Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha and company, I'm going to go cry now. Lauren and Eva insist that they aren't owned by anyone (they are real people) and I own their 'children' all of which are my characters that I made up.
Warnings: Rated R for cussing, violence, and later on a smothering sense of sexuality. AU, non-yaoi (. Lauren wouldn't let me), and no Sango or Kagome (Death to the bitches!).
Author's Rants: I wrote this as a favor to my friend Lauren. More or less a thank you for being an muse when my own doesn't want to work. I swear my muse gets fussier all the time. Though she does agree that Kagome is a bitch. Poor Inu-chan.
Please review! Oh, and this is a reminder that all flames will be used to burn Sango and Kagome at the stake. Even if Lauren threatens to hit me.
Anywayz, on to the story.
Chapter 3: Miroku's Bad Habits
Lauren froze in the warm circle of Inutaisho's strong arms, her eyes wide and her mouth hanging open. To her, time seemed to slow as she closed her eyes, then held her breath. Surely she was just dreaming a wild and fantastic dream of nonsense. And surely in a moment she'd wake up from this dream in her own bed, safe and sound.
Well, she thought wryly, as safe and sound as I could be around my mother.
The teenage girl heard a chuckle close to her ear even as the strong arms that held her trembled in mirth.
"Mother," he called softly, "the truth of this reality won't go away just because you close your pretty little eyes."
Lauren opened her eyes cautiously, looking up into ones so like her own that she wondered why she hadn't noticed by herself.
Or maybe I did and I was just trying to ignore it because its strange to think of myself as a mother to anyone.
Inutaisho smiled a broad toothy grin and his strange dog-like ears twitched.
"I think I better back away before I get seriously injured."
Lauren blinked, confused, "But I-uh. . . . .what?"
Inutaisho slowly released Lauren, drawing away from the small teenage girl. He then flicked his eyes off to the side. Lauren followed the direction of his glance, her gaze coming to rest on the flushed face of a very irritated Inuyasha. She then glanced back up at her 'son'. His eyes shone with amusement, but on his lips lay a simple smug smirk.
Why in hell's name is he baiting dog-boy? Lauren wondered, curiously.
She glance over at Kaede who looked confused, the old woman's eye shifting with a slight nervous energy between the other three. She didn't know what was going on, but she knew something was up.
Lauren glanced back and forth from a very smug, amused looking Inutaisho and a very angry, very pissed off Inuyasha. Inutaisho caught her confused gaze and rakishly winked, Inuyasha's growling got louder.
Lauren was suddenly hit with a realization like a ton of stone bricks. She gasped and stared at the two boys, her mind racing.
Oh! My! God! That's why Inutaisho and Inuyasha look so much alike! Why Inutaisho said that I was so important to him! And why Inutaisho is now baiting Inuyasha, making him so jealous he can't see straight!
Lauren felt her face catch fire again and looked down at her small feet. She was just trying to will it all into going away.
"I bid thee farewell, Mistress Kaede." Inutaisho bowed low with respect and winked at Inuyasha as he stood. The silver-haired boy was straining with the effort not to attack the identical strawberry blonde.
Inutaisho chuckled as he leapt high into the air, his wings appearing in a flash of light before he could fall.
And with a last blown kiss to his 'mother', he flew back towards the distant well. The two females left behind stared in awe until he was no longer within view. Inuyasha, however, refused to relax until after he had disappeared beyond the hazy horizon.
Lauren then turned back to the other two and waited. Kaede sighed and looked over at Inuyasha with a searching look. Lauren began to self-consciously dig the toe of her black sneaker into the soft lakeside mud.
"Come, girl," Kaede said, smiling encouragingly. She motioned for Lauren to follow them towards the direction they had come from. Towards the village that Inutaisho had said was near there.
Lauren shuffled along the dirt path behind the other two, her eyes wide at the strange creatures they passed by. Small things that ran from Inuyasha in a fright, but tried to edge closer to the old woman and red-headed teenage girl. The silver haired boy snarled at them until they backed away.
Finally, they reached a small hut on the outskirts of a small quiet village. Lauren stared at the children that played in the middle of the circle of huts. Their parents close by, watching over their play. Lauren turned back to follow the other two up the couple of steps to reach the platform that the hut stood on.
Kaede pulled back the hide that served as a door, entering the small, dark room just beyond. Lauren paused before the threshold, wary of entering a dark room with two people she had just met no more than hour ago.
Inuyasha cocked an eyebrow at her as he passed into the hut.
The teenage girl blushed at her cowardice and glared hotly after him. Then she struck her tongue out at him before following him into the cool darkness.
Lauren walked into the center of the room and took a moment to let her eyes adjust. When she could see, she watched Kaede build a fire in her small stone hearth. The old woman motioned for Lauren to sit on a cushion close to the fire, and she did so.
Inuyasha, on the other hand, ignored them both and had already begun to pace the back of the room.
"Mistress Kaede?" A young man's voice called from the doorway.
The three within the room turned back to the door as it opened to reveal a panting young monk in black and purple robes. Miroku smiled as charmingly as he could. His eyes only slightly touched by exhaustion. Kaede just sweat dropped and bid the monk to enter.
"Miroku, what brings you to my hut?" Kaede asked, sweetly smiling. Miroku stepped closer and in the firelight Lauren could make out about five various handprints that had his face pulsing a bright red. And over his left eye was a small cut, probably from a branch that hit him in the face as he ran through the woods. Inuyasha snickered softly as Lauren stared.
"I thought I'd just stop by and see my favorite old wise woman. . . . . . And ask if she had any ointment to spare for an old friend?" Miroku asked with a broad, rakish grin at Kaede.
Inuyasha rolled his eyes and withdrew his attention to his pacing. Lauren clutched her sky-colored shawl tightly and turned to see Kaede motion the monk closer as she nodded. The old woman sighed as she began to move bottles and rummage through her shelves.
Kaede muttered under her breath and pulled down a small brown jar, blowing a layer of dust off the top. She pulled Miroku before the fire and began to spread the lotion-like contents thickly on Miroku's red pulsing face. Lauren watched curiously, moving closer to the monk and old woman.
Inuyasha merely continued to pace with another roll of his glowing golden eyes, a look of exasperation on his face.
"Ye know, Miroku, if ye kept ye hands to yeself, ye wouldn't be needing ointment near so often," Kaede said almost snidely.
The monk's eyes sparkled mischievously.
"But Kaede! It's totally worth the pain," he stated very cheerfully. Lauren giggled loudly at Miroku's playful pronouncement, her laughter doubling when the flirtatious monk winked at her once more.
Inuyasha saw the wink and had to struggle to refrain himself from growling menacingly at the monk. So the half-breed settled instead for muttering heatedly under his breath as he paced even faster. Miroku arched an eyebrow.
"Ops, I think I made Lord Inuyasha angry!" Miroku teased lightly. Lauren watched as Inuyasha flexed his hands, first one hand and then the other. His claws catching the weak firelight and reflecting it back.
Suddenly Miroku was pinned against the back wall, inches away from a very quick yet painful death. The teenage girl sat up and her widened in interest. Kaede just sighed heavily with a shake of her old head.
"Never," Inuyasha hissed, "Never laugh at me!" He pulled Miroku off his feet and bashed him into the wooden wall, "Got me?"
Miroku nodded quickly, his dark eyes wide, startled. Kaede leaned closer to Lauren, raising a hand so the two males couldn't hear what she whispered to the girl.
"To bad Miroku's too stupid to be scared," she chuckled. Lauren only nodded vaguely at Kaede's statement. Inuyasha glanced over at the two women and his gaze met Lauren's. The silver-haired teenaged boy dropped the young monk and went back to his pacing.
"Well, you have an interesting way of showing off your over-active temper and your flaring sense of jealousy," Miroku said, lightheartedly wiping the dust from his clothing. Inuyasha shot him a fierce glare and growled in warning. Miroku waved his arms in front of him defensively, "Okay! Okay!"
Kaede looked up at Inuyasha, a grin crossing her wrinkled old face.
"Inuyasha, come and join us," she motioned to the small pot that she had hastily shoved over the fire. "I'll even make your favorite calming tea."
Inuyasha glared daggers at the old woman and hmpfted loudly. He only continued to pace at a furious rate. Lauren glanced at the other two and back at Inuyasha. Miroku sat next to the old woman keeping an eye of the half-breed.
Why he's nothing but a bully! She thought angrily.
"Would you just stop all that pacing and just SIT!!!"
Inuyasha's bead necklace glowed and suddenly the half-breed teenager face-planted onto the hut's wooden floor.
TBC. . .