Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I don't own Inuyasha. Nor do I own Kagome, Sesshoumaru, Rin, Kagome's family, or any of the other copyrighted characters that may or may not appear in this fic. So please don't sue me, and enjoy the story!
~*~ Sorry for the delay today - I was out all night and most of today, so I just got home a few minutes ago.
Notes: This is definitely the most inspired I've ever been while writing a fic. I can barely stop writing it, and when I do stop and go do something else little bits and pieces of it will pop into my head and I'll have to jump up and scribble them down so I don't forget. I've got almost all of the plot planned out, and luckily the gray areas are in the middle and not at the end, because the *worst* place to have writer's block is at the very end of a fic! I'm setting a tentative length of ~30 chapters for this story, but that's not set in stone at all - I think that's probably the shortest it'll be, but I reserve the right to make it much longer.
There have been complaints about the lack of fluff and all I can say is that I'm sorry! I know not much has happened between them yet but I'm a big fan of natural development of a relationship between two characters - so it's really out of my control! When they're ready they'll start making moves on each other all by themselves... I swear, that's really how it happens. Luckily they hit it off right away, and I can tell that pretty soon they'll be looking for excuses to take the relationship to the next level. And if they don't get on with it soon enough for you... blame Kagome and Inuyasha, not me! I'm as anxious to get to the hot steamy sex as you are, but every time I try to bring it up Kagome smacks me and Inuyasha pulls out his sword - even Miroku is shaking his head at me and calling me hopeless! *sigh*
Character update: As far as I can tell, Hojo will *not* be making an appearance in this fic. I kinda wanted to have him around, but I can't think of any real purpose for him, and I think it would just make things more complicated and the character balance more complex. I don't want to neglect the really important characters while focusing too much on the peripheral ones!
Thanks SO much
for everyone who gave me suggestions on Rin's character. Thanks to you guys
I feel a lot more focused on the important parts of her personality, and I think
I can do a better job of writing her from now on. To the reviewer who asked
about Miroku - we've still got a little ways to go before his introduction,
but don't worry, he's on the way. And I really like how he came out. And for
those of you who don't think Kikyo is evil enough - wait till the next chapter
-_-;
Learning to Let Go
Chapter 7: Rags to Riches.
Kagome walked into the quiet house, putting her book bag down at the foot of the stairs. Carrying the rest of the bags that contained the clothes she'd bought for Inuyasha, she wandered in the direction of the kitchen. When she reached it, however, it was empty, and the dirty dishes from last night were no longer in the sink. Did he clean up? Kagome wondered curiously.
She checked the entertainment room next, thinking he might be watching TV, but that room was empty too - and the blankets and pillows he'd used last night were neatly folded and stacked at one end of the couch. Kagome checked the rest of the house, but he didn't seem to be anywhere.
She paused in the dining room, frowning pensively. Where could he be? Had he run away? To her surprise, the thought didn't fill her with the relief she'd thought it would Did that mean she actually wanted him around? Was she actually getting anxious over finding him?
She glanced out the back window and caught a flash of white. Smiling, she headed out the back door. Of course he would get tired of sitting in the house all day.
Inuyasha was sitting next to the goldfish pond in the back yard, and he didn't turn to face her as she walked up to him, though his ears twitched toward her inquisitively. Kagome had to fight back the irrational and embarrassing desire to touch them. Instead she plopped down next to him, wrapping her arms around her knees and staring out across the pond.
Neither spoke for a while, and to Kagome's surprise, the silence wasn't strained or uncomfortable, though there was a certain tension in the air that she couldn't really describe or identify.
Shrugging it off, she said, "Thanks for cleaning up the dishes today."
He tensed next to her, a reaction she didn't really understand. But she was beginning to see that his emotions were complex, influenced by painful past experiences that were totally at odds with how he was being treated now. Maybe she just had to be patient with him.
"I ate all your Ramen," he said finally, defensively, still tense.
She glanced over at him, amused, and jumped when he flinched away from her. "What?" She asked, alarmed.
He studied her cautiously, before slowly straightening and letting his muscles relax slightly. "Nothing," he muttered.
She stared at him a moment longer, wondering at his strange actions. He'd seemed almost afraid of her. Had he thought she was going to hit him or something? A bizarre protectiveness took hold of her. No one would ever hurt him again, she promised herself. No one.
"That's okay," she said carelessly. "I don't like it that much anyway, but I'll buy some more next time I go food shopping."
He stirred next to her and poked at one of the bags she'd brought out with her suspiciously. "What's that?"
"Oh!" Kagome said, glad for the distraction. "I forgot. I got you clothes - you should try them on and make sure you like them."
She handed the bags to him, and he hesitated only an instant, looking at her face skeptically as if to make sure she was serious before reaching in and pulling out some of the clothing.
He studied it, his face expressionless.
"Well?" Kagome asked. "Do you like it?"
He glanced at her. "This is stuff that people wear. Slaves don't wear this kind of thing."
She felt that inexplicable anger come over her again the way it had when he'd called himself a freak. "You *are* a person!" she cried. Trying to calm herself down she took a breath and said in a more normal tone, "I want you to wear whatever you want to wear, so if you don't like it I'll take it back and you can pick out something you like better."
"This is fine!" he snapped, taking her by surprise as he took the jacket she'd bought for him and shrugged into it. He fumbled with the zipper for a moment.
"Here," Kagome said, leaning forward to help after realizing that he'd probably never worn anything with a zipper before. "Oh!" she froze, staring at his hands in amazement. At the end of each finger was a small but dangerous-looking, perfectly formed claw. He looked up at her exclamation and realized what had startled her. Angrily he looked away, clenching his hands into fists to hide the claws.
Hesitantly, Kagome reached over and zipped up the jacket for him, careful not to catch any of his hair in it. They sat in silence for a moment before Kagome spoke.
"You you could hurt me if you wanted to. You could have killed all the people who kept you a slave in the past."
Inuyasha shook his head angrily. "You're wrong. There's too many of you. Even if I did fight back and escape they'd hunt me down eventually. And they have chips in some of the slaves - computer chips that force them to obey orders. Their sole purpose is to hunt down renegade slaves and kill them. No one's ever escaped them." He looked away bitterly, but his tone was matter of fact as he said, "If I hadn't been attractive they would have put a chip in my brain too. I would have been one of them."
Kagome looked at him, horrified. She opened her mouth but nothing came out. Horror, cold and alien and stark, bombarded her senses. It went against everything she believed, everything she thought about the world.
"That's got to stop," she heard herself saying calmly, but it didn't sound like her voice. Surely she didn't have that edge of determination, that strength of conviction in her tone.
Inuyasha looked at her with barely contained disdain. "You can't stop it," he told her. "No one can. It's just how things work so you'd better get used to it."
Kagome shook her head from side to side in denial. "No it doesn't have to be like this - "
"Your phone is ringing," Inuyasha cut her off, gazing back out over the pond.
Kagome paused to listen but couldn't hear anything. Deciding to take his word for it, she stood with a sigh and headed for the house.
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Inuyasha stayed looking out over the pond for another few minutes. That girl he thought, emotions churning through him. She was doing strange things to him. Making him question things he'd previously accepted as facts of life. He'd never enjoyed being a slave, of course, had always thought it was unfair and cruel - but life was unfair and cruel, and never once had he ever stopped to consider the fact that maybe it was wrong.
Whatever, he thought angrily. There's no point in even thinking about it. She's the only one who thinks this way, and she's crazy. Even if she *were* right it wouldn't change anything.
He lifted his hand to look at his claws - the ones that had frightened Kagome so much. What had made every fiber of his being protest when she'd said that he could hurt her so easily? Why had he needed to bite back a reassurance that he was her guardian and he wouldn't let anything hurt her, much less hurt her himself?
She was only human, only a frail and naïve human female who knew nothing about the world, and who meant nothing to him. He was only here because he had to be, only protecting her and serving her because he had no choice in the matter.
He rubbed his thumb over the sleeve of the jacket she'd gotten for him, fascinated by the rich, thick, new material. It was warm, and the inside of it was lined with fleece that felt strange against the sensitive skin of his throat and the insides of his wrists. Obviously expensive, something he'd only seen the richer men in society wearing. And she'd given it to him to wear.
Angrily, he reached for the metal zipper she'd done up for him. It took him a moment of tugging before he finally got it undone, and he shrugged out of the jacket and put it back in the bag it had come from. Picking up all the clothes, he stalked into the house and put them down next to the couch he'd slept on last night. He could hear Kagome talking on the phone in the kitchen, and he skulked closer, eavesdropping on her conversation.
"Sure, Rin, I already told you it's no problem. I'll come right over with a copy for you."
There was a pause, and he could faintly hear the person on the other side of the line saying something about being sorry for her forgetfulness, and thanking Kagome for being so nice. Then he heard his name, and strained even harder to hear. Kagome had told someone about him? He'd assumed she was ashamed of him.
He heard Kagome hesitate and then say "I don't know really. I guess I'll ask him. All right. You're welcome! I'll see you in a few minutes."
The two girls hung up and Inuyasha stepped into the kitchen, arms crossed over his chest. "What was that all about?"
"What was what all about?" Kagome asked him, jumping at his sudden entrance. He felt that stir of satisfaction he always felt when he managed to take her off guard. "Oh, that was my friend from school. She lost her homework assignment for one of the classes we have together, so I'm going to go drop off a copy for her. Do you want to come with me?"
Inuyasha blinked, trying to conceal his surprise. Apparently he'd misread the reasons behind her leaving him at home when she went out this morning. Maybe she wasn't ashamed of him at all.
But he was still suspicious. "Why do you want me to come with you now when you left me here this morning?"
Her confusion was evident. "Left you here? I thought you'd *want* to sleep in. Why would you go to my classes with me? You'd probably be bored to tears."
"Because I'm to stupid to understand what was going on?" Inuyasha snarled at her, not understanding why he was so angry.
Kagome took a step back, not sure what she'd done to deserve this. "That wasn't it at all!" she shouted back at him. "You really want to come to my classes with me? Fine! I'll wake you up earlier tomorrow!"
He leaned back, crossing his arms over his chest, pacified but not wanting her to know it. "Feh," he snapped, looking away.
She sighed. "You're so confusing! Do you want to come with me or not?"
Inuyasha
battled internally for a moment before giving in to the temptation to see more
of the world outside. What could it hurt? And besides, curiosity had always
been his major weakness.
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Of all of Inuyasha's demonic features I agree with Kagome - the claws freak
me out the most! But she got over her shock quickly enough. And she's finally
starting to empathize with him, while Inuyasha is struggling with his feelings
toward her - can't really blame him after everything he's been through!
