Potential
By: Camigwen
A/N: I know, I know: I've sorta 'revamped' some of the stuff from the last chapter...so, if a line or two seems a bit repetitive, I apologize. It's me being picky and lazy at the same time. ^^;;
Chapter 5
Giles nearly let out a curse as yet another tree branch threatened to smack him in the face, but he quickly thew his hands up to guard against it. He halted, letting out a long exasperated sigh, and turned to Spike, who was following close behind. "Is he near?"
Spike shot him a questioning look—which was rather humorous looking with the unlit cigarette hanging out of his mouth—as he dug around in the pockets of his duster for a lighter.
"The half demon, or rather, Inuyasha, as Willow seems to believe—is he near?"
The blonde vampire smiled triumphantly as he located his lighter and removed the cigarette from his mouth to answer Giles. "I'm not some police dog, sniffing out the trails of wanted murderers, Watcher."
The watcher scoffed at him. "Well, you may not be that, but you certainly have better chances finding this 'Inuyasha' using your demon sense of smell than I do stumbling around blindly in the dark of night. Now is he near or not?—and by George, put that thing away!"
He growled in annoyance as he threw the just lighted cigarette to the ground and crushed it into the Earth with his foot. He gave Giles a 'happy?' look and lifted his head to sniff the air. He made a face and shook his head, sniffing in the air once more.
"What?" Giles inquired.
Spike waved him off, "It's nothing—just a whole lot of demons lurking around here. I think he's in—" He whirled around on his feet to face Giles's right. "—that direction."
Giles took the lead and began to trudge through the forest, allowing a curse to slip between his teeth as he nearly collided with a tree. Spike laughed at him until he tripped over a thick tree root and landed face-first on the ground letting out a loud "BLOODY HELL!" as he fell.
+§¤§+
Inuyasha—when in demon form, his superhuman hearing and sense of smell that was perhaps stronger than that of Spike—stood alert with his hand lightly resting on the hilt of the Tetsaiga. He was human right now; thus he wouldn't be able to transform the Tetsaiga into its powerful, feared form. But he was certain that the two from before wouldn't know that.
Kagome stirred in her sleeping bag and mumbled something he couldn't make out. It was hard for him to believe or comprehend that Kagome—the one who couldn't harm a flea—was a Slayer. He didn't quite grasp what a Slayer exactly was, except that they hunted vampires—whatever those were—and demons.
Whoa, wait—back up! Slayers were supposed to hunt demons—he glanced at Kagome's peaceful sleeping form—but did that mean that Kagome was going to hunt him down. Would she try to kill him like Ki—?
"BLOODY HELL!"
He whirled around to face the direction of the loud voice that spoke in such an odd tongue. "Who's there?" He asked, then demanded more loudly: "Show yourself!"
His shout woke a very groggy potential Slayer. She slowly rose into a sitting position within the covering of the sleeping bag. "Inuyasha..." she said in a flat tone, "if you want me to stand guard, I will. But please, just ask, don't yell."
"Shut up!" He snapped. He couldn't hear as well, smell as well, or see as well as he could normally, so he needed her to be quiet so that he could listen for approaching footsteps.
Snapping at her was not the right approach, however...
"SIT!" Kagome shouted, suddenly wide-awake. She jumped out of her sleeping bag and marched over to Inuyasha's twitching form implanted in the ground. "Jerk!" She spat, kicking him lightly in the ribs for more effect.
His hand lashed out and grabbed her foot, causing her to trip and fall on top of him just as he had pulled himself from the hole and rolled over onto his back. She started to say something, but he quickly covered her mouth and rolled over on top of her so that she was pinned beneath him and couldn't lash out.
'Why, of all the nerve—' Kagome growled and fidgeted beneath his weight. She licked his hand in attempt to get him to remove it from her mouth and when he didn't move it, she bit him.
Inuyasha pulled his hand away. "Dammit woman!" He cursed, glaring down at her. ...Uh-oh...
"SIT BO—ACK!" Apparently, she hadn't thought of the consequences before she used the spell on him. She was now trapped underneath him in a new hole, his body nearly crushing hers. "Inuyasha…get off…"
"Well Watcher, perhaps we should give them a few minutes to finish their snog."
Almost instantly, the two leapt up from their awkward position, Inuyasha moving protectively in front of Kagome.
Kagome sat almost motionless behind Inuyasha's protective form, her shaky hand resting on the wooden part of her bow, ready to grab it and strike if needed. Why hadn't she felt him? Why hadn't she felt the vampire's presence? According to her grandfather, Slayers were able to feel when demons were near…but, then again, she's never felt a demon's presence before, not even Inuyasha's. The only demons she'd been able to sense were those who bore shards of the Shikon jewel, and this vampire wasn't one of them.
As she stared at Inuyasha's back, she couldn't help feeling that she was the powerful one at the moment, for even with the Tetsaiga, Inuyasha was much weaker in his current human state. She had to put an end to this before violence was needed…
Quickly, she searched through her limited knowledge of English words… "Wait!"
Inuyasha slowly turned to her as she shouted the alien word. "Kagome, what in all hells was—" She gave him a stern look that told him to shut up and grumbling, he did.
Kagome stood up slowly, her knees shaking. Taking a deep breath, she forced her mouth to form the odd words and calmly said: "No fighting. Talk. Talk not fight."
**TBC**
Disclaimer: I have no delusions of owning Inuyasha…or at least ones that I have no intention of making reality. So, sadly, I don't own it…
11/24/03