Robes of a Different Color
Chapter 4: Schooling the hanyou
Disclaimer- Inuyasha and the associated characters still do not belong to me, or do they? No, no, not mine.
Write a bad dream
on a south wall
The sun will turn it into a promise
- Asian proverb
"When I find that little runt, I'm going to…grrr" Sango fumed. They were nearly back to the camp and Sango still had not sufficiently banked her anger.
"Sango-chan, don't you think you are being a little hard on Shippou, he is just a child after all." Kagome smiled trying to sooth her friend, she did not want to make light of Sango's embarrassment, for she herself was somewhat angry at Shippou's "joke, but kitsunes, after all, are known for their trickery.
sigh
"…And after all don't you think perhaps it was worth it?" Kagome hesitantly smiled at the young youkai exterminator pacing beside her.
"What? W-what do you mean?!" Sango turned to her smiling friend, aghast.
Kagome hesitantly explained, a faint blush spreading across her pretty face, "I just mean, they've both done that often enough to us…at least Miroku has, perhaps they disserved it."
"KAGOME-CHAN!" Sango blushed again, "I did not want to see Houshi-sama and Inuyasha n-naked, even if it has been done to me."
"Oh, I know, I know…I just meant, you know, it is a small consolation…Miroku looked awfully embarrassed." Kagome hurriedly corrected, making a soothing motion with her hands as she spoke.
"Perhaps you are right, I may have overreacted." Sango tilted her had for a moment as if in thought, then continued "and perhaps they will now be less likely to peek at us again."
Fat chance
Not likely
Kagome and Sango looked at each other then laughed as if they had just had the same thought and realized how unlikely it was for Miroku to be so easily dissuaded.
"After all I may not Kill Shippou; maybe just hurt him in some way…" Sango mused.
Kagome had not heard the girl beside her; she was lost in her own thoughts again. Miroku did seem awfully embarrassed, for someone as experienced with women I would not think him so shy. Inuyasha, Kagome blushed again as the thought of the naked man's name, who is usually painfully bashful about such things made no move whatsoever to shield himself from us…it's as if they reacted in the exact opposite of the way I would expect…
Kagome turned to the silent girl beside her ready to ask her opinion on the whole situation when Sango abruptly turned and started running towards some unknown enemy.
"I've got you now you little prankster…" She grumbled loud enough for Kagome to catch, as she made her way toward the orange crop of fur sticking from beneath a bush.
Kagome looked on with an exasperated sigh, and then strode off towards camp.
Shippou you deserve it after all, at least it's not Inuyasha after you this time.
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Sango is almost as scary as Kagome, when she's mad. The small kitsune sat perched on a limb listening to Kagome and Sango as they walked; he had transformed himself into a cute little red squirrel. It's not like it's my fault, after all, I thought Inuyasha and Miroku were seriously hurt.
"Nobody ever believes me." Shippou sighed, with a wounded look on his cute little squirrel face. He looked down at the girls again, Kagome looked deep in thought but Sango had stopped walking and was looking straight at him.
Uh-oh, I think she saw me. Shippou transformed and scampered away quickly.
Luckily for Shippou his youkai powers afforded him far superior speed, and after several minutes of chasing Sango broke off. Revenge, after all, is a dished best served cold. Shippou found himself hiding in a bush, just to make sure that Sango's anger had abated.
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"…you just remember that monk…"
What's that? It sounds like Inuyasha and Miroku are up to something Shippou crouched down, hiding himself completely in the foliage, and perked up his ears.
"I told you Inuyasha, I will not act inappropriately towards Sango and Kagome, they are my friends too, after all."
"Yeah, well that never stopped you before."
"Inuyasha you do me a great injury."
"You'll be injured by my fist if you try anything monk."
That seems rather unlikely considering our current circumstances, The monk thought but did not lend voice to the thought.
"I think that we should start addressing each other properly or the girls are going to figure it out pretty quickly."
"Feh, whatever you say…Inuyasha."
"Remember, Miroku, you are a houshi, try to speak more politely and try to control your anger."
"Hmmph…I don't think I need lessons from you."
What the heck are they talking about, Shippou wondered while inching closer to the place where his to friends were speaking. Just as Shippou was about to uncover the mystery he heard an ominous sound from behind.
"There you are you little brat!" Sango lunged trying to catch the young kitsune by the scruff of his vest.
"YEA-AAH, Sango! Please don't hurt me, let me explain…" Shippou yelled while darting forward towards Inuyasha and Miroku.
The two men were silently watching the young woman chase after the kitsune. They had broken off there conversation as soon as they heard Sango approach.
Miroku and Inuyasha continued back to camp, leaving Sango to dole out the appropriate punishment.
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"Alright guys it's ready" Kagome said distributing the ramen to her friends who were now all gathered around the small fire in the center of their camp.
"Ah…thanks, Kagome…-sama" Inuyasha said tentatively, accepting his portion of ramen, studiously forcing a beatific smile onto his face. He shifted his loose purple robes and positioned himself across from the school girl.
"Sure, no problem." Kagome smiled back. That was weird, is he still embarrassed?
"Mmmmm…good." The hanyou was eating his ramen in a noisy fashion, somewhat more boisterous then usual.
Well at least Inuyasha seems fine. Kagome thought.
Miroku shot the noisy hanyou a dirty look.
The look went unnoticed by Kagome and Shippou, but was not missed by Sango. Now what's that all about, she thought.
"So do we have a destination in mind now, or is it just travel and search again?" Sango said fixing a look first at Miroku and then at Inuyasha, effectively halting the glowerfest.
"Feh." Miroku looked away from Sango and the dark haired monk, and returned his attention to his unfinished ramen. Sango was almost certain that she detected a rye smirk flash across Inuyasha's face before he looked away; but before she could contemplate the strange behavior further Miroku had moved closer to her taking both her hands in his own.
"Why Sango my dear, we will be heading towards the village of an old acquaintance of mine. I'm sure that we will be able to gain some valuable leads there."
Sango was looking at the monk dubiously. "An old acquaintance?"
"Oh yes, a beautiful young woman, she and I were quiet close." Inuyasha emphasized the last word with a smile, take that you stupid monk, make me seem like a pig – two can play at that game. The insinuation was lessened somewhat when Miroku turned his head and began to blush…is he blushing, Sango thought in surprise, it's like he knew that saying that would make me angry but he said it anyway.
Damn it, did I just blush? Stupid I don't care what she thinks about Miroku-why should I be embarrassed, I'm not the one chasing every pretty girl- no but you just said- Shut up! Damn it this is hard.
Before Sango could respond to this in any way she was distracted by Inuyasha's apoplectic coughing. The silver haired boy had fallen onto his side, eyes bulging; face a furious shade of red.
"Inuyasha, are you ok?" Kagome stooped over to pat Inuyasha on the back and shot a questioning look at Miroku and Sango.
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For what seemed like the tenth time that day Sango and Kagome silently padded to the spring. Despite missing the full body entrails douse that Inuyasha and Miroku had received the girls nonetheless felt grimy. It had been a full day of running around and youkai fighting. The warm vernal sun had set, and a bright full moon had risen. The girls could plainly see the path before them, and though the spring was not thermally heated the cool temperature was not sharp as the night air was still warm.
Each girl settled into the spring soap in hand lost in their own private thoughts.
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The girls had departed to the spring only moments ago and the atmosphere in the camp was tense. The Houshi and the hanyou were having a best frown contest, and for once Shippou wanted nothing to do with this contest. The kitsune could not figure out what was wrong with the two males before, but for once decided that to press the issue without Sango and Kagome around might be near fatal so instead he played quietly with Kirara.
Suddenly Miroku seemed to regain himself he shrugged his shoulders and smoothed his face.
"I'm going to check the area for any threats," the silver haired man announced to know one in particular. Without waiting for any acknowledgement he disappeared into the forest.
Inuyasha said nothing and looked to the fire in the center of the camp. To the casual observer he looked nothing more then a holy man deep in meditation, if anyone had checked much closer they would see a man in a deep sulk.
Shippou, while not a casual observer, none the less had never seen Miroku deep in a sulk, so was unsure as to what exactly he was seeing. His courage returned somewhat when Inuyasha left and finally decided to speak up.
"Wow, Miroku that flash of light must have really screwed you up?"
The houshi turned his attention towards the kitsune across from him, but said nothing, he quirked one eye brow as if to say 'what do you mean?'.
Shippou took the cue and continued, "I just mean you the girls didn't even remind you not to peek at them, and Inuyasha's not here to hit you…and yet you made no move to go spy on the girls while they're bathing."
"I'm proud of you." Shippou said with an approving smile, though he did enjoy the hi-jinks that such peeking often provoked.
Inuyasha rolled his eyes, "Why would I want to…" he cut off. When it dawned on him he narrowed his eyes then took off towards the spring.
Shippou nodded to himself, well things seem to back to normal now.
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Stupid hentia monk, I'll kill him…or I will when we get this problem taken care of. Though this human body was not nearly as strong or fast as that of a youkai or hanyou, it none the less was quite swift and he had made it to the spring in good time.
He could hear the girls bathing in the spring just beyond the clump of bushes he had crouched behind. He scanned the area for his previous form, but saw nothing.
Could it be that he actually didn't come here to peek at the girls? The black haired man was about to slink away when he caught a flash of red in the pale moonlight.
"Why Miroku, whatever are you doing here." The hanyou asked the man before; his voice was calm but held a hint of mischief.
"You Bastard, you are not going to hijack my body and act like a dirty pervert. What happened to our pact, you want me to be 'polite' and I want you to stop…" Inuyasha broke off his angry whisper when the man before him held up a placating hand and fixed him with deep amber eyes.
Those amber eyes actually held a pained look, which may have been genuine; however his ears were twitching furiously…a sure sign of a dissembling hanyou. "Why you wound me,I was simply passing by here and stopped to listen to the girls speaking, they have not said anything that leads me to believe they have discovered our switch…and of course perhaps take in the beautiful view." Miroku vaguely gestured to the bright full moon.
"Why you…" Inuyasha lunged towards the crouching hanyou.
Miroku easily dodged and landed several feet away… "Well that's my cue to depart." The silver haired boy flashed a warm smile and dashed down the trail.
Inuyasha could feel a frustrated growl start deep in his chest, though it came out sounding more like a strangled grunt. He was about to make his way back to camp when he came face to face with two angry looking girls.
He stood making a soothing motion with his hand, pact be damn, he thought as he prepared to explain that he hadn't been peeking and that it was Miroku…when all thought turned liquid and the ground rushed up to meet him.
"HENTIA!!!!!"
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Later when he regained consciousness he stumbled back into camp to find the girls sleeping peacefully and a very innocent looking hanyou pretending to sleep in a tree nearby.
Inuyasha gave a sigh of defeat and prepared to climb a tree to sleep as well however another wave of wooziness washed over him. He shook his head dejectedly and settled down on the ground.
sigh
"I'm going to get you for this." Inuyasha whispered just loud enough for the hanyou to hear, then closed his eyes and passed out again.
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Next Time: Karma sweet deliscious karma.
Chapter 5: Subduing the Houshi
A/N No vocab. this chapter.
Check out my other fics if you enjoyed this:
The Mononoke of Forest Keep
The Sleeper
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