Only Words Can Say

Chapter 4: Of Youkai and Hanyou

"If you tell anyone what you've seen here," he snarled, cutting off her thoughts, "I will fucking kill you."

Kagome's already large eyes widened even further at the harshly delivered death threat which, judging by intensity of his gaze, he would have no qualms carrying out.

Kami, how she did she get herself in these situations? She should've just went straight home…

"Do you understand me?"

She nodded absently; maybe the clawed hand wrapped about her throat was cutting off too much of her oxygen supply, because instead of focusing on Inu Yasha's cruel words as she should have been doing, she found her attention drifting towards the two doggy-like appendages twitching atop his silvery head. Oh, how she would have loved to utterly loathe them for getting her into her current predicament, but they were just too cute! So soft and fuzzy-looking, the insides were a pale, peach-pink and the tips were edged with the most transparent of fuzz; how could any one hate them?

"I said, do you understand me?"

 She winced as she felt his claws bite into the thin skin of her neck, focus shifting back to the angry, gold eyes attempting to stare her down. Frantically nodding her head, she was relived to feel his hold about her neck loosen, but was disappointed, not to mention a little puzzled, when he failed to relinquish his hold on her. What was he waiting for?

Reluctantly her gaze swung back to the ears that had captivated her so much earlier. Aw! They were twitching! Her earlier thoughts returned to her and she could practically feel the tips of her fingers tingle in anticipation of petting them,

'Oh…why not? This situation is already bizarre enough, might as well contribute to it.'

Slowly raising her arms, she gently caressed and ear with each hand, working from the base to the very tip, almost cooing at the squeaky sound they made.

'They're so soft,' she silently marveled, just before Inu Yasha fully reacted to her ministrations. Gasping, he abruptly shook himself out of the contemplative haze he had fallen under and snapped his gaze up to meet with hers, momentarily revealing his surprise and disbelief. Before she could express her own surprise, he released her resulting in her sliding down the wall and landing gracefully on her bottom with a thump and a cloud of dust.

"The fuck?"

What was with this girl?

He just couldn't figure her out.

One minute she's like putty at his feet, trembling so much he couldn't tell whether she was shaking in fear or just experiencing involuntary spasms; then he turns away from her big blue eyes for one minute and she's violating his ears! Growling, he looked lazily down at the girl crouched upon the floor and wasn't too surprised to see that she had undergone yet another mood swing and gazing up at him with something akin to cautious amusement dancing in her eyes—which were more of a gray color now that he really looked at them.

"I should be asking you the same thing."

"Huh?"

…Oh yes, that was very intelligent sounding.

"As in, what the hell was this all about?" She pointed to the blue bruises marring the, otherwise, creamy skin at the base of her throat for emphasis.

He felt a flash of guilt, but pushed the stupid emotion away, "Feh, I owe you no explanations."

"Oh?" The schoolgirl pushed herself off the ground, hands fisting at her sides as she glared angrily up at Inu Yasha, who was a good head taller than her, "Listen here, buddy, I didn't ask to accidentally discover your secret all right? But seeing as how I have, I think I deserve to know at least the basics of the secret I'm being forced to keep."

He returned the glare with an icy one of his own, "You wouldn't be forced to keep my secret if you didn't come here today."

"What, now it's all my fault?! I come here everyday, why should this day have been any different? And why are you here, any way? Did you come to harass Colonel Pickles like the inconsiderate jerk you are? Or did you just think this the most convenient place to smoke your stuff?" She snapped, folding her arms over her chest and turning haughtily away.

He grabbed her chin and roughly forced her head back in his direction, those large eyes of hers flying open in surprise,

"You're in no position to make such accusations little girl," he growled, voice soft and dangerous sounding as he skimmed a claw from her cheek bone down to her chin, all the while maintaining eye contact.

Kagome shivered at the sensation of claw against skin, but refused to back down. Inu Yasha wasn't the only one with a stubborn streak here, and she was going to prove it to him!

The seconds flew by unnoticed, the pair too busy partaking in a silent battle of wills involving smoldering gold and stormy gray eyes pitted against one another, attempting to stare one another down and/or tear through the other's defenses. Finally, without looking away, Kagome calmly replied,

"I'm in every position to make such accusations; Colonel Pickle is my friend and I don't let my friends get hurt."

"Hmph, it's not like  you're the only one taking care of the fogey," he grumbled, not looking away either.
Her eyes widened and she sputtered, "You take care of him?

"Hey, I don't see you as the type who would befriend a homeless man."

"Well, I certainly don't see you being some St. Sunshine either!"

"Hey bitch, that's not necessarily a bad thing. Can you imagine me bouncing around in a friggin toga tossing flower around?"

"Ugh, spare me the bad imagery…"

Noticing they were sharing a semi-decent conversation the pair suddenly froze before simultaneously dropping their gazes, thus putting an end to their staring content/scrutiny of each other.

"Um, so what—" Kagome hesitated, chewing nervously on her bottom lip before tentatively continuing, "What—what exactly are you?"

His eyes which she had for the last few seconds been comparing to melting caramel, abruptly hardened at her words, cooling into what could only be compared to sheets of murky, defensive copper.

"Tch, what do you think I am girl," he sneered, putting up a front of casual annoyance hat would have been convincing if the fingers still holding her chin hadn't suddenly tightened their hold.

She gave a hiss of pain, alerting Inu Yasha to his physical give away of the tension he was actually feeling. Wincing inwardly, he dropped the offending hand before pinning the thoroughly bruised girl with a cold stare.

"So…what are you?" She ventured after a minute of silence.

"Hmph, as if you don't know."

"I don't!"

"Well, you must have some idea…unless you're stupider than I thought," he sniffed, reluctant (as any one would be) to divulge his deepest secret to some girl he barely knew.

"Well you can help a girl out you know," she fumed, giving in to the childish urge to stomp her foot in frustration.

His lips twitched in amusement at her last action, but he merely ground out,

"You're the one 'dying' to know. It's not like I'm gonna give you that answer on some gold platter."

"Well it'd be a lot easier than just randomly guessing at it. The only thing I can think of is a youkai which is impossible…" a chuckle died down in her throat the guarded yet intense expression on her face,

"You are a youkai," she breathed, stepping back in disbelief. 

"Hanyou actually," he grumbled, lowering his head so his bangs cast a shadow over his eyes.

"B-but I—they're not—they're not really!" She weakly protested.

"Well I really wouldn't be here then, now would I?" He angrily responded, "And what's up with that face, bitch?"

He should've known she would react this way. Dammit! Why did he forget to put on his friggin beanie?

"I'm—I'm sorry, it's just so much to take in," Kagome apologized, shaking the awed expression off her face. Mentally replaying the conversation she paused before quirking a brow,

"Hanyou?"

"Yeah, what about?" he snapped.

"Does that mean, um—"

"Yeah, that's what I thought," he cut her off, scowling.

"What?! You didn't even let me finish!"

"Whatever," he brushed past her, hauling his CD player out of his sweatshirt pcket and slouching down onto the mattress in the corner.

"Being a hanyou implies that one of your parents was human, right?" She followed him, taking a seat at the foot of the mattress.

He didn't answer, just tapped his foot in time with the music he was listening himself to while gazing boredly out the window.

"How come I've never seen a youkai before?"

No answer.

"Are hanyous common?"

No answer.

"Why are you here any way?"

He growled and irritably forcefully hit the pause button,

"You can't see youkai because they have concealing tattoos. These days, hanyous are very rare so I'm pretty much one of a kind babe," he flashed her a bitter, fanged smirk, "Youkai think they're above humans and humans don't know we exist, so it's pretty unusual for them to hook up. As to why I'm here, that's none of your damn business." He promptly turned his back to her, signaling the end of conversation.

Kagome, who was never very good at reading body language, wasn't satisfied with Inu Yasha's last answer, and let him know it by hitting the off button on the CD player he cradled in his lap.

"What the hell?"

She ignored his angry outburst, "You did come here to smoke, didn't you?"

He bawked at her before growling indignantly, "Wha? No! Drugs don't affect me in that way, idiot." He made to resume listening to his music, but not before adding, "And I'm not here to harass Colonel Pickle either."

"Then why are you here?" She managed to tug one of his ear pieces out of his ear.

Growling again in impatience, he swiftly swiped the ear piece away from her, stopping so his claws remained poised under her throat,

"If I tell you, will you leave me the hell alone?"

Kagome mutely nodded, the ability to use her voice having fled when she found herself in danger of becoming decapitated.

Sighing in exasperation, he lower his claws, easing the tense atmosphere,

"…"

"Well? Are you going to tell me?"

Hmph. What was he supposed to say? Yeah, he went there to mull over some weird youkai sixth-sense vision that he had before sixth period? As if she didn't think he was weird enough! …Not that he cared or any thing.

"Hello?"

"God, I came here to think, okay? Will you shut it now?"

"Think?"

"Yeah. What, you don't think I can?"

"Well…"

"Shut the hell up."

"Oooh, this is rich," Hiten chuckled, pressing the binoculars even harder against his face. His boss had said something about an old homeless man, but he failed to mention that two teenage lovers would be involved. Teenage couples were great; not only were they more prone to "heated" behavior, but they were also so much fun and easy to smash apart and set against one another.

Without pealing his eyes away from the pair, he brought his walkie-talkie up to his lips and whisper,

"Do you see the two little brats in there, Manten?"

He waited, and after a few seconds the walkie crackled to life,

[Yeah, and the old mean just walked in too…The wench has a pretty face, though, doesn't she?]

Hiten rolled his eyes; Manten and his one-track mind,

"She's decent, but that's not the point. The point is that the boss never mentioned a girl and a half breed."

[Yeah he did.]

"What are you talking about?"

[The boss, he warned us about the half breed, remember?]

"No, but go tell him any way. Tell him about what we dug up on the homeless man, and then tell him about the half breed and his bitch."

[But what about you, Hiten?]

"Just go tell Naraku, all right?"

[Yes Hiten.]

Hiten tossed his heavy braid over his shoulder, and adjusted the knobs of the binocular so they brought the half breed's face into focus. Yes, he would stay right there, and sit, and watch, and wait for the perfect moment…

"What are you smoking, bitch? Everyone knows that all Led Zepplin sings about is sex!"

"So? I would rather listen to Robert Plant sing beautifully about sex than listen to the Who bark about some kid playing pinball."

"Hmph. Figures you would like listening to music about sex; isn't that what that Brittany Spears slut is attempting to sing about all the time?"

"Uh, I wouldn't know since I've never really listened to her stuff."

"Uh-huh, sure…"

"You know, just because I wear colors other than black doesn't mean I listen to Brittany Spears and ogle Justin Timberlake all day."

"Okay, sure, whatever; back to the more important discussion: give me one good reason why Led Zepplin is better than the Who."

"Ha! That's simple, and I'm make it even simpler by keeping it to two little words: Jimmy Page."

Kagome didn't bother smothering her triumphant grin that steadily increased in size at the sight of Inu Yasha glaring wonderingly at her; apparently he wasn't used to losing arguments.

Rolling her eyes at his obvious sulking, she turned her attention to the little man happily munching on a Snicker bar at her feet. He appeared to be just another homeless man found squatting in stoops or begging on the street corner. He wore a thick , pea green jacket that came down to his bare toes and his mop of rusty red hair was covered by a grimy, hole-covered beret. It was only when one took note of his thin wrists and slender, dirt-smudged fingers that it became clear that Colonel Pickle wasn't your average person. Such long, delicate hands belonged to an artist; such hands should be molding, creating, not sifting through week-old trash for a crust of bread to gnaw on. But what truly gave this man away were his eyes. They're color was a rather uninspiring brown, but it was their very benevolence that was unnerving. They held the look of a lost, broken but innocent child opposed to the hungry, worldly man his body conveyed him as.

Kagome would often ponder how he ever came to acquire such a lost look, but, being a sensitive soul, knew asking would probably stir troubling memories, and that was definitely the last thing the man need right now.

"Stupid? Idiot? Wench? Hey bitch!"

"What?" She shouted, jumping a little in surprise at being so abruptly pulled from her thoughts. Colonel Pickle also turned in surprise, but then shrugged and resumed munching on his candy bar.

"How do you know the Who and Led Zepplin?"

"Oh, I grew up on that stuff!" Kagome smiled.

Finding the temptation to smile back a bit too strong, Inu Yasha schooled his face into a frown and shrugged skeptically,

"Sure, whatever."

Not waiting for a reaction, he leaned back against the wall, pillowed the back of his head upon his hands and closed his eyes, letting the sounds of  'Tuberose' wash over him, easing his troubled mind. (A/N: *rolls eyes* Oh yes, the angst of our youth…)

Just as Inu Yasha fully immersed himself in his music, Kagome averted her attention from the Colonel Pickle snoozing on the floor, to the Inu Yasha bobbing his head in time to his music. Now here was an interesting person, aside from the whole hanyou/youkai thing, of course. Maybe that was why he was so angry all the time?  

She poked him, "What are you listening to?"

He cracked one eye open to stare blankly at her before closing it and pointedly ignoring her. An uncomfortably silent minute later he opened both eyes and met her thoughtful gaze with a suspicious one of his own,

"What are you up to bitch?"

She looked taken aback, "I was just trying to be friendly."

"Don't bother. You and I both know that by Monday we'll pretend this never happened, so there's really no point," he reasoned cynically.

He closed his eyes again, fully preparing to lose himself in his music but for some reason he just couldn't focus.

Swearing under his breath he opened his eyes again and stared disdainfully at Kagome who was staring pensively down at her toes.

"A preppy little bitch like you wouldn't know who I'm listening to any way."

She looked up at him and rolled her eyes, "Try me."

He handed her his CD player with a shrug, eyebrows raising in surprise when, once she put on the headphones, he could hear her singing along with the song under her breath.

"You know the Broken Doll Heads?"

She nodded, handing back his CD player, "Yeah. Some of their stuff is pretty good. Actually 'Tuberose' is one of my all around favorite songs next to 'As Time Goes By.'

"Never heard of it."

"You know, it's that song in Casablanca—"

"That's a movie, isn't it?"

Her jaw dropped, "Only the greatest movie ever created."

"I highly doubt that," he snorted, "Who's in it?"

"Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Berman. It's a great movie."

"Does it have fighting?"

"In the physical or emotional sense?"

"Look, does it have swords in it?"

"Um, considering how it's set during WWII, I really don't think so."

"Then it's not worth my time," he smirked.

"What is it with boys and their obsession with pointy objects? Casablanca may not have swords, but it does have guns, and nazis, and a restaurant named Rick's place, and Rick himself, and Ilsa, and Sam the piano player, and suspense, and love, and lost, and sacrific…" She trailed off with a sigh, her hands clasped tightly together while she gazed dreamily out the window.

Snorting at the girls obsession with the obviously lame chic flic, his gold eyes turned to the window as well, brows furrowing at the steadily darkening sky.

"Hey you," he snapped his fingers to the girls attention. 

She slowly turned to raised an eyebrow at him, "What?"

"Shouldn't you be running home now, it's getting dark," he slid off the mattress and walked over to one window, leaning casually against it.

"Oh my God, you're right!" She gasped, flying up so fast that Colonel Pickle jumped awake too. He stared wide-eyed at Kagome, then back and forth between Inu Yasha and the girl before beaming and scurrying out the door and down the hall.

"I didn't even bring money for the bus," Kagome wailed, about to follow Colonel Pickle out the door when a loud cough drew her attention to the hanyou leaning dangerously far out the window he had just swung open.

"How do you plan on getting home, girl, if you're not taking the bus?"

"I'm walking home," she explained primly, glancing at the slate gray sky uneasily.

"Hmph, not in this part of town. I'm surprised you haven't gotten hauled off and raped yet."

"I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself," she said coldly though inside she was screaming for an alternative, preferably safer means of getting home.

He glowered at her a second before turning his back to her and crouching, "Get on."

"Excuse me?"

"You want to get home a virgin don't you?"

"Hey, who said I'm—yeah."

"Then got on my back."

"Can't I just—"

"Just get on my fucking back."

Cringing at his harsh tone, she slowly walked over to him. Shyly placing a hand on each shoulder, she paused,

"Are you sure this is necess-ARY!" she squealed the latter in surprise when he have a small growl, swept her onto his back and, without any warning, leapt out the window.

For a minute they were suspended in air, captured in a moment of sobering dark gray clouds lined in bloody red. Then they were plummeting downwards, cool air tugging at their hair and faces; their was a brief contact with solid window ledge, and then they were soaring up onto the roof. With beautiful, cat-like grace, Inu Yasha raced across the rusty, dilapidated roofs of downtown, the sun sinking lower and lower with every roof he leapt upon. On occasion, he had sail over barbed wire and spikes that jaded storeowners hoped to use as defense against "roof climbing riff-raff," but even then his actions remain fluid and uninterrupted.

Finally he allowed a dazed, wind-swept Kagome to catch her breath at one rooftop at the very outskirts of the downtown area.

"What's up with that face," he asked, using one of his favorite phrases. Turning to look at her over his shoulder, he smirked at the way she blinked owlishly at him,

"That was awesome," she whispered, gray eyes dancing, "It was like we were flying."

His ego swelled, "Keh, there's a difference between jumping and flying stupid. Any way, where do you live?"

"Do you know where the Sunset Shrine is?"

His only answer was to leap upwards again, Kagome arms instinctively tightening about his neck as she let loose a small squeal of surprised delight. Today was weird, annoying and irritable, but if that was the price to feel like she was flying…she smiled and unconsciously snuggled into the warmth of Inu Yasha's back.

All too soon, Inu Yasha was leaping into the branches of one of the massive trees that lined the shrine grounds and was lowering her to the ground.

"Um," she looked down at her hands before smiling almost shyly up at him, "Thanks."

Grateful that the leaves hid his blush he shrugged, "Hmph, don't get all weepy on me, girl."

Her eyes narrowed, "I wasn't proposing to you or anything! I just thanked you."

"Well no one asked you to."

"It's common courtesy but I forgot, you don't know anything about that, do you?"

"All I did was bring you home, nothing worth getting worked up over."

"Okay, fine, you got me home. Now how about you go on and get yourself home."

"Fine."

"Fine."

"Fine!"

She whirled around to retort, but with a rustle of leaves he had leapt upwards and, before she could utter a word, had disappeared into the night.

A/N: Wow. That took a while to type up. I had it written up and finished two weeks ago, I just had finals to deal with so I didn't have time to actually type it up. Sorry! Oh, and I have a couple of comments about this chapter:

a) About the whole Led Zepplin and the Who thing; I don't like either one above the either, I think both of their stuff's equally awesome in different ways. Trying to pick one over the other is like asking me which one of my (non-existent) children I love more, it can't be done!

b) There is no band called The Broken Doll Heads to my knowledge, kind of like there is no song called Tuberose to my knowledge. Actually, a tuberose is a flower, which supposedly symbolizes dangerous pleasure. Ooo la la, rather racy…

Reviewer Responses:

thegymrat – Gymnastics, huh? I used to do that, but then we moved and I stopped doing it for a year, and when I tried to do a flip-flop again I discovered that the Qween doesn't work that way anymore…

bagira- People haven't heard of Bogart? That is surprising! I think even when I was younger I heard of the name and could match it with a face…but any way, sorry it's been taking so long to post this chapter, but now that it's here, I hope you enjoyed! ^_^

Siluial- Yeah, the Miroku and Sango parts are just so much fun to write because I don't have the fights be too serious. If I made Inu Yasha and Kagome fight because Inu Yasha was acting too suave, it would be just weird, but if Miroku and Sango fought over that it would still be IC. Fun. Fun!

Three-Letter-Word- My sister fell asleep while watching Casablanca, so I chucked a pillow at her to punish her for committing such a sacrilege. ^_^ Hope you liked the ending on this chapter, though, I'll admit, it's rather clichéd…

Not Just the Shard Detect- Don't you love the eyes? Personally, I think blue eyes are just awesome but if gold eyes could actually occur…*drool*

yousei/amberyes- You know, I've been trying to get my friend to watch Casablanca for a while now, and the whole tying her to a chair and gagging her sounds like a great idea…

gala and DragonTamer9741- *hides* Sorry for the cliff hanger! I'll try not to do it again…though I can't make any promises. Thanks for reviewing!

Squeakyinuears- he he, yeah I know what part of that Aladdin song you're talking about. Any way, I hope this chapter answered your questions, but if things are still murky tell me so because I have a tendency of overlooking the obvious -_-* Hope  you enjoyed the chapter!

Caligo Origuu- Oh yes, Kagome has found Inu Yasha's secret and she's actually going to keep it! Naturally, if I were slammed up against a wall and threatened like that I'd keep his secret too. ^_^

Lilacks, Deadly Tears and Jalla – I'm really sorry that I didn't hurry and update soon, but I hope this longer-than-usual chapter compensates! Thanks sooo much for reviewing. Toodles! ^_~

Ugh…my head hurts…need…sugar…Thanks to you all for reviewing and keep'em coming! …ugh…sugar….