Muahaha, we're finally here. I've been waiting for this chapter for a while. It didn't turn out quite how I wanted it to, but not bad, considering.
Don't forget the challenge! No one has given me an answer yet! Give me my birth date and I'll put you into my story (one of them, any way…)!
I will be happy to beta for anyone who wants a beta (now that I know what a beta is, thanx Kokuei!), just post a review w/your email address and I'll email you.
Disclaimer: (still high from anti-depressants) WAHOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I DON'T OWN INU-YASHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Evil Thing O' The Day: I'll get back to you on that one…
World dominator/ho hwa/Whak and s---- c----: I think we covered most of this at YSP. Sorry bout the blister, glad you liked the chappie. Higho.
Kokuei: glad you like it. I don't need help at the moment but later on I may have some trouble so I'll tell you first! PS how did you come up with your username? It's cool!
On with the insanity…
Two weeks passed. They had gotten the computer running with little trouble (little trouble for a computer, that is, which means it took them the better part of three days…), and Inu-Yasha had begun to train Kagome to use her powers. She was learning quickly, and soon she was able to slip past Inu-Yasha's guard and deal some damage.
Speaking of which…
"Inu-Yasha!" Kagome called, slightly worried. She ran over to where he had fallen. "Are you all right?"
The hanyou groaned and sat up, rubbing his head with his hand. "That hurt," he complained.
"Sorry…" she said.
Inu-Yasha sighed and brought his hand down, then stiffened.
"What?" Kagome asked, but he ignored her.
Oh, crap, he thought. Oh, crap. Not now…
His claws were gone, replaced with normal human nails. He pulled a lock of hair over his shoulder, but fortunately that was still silver. "Uh…I'm going to take a shower." He ran for the house.
What was that about? Kagome wondered, following at a somewhat more sedate pace.
'' '' '' '' ''
Behind the locked door of the bathroom, Inu-Yasha groaned. How could he have forgotten it was the new moon? He'd gotten to the house before anything noticeable changed, but it had been a close call…
He sighed and got in the shower. I'll just tell her I washed the dye out, he decided. She'll believe that.
'' '' '' '' ''
Kagome had wisely decided to stay in the kitchen, out of the hanyou's way. I wonder what's gotten into him? she thought, and jumped as a rather loud curse sounded from the bedroom.
"Inu-Yasha?" she called, gingerly opening the door. "Hey, so that's what your hair really looks like!"
"Uh…yeah," he said, looking up at her.
"Oh, wow," she breathed, looking at his eyes. They were a deep, vibrant, mystical purple, so stunning they could only be called amethyst. Her own blue-grey irises paled in comparison. "You took your contacts out."
"Yeah…Damn it!"
"What's wrong?"
"My hair," he mumbled. Demon hair is so much easier to care for…
"I'll do it," Kagome said, coming to sit on the bed behind him. He handed her the comb and she began to run it through his hair.
"You're much more patient than I am," he remarked as she delicately teased a snarl out of his hair.
"Well, it's not your fault you're a guy," she replied, laughter in her voice.
"Shut up and comb, wench," he grumbled.
"You're so polite," she said dryly.
"Thank you."
Kagome laughed, and so did he. Slowly their laughter faded into comfortable silence.
Inu-Yasha closed his eyes and relaxed. It was nice, sitting here with her, not worrying about anything. Part of him tried to dismiss this as human foolishness, but most of him was extremely content.
"Hey, how did you get these?" Kagome asked, breaking into his thoughts.
"Huh?"
"These scars," she said, tracing a pair of lines along the top of his head.
That's where my ears would be, he thought. I never noticed that before. To Kagome he said, "Uh…shrapnel. A…um…locker exploded and I got hit."
"Ooh," she said, wincing. "Well, you're done." She patted his shoulder and winced again. "You're tense."
"Well, you're the one who keeps slamming me into the ground," he grumbled, trying to relax his muscles.
Kagome laughed sheepishly. "Sorry. Let me make it up to you?" She began to knead his shoulders with her fingers.
"Mm…" Inu-Yasha said, rolling his head back against her fingers. "That feels nice."
"Well, that's more or less the point," she said, her hands moving down to his back.
"How did you get so good at this?"
"K taught me."
"K?!"
Kagome laughed. "Calm down. Yes, K. She's more than just a spy, you know."
"It just seems a little…out of character. Hey, don't stop," he protested.
Kagome slid her arms around his waist and leaned against his back. "But I'm tired."
Inu-Yasha hadn't expected that. He turned his head to look at her. Her eyes were closed and she looked…happy? "Are you going to go to sleep on me?"
"Probably. You're comfortable…" she replied.
"Er…if you say so." He was actually rather pleased with the situation. Inu-Yasha absently reached a hand up to rub her arm. The bruises he had caused were finally healed, much to his relief.
This is nice, he thought, almost in spite of himself. She's warm… He sighed happily.
But the problem is…I don't know. I'm with her, I'm happy, but I'm still on edge. I can't completely relax. Has being a spy made me so paranoid?
Even as he thought it, he knew that wasn't the problem. No, it's her…or rather me. Damn it, I am in love with her! (Uh, Inu-Kun, that's a good thing…) But that's supposed to be a good thing. (There you go.) So why am I so tense? He sighed and Kagome shifted against him. I can't do this. I have to tell her I'm a hanyou.
'' '' '' '' ''
At dinner the next night Inu-Yasha shifted in his chair and checked his watch for the umpteenth time.
"Honestly, Inu-Yasha, what's gotten into you? You've been awfully tense since last night." Kagome gave him a reproving look.
Inu-Yasha sighed and checked his watch again. It was almost moonrise. "Kagome, come with me," he ordered, seizing her hand and pulling her to the window. "There's something I have to show you."
Kagome frowned, confused. "What?"
"Just…wait." He didn't look at her but stared out the window.
Slowly the moon came into view over the horizon. Kagome watched its light shine in through the window and hit her companion. She gasped as he began to change.
The roots of his hair grayed and turned to silver-white. The color spread slowly down to the ends, trickling down as reluctantly as the Ward they'd created only a few weeks before. His ears grew to points, moving to the top of his head where they rested as snowy white dog ears. His teeth lengthened, as did his nails, turning to fangs and claws. Finally, his eyes flickered from amethyst through several shades of brown to amber.
Kagome took a step back. "You're a demon," she breathed, eyes wide.
"A hanyou, actually," he said quietly. "My mother was human."
"I—wow," she said weakly, turning to look out the window. "This explains a lot. You go human with the new moon? And that day I explored your core—that thing I found was your demon core. Were you…turning into a full demon?"
"Yeah."
There was a pause, then Kagome said, "Do you know, I was thinking of writing a sequel to Demon's Goal? Just for fun, of course, but it had all of us in it, as well as some other people I know. Some of them I made into demons, like your cousin—"
"Brother."
Kagome raised her eyebrows but didn't comment on this revelation. "—Like your brother, Sesshomaru. Some I kept human, like Miroku and Sango. But you…you I couldn't figure. I guess the part of me that is Kikyo knew who was human and who was demon. But the conflicting energies I got from you were so confusing that I—or she—or we—couldn't figure it out."
"Kikyo knows me. I wanted the Jewel, once. You look a lot like the Kikyo I fought."
"Once? As in no longer?" When Inu-Yasha nodded, Kagome asked, "Why didn't you tell me?"
"I wanted to, but I couldn't. We were on the run from demons—technically we still are—and I needed you to trust me. Would you have if you'd known I was a demon?"
"Half," she said with a small smile. "You're only half demon. And you have dog ears…" she reached up and gently rubbed his ears. "They're soft," she said, laughing softly.
"You…you aren't afraid of me?" he asked quietly, hardly daring to believe it.
"No, I'm terrified of you." Her voice was quiet, calm, not teasing, but not condemning either. "But…I still trust you. Gods only know why, but I do. I'll stop fearing you eventually."
Inu-Yasha brushed his hand against hers. "Thank you."
Kagome smiled at him. "Thank you for trusting me. Come on. Let's go to bed."
Inu-Yasha let her pull him into the bedroom and tuck him in, and when she lay down next to him he smiled. He put his arms around her and pulled her close to him. "Are you okay with this?"
"Mm," she said, pressing closer. "I've gotten used to sleeping like this. Besides, I feel safe like this. You can't feel safe and afraid at the same time, now can you?"
He smiled into her hair. "No, I guess you can't."
'' '' '' '' '' '' '' '' '' '' '' '' '' '' '' '' '' '' '' '' '' '' '' '' '' '' '' '' '' '' '' '' '' '' '' '' '' '' '' '' '' '' '' ''
So now she knows. Lalala…that went better than I expected but not as well as it could have (like most things I do…).
Tengo una problema. My wife (yeah, I'm a girl, but in Cymbeline I play a man) is taller and wider than me, and I'm supposed to strike her so that she falls down and is nearly unconscious (I don't know it's my wife at the time, of course, she's in disguise as a man)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HELP!
Anyway, see you soon! (Maybe. I'm having trouble with Ch. 9)
--Myriadragon