Author's Note: Sorry about the delay in posting this! The thing is, this was supposed to be a nice little two-part thing.... and then I got mauled by rabid plot bunnies. So, really, it's not my fault, right? And, now that this has insistently demanded that it have a plot of its very own, I feel compelled to note that this takes place after the episodes featuring the Peach Man, but before anything else (that's about as far as I've managed to see. Sad but true).
Disclaimer: I never really got to have a puppy when I was little, and now I don't own "Inuyasha." Life is so unfair....
Rated "R" for Inuyasha's language.
The next morning, as the sun peeped over the horizon, a very satisfied hanyou lept down from the tree which he had spent the night in.
Yesterday had been a very good day.
There had been Ramen, he had gotten to chase Shippo around, no dead former girlfriends had tried to drag him to Hell, and there had been more Ramen.
And—the most important thing, the thing that made yesterday a red-letter day, the thing that had him working hard to conceal an ecstatic grin behind his trademark scowl....
He had gotten Kagome to finally agree to leave that idiotic damned "school" place. No more running off and leaving h— them whenever she felt like it, no more having to haul that monstrosity of a bag stuffed full of books the length and breadth of Japan.....
'Keh. Damned thing practically breaks my back every time I have to carry it. It's a wonder Kagome's able to walk at all, with all that weight.
Well, that's one more thing she won't have to worry about anymore, isn't it?'
Rolling his head from side to side to work out the kinks in his neck, Inuyasha strode over to Kaede's hut, where the rest of the group was sleeping. Shippo was curled up with Kirara, Sango slept with her hand lightly on her weapon, ready to use it the moment any dangers threatened, and Miroku leaned against the wall near Sango, one arm keeping his staff leaned against his shoulder, and the other resting oh-so-casually a short distance away from Sango's sleeping form, as if even in sleep the monk was unable to resist preparing to take advantage of any opportunity which might present itself.
'Fucking lecherous bouzo. Ya'd think he enjoyed getting smacked around like that.'
Inuyasha quietly picked up a basket from alongside the wall, replaced the door flap and headed down towards the river adjoining the village. Fresh fish for breakfast would be nice, he thought, his good mood making him feel generous towards the rest of the group and the old priestess who allowed them to use her hut and who was always ready to bandage their injuries and provide them with whatever aid she could.
Of course, he reflected, feeling the slap of beads against his haori as he ran through the woods, some of her ideas of 'help' were not exactly what he would consider at all useful.
He came to the edge of the steep incline leading down to the flat bank of the river and grimaced. Getting yanked down that incline, face first, was not one of his fondest memories.
'Stupid wench, overreacting. Wasn't as if I had even done anything, wasn't my fault that she decided to stand up in the water like that, all naked and....'
The sudden picture that rose up out of his memory was so distracting that he almost missed his footing and fell into the river.
For having only gotten a brief glimpse of her, his mind seemed to remember every detail with shocking clarity, from the way her dark hair had clung around her face and shoulders to the paleness of her skin, to the way the water had run along the curve of her waist and...
'Dammit! Fish! Breakfast!'
In the entire history of that section of the river, nobody had ever caugh fish with the speed and single-minded concentration that Inuyasha did that morning. He only stopped when the basket was full to overflowing, looking at it almost with surprise. Breakfast would be plentiful; even Kirara would have enough fresh fish to satisfy her.
Picking the basket up carefully, Inuyasha prepared to head back towards the village. The others should be up, or starting to get up, by now, and that meant that they would be thinking about breakfast. He should be sure to get the fish to them before they began to fix something else. After breakfast, they could spend time planning their next move in the quest to kill Naraku and complete the Shikon Jewel.
It was almost funny; getting his hands on the Jewel used to be his main goal in life, the thing that occupied his every waking moment and not a few of his dreams. Now, while it was still something he thought about, something he planned on accomplishing, it had receded in importance, replaced by his need to destroy the monster that had caused so much pain and suffering, that had tricked and murdered Kikyo and destroyed the lives of countless others.
Now, if he had to chose between getting his hands on the completed Shikon Jewel and eradicating Naraku.... well, he doubted he would even hesitate.
There were priorities.... and then there were priorities.
And, now that Kagome was going to be spending almost all of her time where she belonged, the quest should be able to move forward that much more quickly.
Inuyasha frowned slightly to himself. Given how important it was that they get back on the road, back to their quest, maybe he should go and fetch Kagome today?
Then again, considering the last things that he'd said to her, the argument he'd finally used to make her agree to quit school.... maybe he should wait. Until he was sure that the first hundred words out of her mouth wouldn't be guaranteed to put him so deeply into the ground that it would take him a week to get back out.
It wasn't as if he'd meant to... he hadn't wanted to.... Even Inuyasha could recognize that bringing Kikyo's name into the discussion was bound to cause Kagome pain. The miko's name had just slipped out before he'd been able to stop himself, and once he'd said it, he had plowed on ahead with his argument rather than admit he'd said something wrong. If he'd apologized, how was he supposed to keep insisting that Kagome listen to him?
He'd just have to make sure that she understood how much better it was for her to be back here with h—with the group, rather than trying to live two lives at once.
'She gets so worried about her tests—hell, sometimes she gets so stressed about things that she doesn't get any sleep, and she yells "Osuwari!" at anybody who tries to talk to her, even when it isn't me! How can that be a good thing? Doesn't she realize that... that we worry about her when she gets like that? It's my job to protect her, dammit, and that includes protecting her from the hell she keeps putting herself through because of school, and tests, and who knows what else over there. How am I supposed to protect her from anything when she's always off in that weird time of hers, running around in that ridiculously short... not that it matters what the hell the wench is wearing!'
As Inuyasha approached the hut, he could hear the typical morning noises that meant that the rest of their group had woken up and was ready to start the day.
"HENTAI!!"
smack
Shippo came bounding out of the hut, stretched, and looked around until he saw Inuyasha with the basket of fish.
"Inuyasha! You went fishing? How come you didn't take me along with you? I would have gotten up!"
"Oi, brat—go tell Kaede and the others that there's fresh fish for breakfast, ok?"
Turning to go back into the hut, Shippo almost ran into Kirara, who had clearly caught the smell of fish and was hoping to lay a claim before the humans started spoiling things by cooking them. Inuyasha grinned and tossed two of the larger fish to the firecat, who caught them gracefully, tails twitching, and strolled around to the back of the hut where she could devour them in private, but remain close enough to return and request a second helping.
The rest of the group was appreciative of getting a chance to have freshly-caught fish for breakfast, and Kaede quickly set about grilling them while the miso soup came to a boil. Deciding that it would be rude to catch the fish and then eat nothing but Ramen, Inuyasha ate breakfast along with the rest. Sango, although she spent most of breakfast glaring balefully at a cheerfully-grinning Miroku, complimented Kaede on her cooking and thanked Inuyasha on both her own and Kirara's behalf.
Caught up in his own thoughts, Inuyasha blinked at her blankly before registering what she had said.
"Oh... sure, Sango.... just happened to be up, and I figured we might as well take advantage of being able to eat in peace."
The twitchy, restless feeling that he got whenever Kagome had left to spend time on the other side of the Well was making it hard for him to concentrate, and this time it was compounded by the nervous, sick feeling he always got whenever she'd left on bad terms with him, the worry deep in his gut that maybe this time she would decide not to come back.
'But she said that she'd do it! She said that it was fine! She's gonna come back, and this time she'll finally be able to stay here.'
'But what if she thinks you won't ever let her go back,' a small voice in his head said. 'What if she thinks you're trying to keep her from seeing her family again?'
Inuyasha almost casually knocked Shippo away from an attempt to steal part of his fish.
'Bull! Kagome knows that I wouldn't do that! I know that her family is important to her, even that crazy old geezer—I wouldn't make her stay away from them; she just doesn't need to spend all of that fucking time in that stupid school of hers!' He frowned slightly.
Could Kagome really think that little of him? Internally wincing as he remembered how their last argument had ended—ok, how he had ended their last argument—he had to admit that it was possible that Kagome would in fact believe that no more school meant no more time with her family.
Well, he was just going to have to make it clear to her that he had no problem with her visiting her family... as long as she wasn't unreasonable about it.... and remembered to bring back plenty of Ramen whenever she visited.
Once breakfast had been taken care of, Shippo happily sat in the corner and colored, using the crayons and paper Kagome had brought him, while the others began to discuss strategy.
"Oi, Kaede-baaba—any rumors about Shikon shards while we were gone?"
"No, Inuyasha—there were no rumors of shards, or of activity that seemed like Naraku."
"Keh. Fucking bastard's just hiding and plotting Probably wasn't expecting me to defeat Ryukotsusei, and now that I'm not dead, he doesn't know what to do next."
Miroku nodded slightly at Inuyasha's words. "Indeed, I believe that Inuyasha may be correct."
"What the hell is this "may be" crap, bouzo?"
Ignoring the interruption, the monk continued in the same even tone.
"Naraku expected that not only Inuyasha, but probably the rest of us would meet an untimely end when he released Ryukotsusei. The dragon's death means that not only are we still alive and looking for him, but that Inuyasha is clearly much stronger than he had anticipated—strong enough to accomplish even what Inuyasha's father had been unable to do. Even if it was nothing more than luck...."
"Oi!"
"...there is no doubt that Naraku must now recognize Inuyasha as a much more formidable foe. He will need to plan his next move carefully, and I believe that we can take advantage of this."
"What do you mean, houshi-sama?" Sango asked.
Turning his brilliant smile towards the taijiya, Miroku explained, "Naraku is probably more uncertain now than he has been for some time, possibly since Kagome-sama fired her arrows at him and almost destroyed him. He knows that we are stronger, but does not yet know the details. And Naraku does not care to be ill-informed, or in a position where he is likely to be surprised. I believe that he will be paying particular attention to what we do over the next several weeks, until he feels ready to engage in another confrontation."
Kaede frowned slightly. "You mean that he will spy on you? Using the Saimyoushou, as he has before?"
He nodded. "Exactly. We know that he has used them in the past to spy on us, and find out where we are; if we know that he's going to be following our every more and spying on us...."
".... then we can use that to our advantage," finished Sango eagerly. "But... houshi-sama, how exactly do you propose that we do that? Simply wander around the countryside and lead the insects on a wild goose chase? That seems rather.... unplanned, doesn't it?"
Inyasha let out a light, "Keh" under his breath. The young woman had a point; while Miroku was probably right that Naraku was going to be spying on them, there didn't seem to be much point to just rambling around the countryside, probably running into other demons and hostile humans. If they weren't going to be going after Naraku himself, or follow leads about more jewel shards, why couldn't they just stay here in the.....
Suddenly, several things clicked together unpleasantly in Inuyasha's mind.
Naraku's insect spies, buzzing and hovering around them as the evil demon tried to find a weakness he could attack...
The village, the one place they had as a sanctuary and a resting place between battles....
Kaede, who, while determined and resolute, was definitely old and no match for the forces Naraku could bring against her and the innocent villagers....
And, most importantly...
The Well. Kagome.
His blood ran cold as he realized what could happen if Naraku's spies saw the girl climbing out of the Well, seemingly appearing from nowhere, or if they saw her departure.
How lucky had they been so far, that Naraku had never seemed to realize the Well's importance?
'Shit.... Miroku's right; it's too dangerous for us to stay here when we know that Naraku's going to be watching! We have to get out of here; doesn't really matter which direction we head in at first... although it would be better if we at least looked like we knew what the hell we were doing.... '
He jolted out of his thoughts and caught Miroku mid-sentence.
".... so, you see, Sango, it really is the only sensible plan."
"But what if there are rumors about Shikon shards while we are out trying to lead the Saimyoushou in circles, houshi-sama? Must we all leave the village?"
The monk was unperturbed by her objections, and a faint twinkle entered his eyes as he smoothly replied, 'Of course, Sango; you are absolutely right; the best plan would be for the two of us to travel together, while Shippo and Inuyasha and Kirara remain in the village."
Sango's eyes narrowed into a glare that would have sent any other man backing slowly away. Or possibly running, quickly. Miroku's grin only widened.
"And why, houshi-sama," she ground out through gritted teeth, "does it make any sense to leave Kirara in the village with Inuyasha and Shippo?"
"Why, my dear Sango, who else will be able to rapidly send messages about Shikon shards and then bring us to meet them?" His face was a picture of innocence, which fooled nobody else in the room. "We should begin packing everything we will need immediately! I suggest that we take along Kagome-sama's sleeping bag...."
Before Sango could carry out any of the responses she was clearly thinking about, all of which seemed likely to render the monk incapable of travel for the foreseeable future, Inuyasha stood up and brusquely announced, "We'll leave before lunch. Kirara will stay here to bring any news, and to bring Kagome when she gets back. Kaede-baaba, even if you haven't heard any rumors, what direction do you think would be most useful?"
The others blinked at the hanyou's decisive tone. After a pause, Miroku nodded and also stood up. In spite of his words to Sango, the monk had clearly also thought of the dangers Inuyasha had realized and knew that the safest thing for the village would be for them to leave it. Sango looked puzzled, but evidently recognized that there had to be some reason for air of urgency.
Kaede looked thoughtful for a moment, before saying, "Inuyasha, if you are truly interested in collecting more Shikon shards, there is one obvious course for you to take..."
'What? Dammit, if that old hag knows where we can get more shards, why hasn't she said anything be—oh. She better not be about to say....'
"The wolf-prince Kouga, as you know, still possesses two shards in his legs. Eventually, that fact will have to be dealt with. If you are needing a direction in which to travel, visiting him to at least discuss the fate of his shards would not be a bad idea."
'Ah, fuck. I knew that she was going to say that. Why the hell does it have to be that damn wolf? Why couldn't it just be some evil, powerful demon who happened to swallow a shard or two? Something that we could just kill, without having to pretend to be friends with it, or watch as it kept trying to put its disgusting, smelly paws all over...'
"But...but what about Kagome? How can we leave if Kagome's not here?" Shippo piped up, his tail fluffing nervously, upset at the thought of having to leave without the young miko to coddle him and sneak him chocolate before meals.
"Feh. Weren't you listening? I already said, Kirara will stay here and bring Kagome when she gets back. The rest of us will go on ahead. To visit... " his voice was strained, "Kouga."
No happier than Shippo at the thought of traveling without Kagome's presence, her voice and her sweet scent surrounding him, and irritated beyond words that he was going to have to go out of his way to find that stupid, stinking, wimpy, idiotic, over-confident, stupid wolf, Inuyasha stalked out of the hut to once again work off his tension by ensuring that the village would never lack for firewood.
The little kitsune scowled, and he opened his mouth to protest, but Sango leaned over and said, "Don't worry, Shippo; I'm sure that Kagome will be back with us soon. And we'll make sure to have things scouted out for her by the time she gets back, right?"
Somewhat appeased, Shippo finally nodded and began to gather up his crayons.
After all, if Kirara was carrying Kagome back to join the rest of the group, there was always the possibility that she would take advantage of the firecat's greater strength to bring more than the usual amount of sweets and other interesting things back with her.
Or that a heartfelt declaration of how terrible it had been to be dragged off into the wilderness without her, accompanied by big, soulful eyes, could encourage her to do so the next time she went back through the Well.
When the group was ready to depart, Miroku went in search of Inuyasha, still off terrorizing innocent trees. Inuyasha paused momentarily in his work at the monk's approach, then stopped altogether when it became clear that he was there to speak with the hanyou rather than make sly observations about Inuyasha finding better ways to work off stress.
"Oi, bouzo—whaddya want?"
"Inuyasha, everyone is prepared to depart. Kaede has packed a lunch, and if we start now, we can cover quite a bit of ground before nightfall." He paused, looking as if he wanted to add something, but said nothing further.
Inuyasha sighed. 'Yeah, but not as much as if we brought Kirara along, right? I know that it will mean travelling more slowly, but I... I don't want Kagome to get stuck in the village once she comes back."
'And, of course, Kagome is much more important than the possibility that there could be rumors about Shikon shards, isn't that right, Inuyasha?' the monk thought to himself, somewhat amused.
"Anyway, she should be back soon, so Kirara can just catch up with us then. Probably before we even see a hair on that wimpy wolf's scrawny tail. Besides which...." he looked directly at Miroku, his eyes serious, "... I think that you were right in wanting to leave the village as soon as we could. If Naraku is really going to be spying on us, and I think he will be..... this is the last place we should be hanging around."
'We've seen so many innocent villagers get massacred, so many homes and lives get destroyed... If Naraku attacked Kaede's village....'
Miroku's only response was to nod solemnly. Together, the two of them turned and headed back to the village, where Sango was already waiting, Shippo perched on her shoulder. Kirara was winding around Kaede's feet, but came over to say farewell to them as they prepared to make their way out into the forests surrounding the village.
'At least with Kirara there, the village isn't completely defenseless. At the very, very least, she will be able to get Kagome out of here, if it comes to that. Please, please don't let it come to that... She just needs to make it through safely this one last time, just one more time, once she's out of that school of hers; is that too much to ask?'
Given his past luck, Inuyasha had a hard time squelching the insidious thread of fear that insisted that Kagome's safe return might indeed be too much to ask.
After several hours on the road towards the wolves' den, the group stopped for lunch. As always, Inuyasha had Ramen, while the others enjoyed the lunch that Kaede had put together for them. True, the Ramen might not be as good as when Kagome fixed it, but it was still Ramen, and as far as he was concerned, nothing the village could offer them came close.
Of course, now that he knew Naraku was likely to be spying on them, watching their moves, trying to find a weakness, Kagome probably shouldn't be making trips back through the Well to bring more Ramen, either. Guess he'd just have to ration the supply that they had with them, savoring it while he still could.
Caught between enjoyment of the noodles and broth and the melancholy knowledge that he should hold out as long as possible before letting himself enjoy such a pleasure again, Inuyasha was only half paying attention to his friends.
He was thus all the more startled when he caught the tail end of something Sango was saying.
".... after all, Kagome probably won't want to come back until after the wedding."
'The WHAT???'
Miroku, oblivious to the way Inuyasha had suddenly frozen in place, replied, "Ah.. I see. That does make sense, after all. Did she say when the blessed event... "
"WHAT wedding?" came a loud interruption from the other side of their small campfire.
Sango looked up at him, tilting her head in confusion at his outburst. Shaking her head as she realized that Inuyasha's focus had been on food rather than their conversation, she started at the beginning.
"I was just telling houshi-sama, Inuyasha, that one of Kagome-chan's friends is getting married, and that she will probably want to attend the ceremony."
"Keh." Inuyasha relaxed almost visibly. For a minute he had thought.. not that that was possible, of course, but...
Miroku continued with the conversation as if it had never been interrupted. "Did she say when this blessed event will be taking place?"
"I don't exactly know, houshi-sama. From what Kagome-chan explained to me... it would seem to be a matter of... well, of some urgency that it take place quickly."
The monk tilted his head, and even Sango couldn't tell if he was honestly confused or attempting to make her uncomfortable. Either way, she couldn't help the faint blush that colored her cheeks at his next question.
"Why is it urgent? I always thought that women enjoyed the process of planning for the ceremony, and the celebration afterwards must certainly take a lot of arranging."
"Ah...well... Kagome-chan's friend is... she's going to have a baby. In fact, from what Kagome-chan told me, that's the main reason why she is getting married."
Miroku's face took on a slightly vacant expression, tinged with sadness, clearly thinking about women and children and his own quest to get an heir. Seeing the monk's distress, Sango sought to continue the conversation.
"From what Kagome-chan said, it is very unusual for a girl the age of her friend to have a baby and get married; she was distressed because it meant that her friend would have to leave school...."
Inuyasha dropped his Ramen. He didn't even notice.
Next Time: Inuyasha realizes that getting Kagome to agree with him might not have been such a smart move after all...
Japanese terms:
-chan: A suffix used for children or between close friends, usually female.
Hentai (noun): Pervert.
Hanyou: Half-demon.
Houshi: A respectful term for a Buddhist monk.
Kazaana: The black hole-like "wind tunnel" in Miroku's hand, the result of a curse placed on Miroku's grandfather by Naraku.
Miko: Shrine priestess.
Osuwari: "Sit, boy!" The Japanese "sit" command used exclusively for dogs. Or disobedient hanyous. ;-)
Saimyoushou: Naraku's poison insects, used by him as spies and to prevent Miroku from using his Kazaana.
-sama: A suffix used to connote respect or that the one addressed is of higher rank; often translated as "lord" or "lady."
Taijiya: Demon Slayer/Exterminator; Sango's job.