AN: Thanks for all the reviews, guys! They work better than sugar! And forget about that little extra author's note: just sharing my anguish. Wa hah, I updated in TWO DAYS! That's a record! Then again, it's a short chapter (for me) and I wrote it in a frenzy, but still! Uhm, I just want to talk about Inu-Yasha's and Kagome's relationship here. In a Royal Pain, it's a love-hate relationship (or it was). I was going to do that here, but there's a love-hate relationship in this other fic I'm writing, and there's only so many ways you can write like that. So Inu-chan's and Kagome's ship is more of a he's interested she's interested thing. I guess you can call it fate. As for Sango and Miroku, heck, that's pretty obvious. Okay, enjoy the fic, and reviews are greatly appreciated! Oh, and yes, the name Shoopuf is from FFX. And the "so long as you smile thing" is from Miss Congeniality. Thankee! *runs out looking for muse*
It's Not Kissing, It's Breathing!
When Inu-Yasha woke up, the first thing he noticed was that he had a headache the size of Gibraltar. The second thing he noticed was that the ceiling swam, but this could have been because of his headache.
No, wait, the ceiling really did swim. Or rather, it swayed in front of him. What the--? Inu-Yasha rubbed his eyes and squinted. And that's when he noticed the third thing—that he was underwater.
Yelping, Inu-Yasha jolted from his lying-down position and swam around in a frenzy of bubbles. Instinctively he drew a deep breath, then smacked himself for being so dumb.
But wait! When he took a breath, no water rushed into his nostrils. Only air. Inu-Yasha frowned, and inhaled again for good measure. He wasn't drowning. In fact, he could actually breathe underwater.
He scratched his head. Turning around, he noticed that what he'd been lying on was a bed. An actual bed, although it looked pretty weird. It made of corals and sponges. He walked over to it slowly (I can walk underwater?) and sat on it, pondering the possibilities.
The first conclusion he reached was that he was in heaven. He'd drowned, and now he was in ocean heaven because of his love of the sea. But where was his silly white robe and golden harp? On impulse, Inu-Yasha felt the area on top of his head. No halo. Maybe they didn't have dumb things like that in sea heaven.
A sound made him raise his head. The several strings of shells that were lined closely together over an empty place in the wall, forming a door, were rustling. Someone was coming through them.
It was a girl. She had long black hair that was just past her shoulders and warm brown eyes. Inu-Yasha noticed that her shirt, which to him was kind of weird, was a thin, shimmery cream-silver material.
"Are you an angel?" he asked stupidly, gaping at her.
She laughed. "I don't know, a lot of the people say I can be a terror when I'm mad." She was holding a tray of what looked like food.
That was when Inu-Yasha realized the 'angel' had a tail, and he nearly fainted again.
"Are you okay?" the girl asked, putting the plate down on a table and swimming over to him.
Inu-Yasha backed away. "Get away from me!" he shouted.
She stopped swimming, and looked slightly hurt. Then she broke into a smile and put out her hand. "My name's Kagome. I'm the one that brought you here."
"I don't care if you're She-ra," Inu-Yasha snapped rudely. "Just stay away from me!"
The hurt on her face was quickly replaced by anger. She crossed her arms over her chest. "You know, I'm the one that saved you! If it weren't for me, you'd have drowned."
"Wow, and this situation is much better," Inu-Yasha said dryly.
Kagome looked at the wall, and Inu-Yasha followed her gaze and saw a clock. "It's almost time," she said, "But if you're going to be so ungrateful I guess I'll just let you die."
"Why? What are you going to do?"
"Absolutely nothing," she replied, glaring at him.
For a long while they had a staring match. Or rather, it was more of an observation match. Inu-Yasha looked at the mermaid, curious. Her upper body was like that of the normal women's, and her chest was covered by that silvery material. He realized that that material was part of her tail, growing into a blue-green color near her waist. Her tail was long and the fin at the end was clear, sparkling with color from the light.
Meanwhile, Kagome examined the human boy for the second time, the first being when he was unconscious. His long white-blonde hair flowed around him in the water. She hadn't seen his eyes when he was sleeping, but now she saw they were a challenging golden color. His body was lean but not scrawny. If only he weren't such a jerk! She thought angrily.
But I can't let him die. Even though she said it, she didn't mean it. Besides, she wasn't allowed to let him die. Drat the law.
Kagome sighed in resignation. "Fine!" she cried to no one in particular. She swam over to him.
Inu-Yasha backed away again, eyeing her suspiciously. "What are you going to do?"
"I need to breathe into you so that you can breathe underwater," Kagome explained. "If I don't, you'll drown."
He was about to reply "then let me drown", but then his chest tightened. The next breath he took, water came flooding in with the air. Panicked, he tried to swim upward but was either too frenzied to remember the ceiling or he didn't care. With a hard thud his head made contact with the stone ceiling and, starts winking in his eyes, he sank back toward the ground.
Since he was dazed, Kagome took this opportunity to swim towards him. Catching him before he fell to the ground, she quickly pressed her lips to his.
What surprised her was how much tenderness she put into the kiss. No, it wasn't a kiss! She shut her eyes and automatically wrapped her arms around his neck, and marveled at how easily the air from her lungs flowed into his.
Inu-Yasha was about to push her off, but then he felt the air flowing through his lungs as she gave him the ability to breathe in water. Even in water the back of his neck, where her arms were wrapped around, were burning. Her lips are soft…
"Gosh, Inu-Yasha, you work fast. Well, you know what they say, if you can't find a girl, there's always an immortal species," Miroku said through the shell door. After those words, his grinning head poked through the strings, and he swam inside.
Kagome moved back, staring at Inu-Yasha's face. She seemed shocked at something. "I have to do that every hour if you want to keep living," she told him softly.
The other boy was blushing furiously, and he seemed subdued now. "Okay," he muttered quietly.
The shell door rustled and clinked again, and Sango swam in. She stopped and looked at Kagome, who was biting her lip, and the blushing boy Kagome had saved. Her face broke into a sly grin. "Am I missing something?"
"No!" Kagome and Inu-Yasha protested together. Miroku let out a cough, which had something that sounded like "yeah right" following after it. Sango nodded in agreement.
Kagome crossed her arms over her chest. "Yeah? What about you two? Aren't you the buddy-buddy team!"
Sango looked at Miroku and shrugged. "Oh, he's a lewd man who should be locked up for indecent actions and proposals, but I think I'm safe around him."
"In other words, she slapped me with the force of a stingray sting," Miroku added.
Inu-Yasha had regained his ability to talk. "Instead of acting like you've been breathing underwater and asking mermaids to bear your child all your life, Miroku, why don't you act curious like normal people?"
Miroku stuck his nose in the air. "I'm not normal," he said proudly.
"Yes, I think we all knew that," Inu-Yasha agreed, putting a hand to his head, where a small bump was forming. "But I've got a question."
"What's your question?" Sango asked.
"It's nothing much, really, just that I'm wondering WHAT THE HELL'S GOING ON?!?"
* * *
After a round of a warm liquid made of sea spices (which, for some reason, stayed in the shell cup rather than blend with the ocean water) the four of them were ready to tell their stories. The idea that Inu-Yasha was surrounded by mermaids was less shocking than before, though it was still mystifying. Inu-Yasha couldn't believe it, but he accepted it, and Miroku had been believing it ever since he saw Sango.
"I'll start," Miroku said, putting down his cup. "Okay, me and Inu-Yasha had just finished eating—or rather, Inu-Yasha just finished eating enough food to last him till Christmas, while I had a sip of water—and were chased out of the restaurant, because, well, we couldn't pay. So we're out, and I jump on Inu-Yasha because he said something stupid, he lost his footing, and we go rolling down a street."
"Why am I the bad guy?" Inu-Yasha wondered. "You were the one being the jer—"
"Anyway, we crash into a wall, and we come across a poster of a missing girl who was lost at sea. If we found her, we'd be rich."
"Hang on," Kagome interrupted. "Who is this girl?"
Inu-Yasha frowned. "Well, I remember Lord Sesshoumaru calling her 'Rin.'" He reached into his pocket and pulled out a slightly-blurred picture. "This is her."
At the mention of the name 'Rin' Kagome broke into a smile. "Sango and I saved her a few days ago. We were going to return her on the day of the storm, but we were warned beforehand. She's with my mother at the moment."
Miroku turned to Inu-Yasha, and huge grins split on their faces. "We're going to be rich!" they chorused, high-fiving. The two mermaids raised their eyebrows.
"To continue the story, we got the information about the girl and went on a ship. We smelled the storm before it came, and tried to convince the captain to go back, but he refused. So the storm came, Inu-Yasha flew off the boat—" ("For crying out loud, Miroku!") "and I tried to save him, but even dazzlingly handsome heroes grow tired sometimes." Miroku puffed out his chest, and Inu-Yasha saw it as an inviting punching bag and complied. "OUCH! Inu-Yasha's just jealous. Ow! Quit it! Anyway that's where you guys come in."
Kagome took a sip of altea and put her cup down on the table. "Right, then. Sango and I are part of the rescuers, which is a name for a group of merpeople who rescue humans. During storms, or if we get notice that a ship is sinking, we go out and try to save as many humans as possible. We take them underwater, breathe into them like we did to you guys, and bring them to shore. The only reason why we brought you here is because Sango and I had been swimming all day, and we were tired."
Miroku raised his eyebrow. "The only reason?" he asked flirtatiously, looking at Sango.
Sango was calmly drinking her altea. "If you think I was madly enchanted by your good looks, think again. You resembled a half-drowned slug when I got to you."
"That's one thing I don't want to see," Inu-Yasha commented, sipping from his cup. "So much for your dazzlingly handsome hero story."
As Miroku wailed about God making him the butt of all jokes, Kagome continued for Inu-Yasha. "We're going to bring you and Rin back to the shore tonight, when the humans are asleep."
Miroku stopped wailing. "Wait, we can't go just yet!" he objected. "Inu-Yasha, we're in the merworld."
Even though it sounded far-fetched and unbelievable, Inu-Yasha wanted to stay too. There was nothing to do up in Houshi, except collect the money from Lord Sesshoumaru when they presented Rin. There was no adventure, unless you counted the more drastic rejections Miroku received. The merworld was an entirely different universe. Being the son and best friend of daring seamen, the adventurer inside him was itching to get out. Inu-Yasha nodded firmly.
"But you guys can't stay here!" Sango cried, but though she would never say it out loud, she was wishing otherwise "You aren't even allowed here, really. Kagome and I had to obtain special permission from the king."
"The king can be very stern," Kagome agreed quietly. The truth was, she wanted them to stay too. Everyone called her fascination with humans unhealthy except for Sango. She wanted to know things about land life, things about…Inu-Yasha. He intrigued her, since he kept his personality hidden (Miroku's was pretty obvious from a mile away). Who was Inu-Yasha, and what was his life like? Did he have a family, friends…a girlfriend?
She shook her head vehemently. She wasn't going to let them swim away just like that! "Sango, we can ask the king for an extended stay," she suggested. "Come on, they can tell us all about human life! You know how much I wanted to learn!"
Sango looked uncertain, but she just raised her shoulders helplessly. "If you can get the king's permission, that'd be great," she said. "I'll go look for Rin."
"I'll go with you," Miroku said. "That girl is worth a chest of gold!" Sighing, Sango swam out of the room, Miroku close at her heels.
Kagome sat there awkwardly, twiddling her thumbs. Then she grabbed her altea cup and downed it, not knowing anything else to do.
"Hey, I'm sorry for acting the way I did," Inu-Yasha muttered. Kagome's hand froze, the cup over her face. "I didn't mean those rude things I said."
Kagome set the shell cup on the table. "And I'm sorry I almost let you die," she said with a half-smile. After a few minutes of awkward silence, she asked, "So, do you want to come to the palace with me? You know, so you can sort of convince the king?"
He nodded his agreement. Kagome smiled, a full one this time.
* * *
"You're a really strong swimmer," Kagome commented as they swam in the ocean.
"Yeah, well, I've spent most of my life at sea," Inu-Yasha shrugged. "So what's the merworld like? Is it like a city or something?"
Kagome dove under a natural arch of stone. "Yes, it's a city of stone and coral and light, though the light doesn't come from the sun. It's from our own power source. The merworld is more advanced than you might think, being immortal and all."
"Hm…" Inu-Yasha followed her under the arch. He could see the peaks of some of the buildings of the mercity, but he didn't have a view of the whole thing. He was about to ask another question when a chattering sort of noise interrupted him. It was various sounds of clicks and chitters, and Inu-Yasha knew only one animal who made those noises. "Dolphins? What are dolphins doing so deep underwater?"
The look on Kagome's face was ecstatic when she saw the two silver creatures swimming nearby. "They aren't normal dolphins, they were given the permanent breath of life and stay in the merworld. I've come to know two of them really closely. That one's Sharksbane because he loves terrorizing sharks, and the other one's Shoopuf." The two dolphins clicked and squealed at the sound of their names.
"Shoopuf?" Inu-Yasha repeated doubtfully, but then another part of Kagome's words came to him. "What do you mean, the permanent breath of life?"
The mermaid's hand froze just before it petted one of the dolphin's head. "Only a princess can do that," she said, her voice suddenly cold. "It's the power that comes with her ranking, but it's very rarely used, like once a century. I think only one human in all of history has ever received it."
Inu-Yasha would have pressed on, but the stony expression that suddenly appeared on Kagome's face told him not to. "Uhm, so anyway what do the dolphins do?"
"Well, they play around, sometimes give us a ride…" Suddenly the sullen look lifted from her face and Kagome was smiling again. "I bet they'll give us a ride to the castle! Right, Shoopuf?"
The dolphin squealed, her head bobbing in the water. Kagome grinned and turned to Inu-Yasha. "You can get Sharksbane, if he doesn't eat you first."
Inu-Yasha grimaced. He remembered five years ago, Miroku and their fathers had spotted some dolphins. They thought it would be interesting if they tied Inu-Yasha to a playful dolphin's back while he was innocently sleeping on Olympia. The ordeal ended with a livid Inu-Yasha sandwiching a yelling Miroku in between two dolphins while they played in the water (ouch), and tying his and Miroku's fathers onto thick pieces of rope and dangling them off the side of Olympia like bait in shark-infested waters. Apparently Inu-Yasha hadn't seen the humor in the prank.
Kagome grinned slyly as she climbed on Shoopuf's back, her tail dangling on one side. "Oh come on, scared?" she teased.
His head jerked up. "What? I am not scared!" Impulsively he swung himself over Sharksbane, who immediately somersaulted in the water. Inu-Yasha had to grab his dorsal fin to stay on the dolphin.
Stroking Shoopuf, Kagome cooed, "Won't you take us to the palace?" Then she whispered something in the dolphin's ear, which she understood. Inu-Yasha didn't hear it. Shoopuf bobbed her head eagerly.
I don't like that glint in her eyes. Inu-Yasha gulped when he saw the sly grin on her face grow to mammoth size.
"Let's race!" Kagome shouted, and Inu-Yasha yelped as Sharksbane streaked through the water with no regard for his rider whatsoever. Kagome's laugh followed close behind as he clutched the dolphin's dorsal fin, wondering if it would be indecent to tie a mermaid in between two dolphins when they felt like jumping around.
* * *
Sango rolled her eyes as the human boy flirted with two mermaids on the street. They were giggling coquettishly at everything he said. Honestly, he's wasting so much time! Doesn't he think of anything other than girls?
"There's no woman on land with hair as golden as yours, even if they washed their hair in gold," Miroku said smoothly, gesturing to the fair-haired one. She blushed furiously. "And you," Miroku added, turning to the red-haired one, "Why, the sunset couldn't possibly compete with your fire!"
Impatiently, Sango snapped, "Come on, Miroku, do you want to see Rin or not?"
"In a minute."
"Now." Sango grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled him after her. The mermaids scowled and began yelling complaints in her direction.
Miroku waved as he was dragged away, shouting, "Look for me, okay? I'm not hard to find, I'm 50 % of the population with legs in this city!" They giggled and blew him kisses before swimming off.
"Honestly, does Inu-Yasha have to put up with you every day?" Sango grumbled.
"Hey, he's okay with it!" Miroku protested. "Without me his life would be a bore."
She sighed and let go of his collar, and he continued to swim beside her. "Is that why his hair is prematurely gray?"
"What? It's naturally silver! Trust me, girls go gaga over his hair like fleas on a dog," Miroku boasted for Inu-Yasha. "I'd cut his hair off to make a wig for myself, but though he won't admit it, he's really vain."
Sango shrugged. "Whatever." Kagome's mother was out shopping, and she had probably taken Rin with her too. She continued to scan the streets for a sign of the little girl. "Oh, and you're actually 33 % of the population with legs, including Rin," she added distractedly, looking past Miroku.
"Well, we can always catch her later," Miroku said. Then, though Sango didn't know it was even possible, he looked serious. Actually, he looked excited, but serious all the same. "Sango, I've always wondered about mermaids and how they live. Can't going back wait? Besides, you owe me a tour."
Sango looked affronted. "Why do I owe you a tour?"
Miroku looked shocked at the fact that she could even question such a thing and pointed to his lips. "You entered a sacred area, woman! Such a gift is not bestowed freely among the common, especially one every hour."
"Oh please," Sango scoffed. "You'd kiss a sea slug if it smiled at you."
The brown-haired boy just grinned. "Fine then. If you'll excuse me, I'll look for those two mermaids who don't mind my company."
What? Aside from him being her responsibility, she didn't want him to wreak havoc upon the female population of the merworld. Besides, wasn't he grateful that she'd saved him? "Fine then! I'll take you on your dumb tour! But you have to promise to keep your hands to yourself, and no flirting with the mermaids."
He was laughing as Sango swam again of him, the furious strokes of her tail causing a flurry of bubbles. "I knew you were jealous, Sango."
"I'm not jealous."
"Then stop blushing."
"I'm not blushing."
"Why don't you smile a bit? You're always so grumpy."
"I'm going to kill you."
"So long as you smile."
* * *
Racing through the ocean, it didn't take them long to reach the merworld. Inu-Yasha almost forgot to hold on when he saw the city, and as a result nearly got his head chopped off by a low arch.
"Wow," he breathed, as the dolphins neared a cliff. Down the cliff was the merworld. It was a sparkling city of lights, with tall buildings of stone and coral and silver sprawled as far as his eye could see. Everywhere he could see the glints of mermaids' tails as they streamed in and out of buildings. Huge spirals topped each building, made of a delicate shell that glistened in the city lights. Even from their position above the city, he could hear traces of music, laughter, and song.
Kagome soon caught up with him, laughing as she made Shoopuf stop. "Okay, so I admit you won, but that's only because you got dolphin with hormones." Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes bright, and the brilliance of her smile made Inu-Yasha look twice.
The mermaid pointed to a large structure which looked like a land castle, only grander. "That's the palace where the king and the princess live. The queen died about a year ago, so her daughter's been doing most of the work in her steed." Again, that note of bitterness. Inu-Yasha wondered if she had some sort of grudge against the princess.
"Onward," Kagome said. Obediently the dolphins zoomed down towards the underwater city. Inu-Yasha, with a leg on each side of the dolphin and sitting just behind the dorsal fin and going straight, found himself in a very uncomfortable position for a few seconds. The dolphins finally leveled out and he sighed in relief. Kagome giggled.
As the dolphins cruised through the city, Inu-Yasha found several merpeople staring at him. Feeling just as amazed, he stared back. The mermen were tall broad and muscular, at least the mermen on the street were. Several merchildren giggled as they tried to match the speed of the dolphins. Whispers erupted about the human boy with silver hair.
Inu-Yasha was still feeling slightly dazed when they reached the castle. Two guards patrolled the front gates, staring stiffly ahead of them.
Kagome dismounted from the dolphin and swam up to one of the guards. She spoke in a quiet tone, gesturing with her hands at Inu-Yasha. The guard told her something, then went through the palace doors.
The mermaid turned back to Inu-Yasha. "He said he's going to ask one of the councilors. The councilors can also give permission. It'll be easier if we don't have to go inside, because the king is always busy with court and trials and all that. I've heard the castle is very busy this time. Hopefully they'll feel hassled enough to give permission right now."
They waited a while longer, until the guard came back, a piece of paper in his hand. "The chief councilor declares it is permissible for the humans to remain here," he announced. "However, he and the king request an audience a week from now with the mortals to discuss future plans. They must stay here until that time and they are free to get acquainted with the city."
Kagome turned to Inu-Yasha, smiling widely. "Wow, I didn't think it would be that easy!" Thanking the guard, she turned away from the castle, Inu-Yasha following her. "I think we should let the dolphins play around," she said, looking down. "Do you, um, do you want to explore the city? Like that guard said, you are 'free to get acquainted with the city'." She paused, as she was trying to make up her mind. Then she laughed and grabbed his hand. "Is that okay?"
Inu-Yasha nodded. "Okay." He swam beside Kagome as they headed back the way they came.
He stole a glance at her as they moved through the water. Her hair swirled around behind her, revealing her sparkling face. She was a picture of innocence, slightly different from her more aloof friend. Of course, she'd gotten rightfully mad when he'd said all those things, which proved she had a backbone. He'd never met a girl like her; most of the girls in Houshi were more of Miroku's type, aka tarty. Or maybe he just wasn't looking.
Though he'd said "okay", there was another reply he didn't have the guts to say:
I'd like to get acquainted with you, though.