kagome leave along with Inuyasha, landing with a little difficulty feet away from the other boy and making sure to keep his distance because his fists hurt from the stupid mutt's hard head. He'd had his own fair share of battle scars – as he liked to boast them off as – from the conflict: a ripped cheek that bled freely and a chipped fang – he even had one that wasn't from the fight. One that he'd earned from the tree that he chose to hide in: a bruised jaw.
Inuyasha realized, as Kouga turned to grin cockily as Kagome left hearing range, that he'd earn the bloody knuckles from Kouga's sharp-ass teeth – The freak… he needs to file them things down or something… Dangerous!
"Looks like I win this time…"
"What the hell? In your dreams!"
Kouga's eyes flashed dangerously as Inuyasha snarled and barred his perfect and sharp rows of teeth, bringing both back to topic: Kagome. "Look," Inuyasha and Kouga started in unison. They ignored the chorus of each other's voices and continued, "If you ever come near here again," Inuyasha began in a growl while Kouga did the same with a, "If you ever hurt her again," and finished simultaneously with the same phrase of, "I'll kick your ass…" (A/n: Whoa… I hope ya'll got that, LOL, cause I sort of lost myself there for a second…)
"I mean it!" Inuyasha's words were slurred slightly from the slit lip but he was still comprehendible, "You'll be running away with your tail between your legs before I even start!"
"Isn't that your job?" Kouga replied coolly, "Besides, why are you so protective of her – don't you already have a girl? Kagome. Is. Mine. You understand? My. Woman."
"That doesn't mean anything!!" Inuyasha nearly shouted in fury. "Kagome's more important when you're around!" he blurted out, prodding a finger in Kouga's face.
Kouga snapped at Inuyasha's finger but the other boy pulled his hand away just before Kouga could take it off for him. "Bite me!"
Inuyasha barred his dagger-like teeth dangerously, growling low in his throat.
"Not literally, you damn mutt!"
Inuyasha's brow lowered. "Yeah, yeah… Call me what you'd like, but you had better remember my warning, pup…" Without waiting for a reply, Inuyasha sprinted off to take that shortcut that Kagome had mentioned earlier for he knew that the girl was heading straight for his house and he needed time to wash up.
"Run while you can, you mutt!!" Kouga taunted as he headed is own way home.
Inuyasha merely shot Kouga a rude gesture with a single finger over his shoulder without even bothering to have the decency to look at him or to realize that Kouga hadn't even seen.
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He hurried through an alley, jumped a fence, and found himself in his backyard in no time. He rushed in the backdoor, ignored his older brother's comments about his appearance with a simple "Fluffy." that sent him sulking in the corner.
Inuyasha dabbed a wet cloth on his swollen lip, trying to treat his bruised eye without hurting himself terribly. He'd already soaked and dressed his knuckles but he found his lip to be the most painful, considering the fact hat he could deal with the pain in his eye fairly well. He suddenly dropped the cloth in surprise when the doorbell rang. He found, after in was rung again, that no one had answered. "Sesshoumaru, get the door, you idiot!!"
Sesshoumaru cast Inuyasha a cool look from the doorway where he leaned on the doorframe. "It's not my girlfriend at the door… You get it…"
Inuyasha lost his color. "Shit. Kikyou's at the door? Don't answer it! Never mind!!"
The doorbell rang again and both boys looked over at it.
"No, not that girl; not the Kikyou… The other wench—Kagami, I think…" Sesshoumaru answered in a monotone, bored voice.
"It's Kagome. And, no, she's not my girlfriend. Go answer it. She'll kill me…"
"Gladly… if she'll kill you, that is." Sesshoumaru pushed off the doorway, sauntered to the door, opened in, and let Kagome fly in. She checked each room for Inuyasha, here temper rising with each empty room. She finally found him in the bathroom, frozen with fear. Her brow lowered, taking in the bandaged knuckles, colored eye, and the hidden split lip.
She inquired his wounds a lifted brow.
"Heh. It wasn't me…?" Inuyasha tried, pulling the rag away from his mouth to speak.
She returned a stony glare. "You fought him, didn't you?"
"Hey! Don't get mad at me! He was the one who started it, Wench!"
"Okay," Kagome agreed unconvincingly, "Then how'd it happen, huh, Inu'?"
Inuyasha remained silent
Inuyasha remained still as Kagome backed up a few steps, holding her elbow in pain. Had he done that? Well, frankly, at the moment, he didn't care. Kouga was approaching, and fast – he could place his scummy odor anywhere; it was like a wolf's. How he hated wolves… He watched Kagome as she noticed Kouga running over, turned with a frightened look plastered to her features, and darted away. Seconds after Kagome skidded around the corner of the same street, and Inuyasha felt himself twisted around by an angry clench on his left shoulder and suddenly felt a sharp, but numbing, pain in his face. He knew exactly what'd happened: Kouga had punched him; Inuyasha had himself convinced that Kouga had put all his weight into that one considering the pain. He knew no one could punch that hard, that easily, except for himself. But, then another blow came in the face and he was convinced that Kouga could punch that hard for the fact that it was worse than the last, consequently resulting in his torn lip and black eye. Inuyasha finally retaliated, finding that if he didn't, it'd be hell to pay.
"He did start it… ne?" Kagome continued when he didn't answer her, "I mean, you're not lying, right?" Kagome prodded at his eye, deciding that since he wouldn't take care of himself that she would just have to do it for him. She only hoped that Kouga, at least, could clean himself up – by himself. Kagome ordered Kagome to close his eye as she held a pack of ice over it to reduce the swelling.
"Yeah, he started it, but you finished it…" he blurted out softly, not expecting her to hear.
"Wait, what? How'd I get involved?" Kagome asked in surprise, stopping in the doorway for she'd intended to go to the kitchen and gather another icepack for Inuyasha's lip.
Inuyasha sighed, realizing his mistake. "Yeah, you showed up again. We, err, we didn't want to scare you so we, sort of, hid…" He cringed as Kagome huffed and left for the kitchen. When she came back, she practically threw the pack at his face in anger, turning away once she was assured that he'd applied it appropriately. "C'mon, 'Gome! You should be happy, Wench!" he chided.
Kagome hmphed and shrugged his hand away when he reached out to her. She looked back at him from under lowered lashes and said, "Get better soon, Inuyasha, and I'll have you know that I'm extremely disappointed and—" she paused, crossed her arms, and stalked to the door. Cracking it open, she turned again and looked back to the bathroom door, where Inuyasha stood, and continued just low enough so that only he could hear, "and that you'll have no idea how worried I was." Her voice cracked with an emotion that she couldn't define and cursed it under her breath for the heck of it, fleeing out the door.
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She tapped her fingers on the desk in impatience. Why hadn't Inuyasha called?
Kikyou huffed and pushed back in her chair, glowering at the phone just at her elbow. Why wasn't he calling? She was only his girlfriend and practically the most important thing in his life at the moment, for Christ's sake, but he just couldn't take the time and inform her of his safe arrival home!! Anger flared in her cinnamon-hinted eyes and she grabbed the phone out of pure frustration, punching Inuyasha's number in with haste. It rang, and rang, and rang…
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Inuyasha didn't dare pick up the phone. For all he knew, it could be Kagome calling to yell at him again. She'd already done it once, just to curse his idiocy of fighting someone and then hiding from her. At times like these, he wished to all lengths that he had caller ID. Sinking back in the chair with relief when the caller finally gave up, he nursed his pained knuckles with more ice. He was going to be black and blue…
Sesshoumaru watched his younger brother with a satisfied smirk, seeing him in pain. "Look what Little Brother's got himself into this time… Scared of girl, are you? Is it back to cooties again, Inuyasha?"
Inuyasha shot a murderous look Sesshoumaru's way, uttering the word of, "Stupid Fluffy, you should know better than that… and, besides, I'm not afraid of a girl; I'm just being precautious…" He looked away from Sesshoumaru and poked at his lip – only to end up wincing in pain – before he sighed and skulked on the couch, curled with boredom.
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Kagome hurried off to school the next day, overlooking Inuyasha as he exited his own house when she passed and left him to pick up Kikyou on his own. She needed to see the damage that Inuyasha had done to Kouga for her own sake of mind. Rushing down the sidewalk, she retraced the same route she'd taken that yesterday afternoon.
She was overjoyed when she found Kouga treading down the path ahead of her. She beamed and quickened her pace to match his. Worry etched her face when she saw that there was a limp in his step – something Inuyasha hadn't mentioned when she ordered him to tell him the damage he'd done on Kouga. In fact, he hadn't told her much, and that, now, had her thinking that he hadn't told the truth. "Kouga!"
The boy stopped, at his name, and turned to look for the voice. Kagome paused in step when her eyes landed on his face but she quickly began again, trying to make the hesitation much less noticeable. She forced another smile, training her eyes to look at his face. He had a gash on the right side of his face, stretching from just below his eye to his jaw, which was more-than-a-little noticeable; he seemed to have tried to cover up the irritated red on his face, though unsuccessful. It really doesn't look as bad as it could, Kagome thought optimistically, I mean, it could be worse… He could be terribly pale and it would stand out like Rudolph's red nose… Thank God for tanned skin…
He also had – Kagome found with a dip in her optimism as he grinned happily at her arrival – a jagged, chipped tooth that ruined his once-perfect row of teeth. O… she mulled sympathetically, that must have been a hard one for him… I knew he loved his smile… She repressed a snicker, even with the mournful though, I bet Inuyasha enjoyed that one, though… She immediately reprimanded herself for that evil, wandering thought.
Kagome bit her lip, focusing again. The left side of his face was bruised, too. It didn't look as painful as the rest and wasn't nearly as seriously, she fortunately noted as she came up on his left. They still hadn't moved… She couldn't resist the to reach up and trace the cut with empathy. She saw his smile fade a little and she knew that he obviously hoped that she hadn't seen it. She sent him a reassuring smile and pulled away to take his hand and led him to school.
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"I'm sorry," she said, out of the blue.
Kouga looked over in surprise. Now, what exactly is she apologizing for? Kouga mused. "Huh?" he worked up intelligently.
Kagome ducked her head. "I said I'm sorry, Kouga-kun, because if I hadn't walked away then—then I suppose that you wouldn't haven't gotten hurt and… I guess you wouldn't be limping right now," She murmured, glancing at his leg again, "Did you fall or something?" she asked, looking up again.
Kouga shook his head. "Sorta…"
Inuyasha took the two beginning throws to the fight with only a little difficulty before he blocked the fist as it came back around for a third blow. Kouga blinked back and swung with his other arm. Inuyasha ducked just in time, releasing both arms and whipping around to kick Kouga in the back of the knees. Kouga's knees gave out and he heard an agonizing crack in his left knee – he suspected that he's popped the kneecap… very painful, indeed – and pain lanced through his leg. He hissed in pain and regained his balance, trying to keep his weight off that one leg; Inuyasha didn't seem to notice his discomfort an, ignoring the pain coursing throughout his knee, Kouga charged him only to get popped right in the teeth with rough knuckles. He was knocked back to the ground and he rolled over to spit out the blood that pooled in his mouth and, horrifyingly enough, he found a shard of his best canine. He growled and looked over to Inuyasha, who was shaking his hand in pain, wiping the bloodied knuckles on his t-shirt. Kouga snarled up at him; he'd happened to like and care for his teeth – obviously unlike some damn mutt (even if he wouldn't admit it willing) who just about beat the shit out of him.
"So, what happened?" Kagome persisted.
"He tripped me and something popped in my knee… not sure what." Kouga shrugged indifferently, "No biggie…"
Kagome chewed her lip, her gaze falling to the ground again. "I'm sorry again. Maybe he wouldn't have beaten you so badly if—"
"What are you talking about?!" Kouga blurted out, halting in his steps, "I got my fair share of blows! You've seen him, right?? He must look horrible!!"
Kagome's head fell lower. "Erm, not exactly, Kouga. I, err, I saw him this morning and—uh, and he looked nearly normal, give or take a few minor bruises…" She looked up at him again, laughter dancing in her eyes. "But, he's got one hell-uv-a shiner for an eye…" she grinned (Here, Kouga smirked and puffed out his chest) but Kagome continued, loosing her smile for the sake of importance, "But, his knuckles have healed almost completely – you can only see a few small cuts – and his lip stopped swelling and it's just a small scab now." Kagome began to feel guilty for cleaning Inuyasha up for the disappointed look on his face. Great, now she felt awful. "Sorry, Kouga… C'mon. There's the school." She announced to change the subject and guided him across the street.
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Kouga wiped his mouth and pushed himself to his feet, trying to bend his aching leg as he stood. Kouga waited for Inuyasha to make the first move. When Inuyasha did, Kouga had to duck the high punch but, unfortunately, Inuyasha's other claw – the one with the bloodied knuckles – caught him, cutting deeply from just under his eye and down. In retaliation, Kouga dug his own claws into Inuyasha's injured knuckles. Inuyasha growled in pain and snatched his hand away. He surveyed them and shot a glare at Kouga, scowling.
They both froze suddenly. Quickened footsteps were approaching. They both looked to the sky and took a whiff. Paling, the boys searched for a hiding place—Kagome was gonna show up any minute now. They only found two small trees. Shrugging at each other in agreement, the both hopped into the opposite trees. Kouga, when he heard Kagome stop, moved to get a look at her, bumping his cheek on a neighboring tree branch. "Ow!" Kouga cried, muffling the yell with a shake of branch that, coincidently, occurred as the wind blew. Phew, Kouga thought, that was close…He held his breath when Kagome looked up, but found nothing to worry about. Kouga could practically feel Inuyasha's glare.
Kagome exclaimed in frustration, practically causing both Kouga and Inuyasha to go deaf with the volume. She stalked off, and, after they were sure that she was gone, the squabbling started up all over again.
Kouga and Inuyasha glared at each other from over Kagome's head – considering they were both a lot than her – as she walked down the hall, purposely between the two. She knew exactly what was going on about her head; she could practically see the tension flowing in the air. This wasn't going to turn out the best—not if they were going to fight over her. She couldn't help her feelings, and, apparently, neither could they.
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A/n: Hey, everyone, I'm really sorry that it took so long to update this story, but you can't blame me for my lack of inspiration… Well, I hope you enjoyed it.
Yep, that's me!
Senko Tenrou