Preview from last chapter:
"Hey, Inu-Yasha-san?" Tora's voice broke into the hanyou's thoughts.
"What?"
"Can I talk to you for a minute?"
"About what?"
"Something important." Tora said, his voice filled with urgency.
"All right," Inu-Yasha said as he grabbed the Tetsusaiga and stood up, "it's better than having to listen to those two ramble on and on."
"I'd imagine so."
Looking over their shoulders at the still-talking girls, Tora and Inu-Yasha made their way outside and sat by the God Tree.
"So what did you wanna talk about?" Inu-Yasha asked, a little curious as to the reasoning behind everything Tora and Venita said and did.
Tora looked at the hanyou until the latter thought he'd have to hit the tiger, "Do you love Kagome-san?"
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Chapter Twelve:
Plots of Getting Even
Inu-Yasha's eyes were the size of serving platters. Opening his mouth to reply, the surprised hanyou closed it again, not quite knowing how to respond.
"Why does everyone keep talking about me and Kagome?! What's going on that everyone else knows but me?! Is something bad gonna happen to Kagome?"
"What's the matter, Inu-Yasha-san? You look like a fish out of water. It's a simple question, isn't it? You either do or you don't."
"It's not that simple!" He yelled.
Tora quirked an eyebrow, "What's there to get upset about, eh? It's a simple question. You should be able to answer it with no problems. C'mon now, do you love her or don't you?"
Wanting nothing more than to stall for time, Inu-Yasha asked, "Why do you wanna know anyway?"
"You should know by now, Inu-Yasha-san," Tora shrugged, "I'm just a curious little cat, that's all. Not only that, but I wanna see my friends be happy. So tell me, Friend, do you love Kagome-san? If you do, that's wonderful; if you don't, well, we can deal with that, too."
A cross between a sigh and a growl escaped the hanyou's lips as he turned away from the curious tiger, his bangs covering his eyes, "I-I really don't know how I feel about Kagome right now."
Cocking his head at the elusive half demon, Tora asked, "What do you mean by that?"
"I mean that I don't know how I feel about her."
"Hm, I see. Can you tell me how you feel whenever you see her? Once her head pops out of that well, how do you feel? Angry that she's come back, annoyed that she's come back? Either one of those?"
"No, neither of those. As soon as her scent reaches my nose and I know she's come back, it makes me feel so…… relieved. I don't know how else to describe it. I feel like the time the Tetsusaiga was too heavy, but then it got lighter once I fought Ryuukossei. Does that make any sense to you?"
It was Tora's turn to sigh, "Let me ask you this: when you're with Kagome-san, do you feel like there's butterflies in your stomach? Or do you feel lightheaded? Anything like that?"
Inu-Yasha thought about Tora's question, trying to recall all the times he'd been with Kagome and how he'd felt during each encounter, "Now that you mention it, yea, I do feel like that. Not so much when we first met, I actually wanted to kill her to tell the truth, but now I……"
"What? You what?"
Shaking his head as though waking himself from a trance, Inu-Yasha faced Tora once more, "I shouldn't be talking about this."
"Why not? What's wrong with talking about your feelings for Kagome-san?"
"I can't break my promise to Kikyo, I just can't. That would be wrong of me to do."
"Wrong?" Tora asked, confusion turning to anger, "You think that's wrong? You think that by examining your feelings for Kagome-san is wrong, but it's okay to just leave her hanging while you try and make up your mind? You can't do that to people! You either tell her that you don't love her because you've got your heart set on some walking piece of pottery, or you tell her that you love her more than anything in the world. Do you understand me, Inu-Yasha? Huh? Do you?"
Inu-Yasha was stunned. He'd never heard Tora yell, much less get up in someone's face and confront them as openly as he was doing now. He'd thought that only Venita did stuff like this, but it seemed he'd thought wrong. Even Tora was capable of making him feel lower than dirt, and usually it only took Kagome's glare to do that.
"Damn, it seems Venita rubs off on more people than I thought," Inu-Yasha observed, trying very hard not to look into Tora's agitated emerald orbs, "listen, Tora, I don't know what you came out to hear, but I'll bet it's not the answer I gave, so why don't you just go back inside while I go back to my own time?"
"Oh no you don't," Tora said threateningly, "if you take even one step towards that well house, I will curse you so fast you won't even know what happened. You hear me?"
"Is that so? And just what would you curse me with? I'm cursed enough as it is, didn't you know? Just look at me!"
"I am looking at you, Inu-Yasha, and I see a perfect curse that I could use on you; however, that's only if you push me far enough. Please, Inu-Yasha-san, don't make me curse you, because if you do, I can get Ookami-sama to come over to my side and even she might throw in a curse…or two."
Inu-Yasha gulped. Having Tora be angry with him was one thing; but if Venita got involved...
"I don't even want to think about what she'd come up with," thought Inu-Yasha as he shuddered, "I'd rather kiss Jaken than have Venita-san mad at me!"
"Then pucker up, Inu-san, 'cause if you don't make up your mind before the end of the year, that's just what you'll be doing." Tora said as he turned to go back into the house, leaving Inu-Yasha to contemplate his choices.
With an indignant snort, Inu-Yasha took one jump and landed on a branch of the God Tree, leaning up against the strong trunk and closing his eyes.
"What do I do now that I've got Tora, of all people, mad at me? I didn't even think he could get mad. Maybe I should talk to Leota-san again? It really seemed to help the last time we talked. Maybe she'd understand?"
Inu-Yasha tried thinking of different ways he could tell the dark-haired woman of his dilemma; however, nothing that would guarantee his not being hit in the head came to him. It seemed that no matter what he came up with, Inu-Yasha could always see a place, a word, or a phrase that would give Leota room to smack him over the head.
Deciding to wait until later, Inu-Yasha hopped down from the tree and walked back to the house, entering through the front door and walking into the living room, expecting to see three pairs of glaring eyes focused upon him.
"Hi Inu-san! Where've you been? We've been waiting for you to come back." Leota said, the smile on her face reaching into her eyes.
"I can't believe Tora hasn't told her yet," Inu-Yasha thought, "hey, what's goin' on?"
"Nothing much," the wolf-turned-human replied, "just waiting for you to come back."
"What for?" Inu-Yasha asked as he sat down.
"We're just gonna sit around and get used to the idea of being in the modern world, okay? We'll go out and have fun tomorrow. Right now, though, Tora and I gonna go grocery shopping while you and K-chan stay home. Mrs. Higurashi is going grocery shopping, too, but at a different store than we are. K-chan's grandfather already took Sota out for a little while with his friends, so you two will have some good long alone time. We'll be back from the store in about a half hour, okay?"
"Or maybe he told her and this is her way of getting back at me?" Inu-Yasha thought, "Heh, talk about wishful thinking. If she was gonna get back at me, she'd probably build some big huge trap for me and leave me at the bottom of it for a couple of days."
"Uh, Inu-san? Are you okay?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm fine."
"You sure?"
"Hai." Inu-Yasha said, hoping his bangs covered his reddening cheeks.
"All right, then. We'll be back soon, okay? No doing anything cruel or unusual, you got that?" Leota asked, a smirk on her face.
Kagome smiled, "You don't have to worry, Ota-chan. We'll be fine, you'll see. Have fun shopping!"
"We will! Just you wait until we get back, 'cause we're gonna have some fun then!" Leota smiled as she sent a wink in Kagome's direction.
"Bye!" Kagome smiled as she waved at her friends and mother as they left to go shopping.
Once the door had shut and the sound of chatter had died away, Kagome didn't know what to do with herself. Looking around, she found Inu-Yasha sitting crosslegged on the floor and leaning against the couch, eyes closed and hugging the Tetsusaiga.
"So what do we do now?" He asked quietly.
Turning to face him, Kagome shrugged, "I don't know. No one said we had to 'do' anything. We can just sit here and wait for everyone to get back, if you like."
"Fine with me, although I don't know if you can sit still for a half hour without doing anything."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Kagome asked defensively.
Keeping in mind a scenario of what Leota might do to him if he angered Kagome, Inu-Yasha tried to stay calm, "Nothing. I just meant that you're not the kind of person to just sit in one place without doing something for a long period of time. Don't you have homework to do?"
"Oh shoot! That's right, I do have homework! Arigatou for reminding me, Inu-Yasha!" Kagome exclaimed as she bolted up the stairs to get her homework that Sota had most likely gotten for her.
Moments later, Inu-Yasha heard a shriek followed by the sound of a drawer being flung open. Running up the stairs to Kagome's room, Inu-Yasha stood in the doorway, hand on his Tetsusaiga.
"What's the matter, Kagome?"
"Oh this is horrible, just horrible!"
"What? What's going on, Kagome?" Inu-Yasha asked, walking into the room and watching Kagome run around it like a leaf being blown in four directions at once.
"My homework! I can't find it! Sota always puts it on my desk!" Kagome cried, looking under her bed for the third time, "And my books are missing, too! Oh, Inu-Yasha, I don't know what could have happened to them! If I don't find my books, I can't do my homework and if I can't do my homework, then I can't turn it in, get points for it, and then I'll fail the class! Which means that I'd have to take summer classes, and even then I might not get into a good university!"
"Did you look in your bag?"
"Hai, I did, but I didn't put my school stuff in there. All that was in there were my usual supplies. I didn't even bother putting my books in there because I didn't have enough room. Oh I don't know what to do!"
"Just don't worry about it, Kagome. I'm sure you'll find it sooner or later. I mean, it's not like you're gonna go to class while me, Leota, and Tora are here, right? That would just ruin the vacation."
Kagome stopped her frantic search to consider Inu-Yasha's words, "You're right. This is a vacation, isn't it? Who wants to do schoolwork during vacation? Not me, that's for sure. You're right, Inu-Yasha."
Putting an arm around her shoulders, Inu-Yasha led Kagome back downstairs and sat her down on the couch next to him.
Laying her head on his shoulder, Kagome smiled up at him, "Arigatou, Inu-Yasha."
Surprised, Inu-Yasha looked at her, the sounds of her breathing telling him she was almost asleep, "For what?"
"Everything." Kagome smiled as she snuggled closer to the confused hanyou, her breathing evening out almost immediately into the rhythms of sleep.
Hugging her closer to keep her warm, Inu-Yasha smiled at the young girl that slept on his shoulder. Leaning his head back on the couch, Inu-Yasha thought of all the things that had happened between them, and wondered just how Kagome had put up with him all the way through it.
"Hn, Tora has every reason to be angry with me. I'll have to make it up to him... somehow. Except, I don't even know where to start. Now I definitely need to talk to Leota-san." Inu-Yasha thought as he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep, his head sliding from its place and ending up resting neatly on top of Kagome's.
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At the grocery store…
"Hey Ookami-sama?"
"Hai?"
"What're you thinking to do for our next plot? I mean, what more can we do?"
Leota suddenly got a devious look in her eyes, "We can do so much more, Tora-san. Just you wait and see."
"Like what?"
"Let's just say," Leota began as she picked up a case of orange soda, "things are going to get a little… hot."
"How hot?" Tora asked, grabbing a pack of Oreos.
"Extremely hot and very wet." Leota whispered, looking at a can of chili.
"And how soon is this going to take place?"
"Tomorrow. It may be close to the end of summer, but this plan can still work."
"Question," Tora said, "how are you planning to go out anywhere with a half demon?"
Leota winked, "Oh don't you worry about that. I've got that covered."
"All right, how are you going to do it?"
Reaching into her pocket, Leota pulled out a bracelet, "This. It makes the wearer human and the only one who can take it off is the one who put it on in the first place."
Tora nodded, "Clever, very clever."
"Thank you, thank you," Leota said as she bowed in the middle of the produce aisle, "now, come on. We've still got other places to go."
"Like where?"
Swallowing, Leota lowered her voice, "The shed."
"What?!" Tora exclaimed, stepping back several steps, "Are you crazy? I didn't think you'd ever want to go back there! What's gotten into you?"
"Sshhh! Do you think I want it broadcast all over Tokyo?! We have to go there, all right? I have to recover some of my stuff."
Sighing, Tora nodded, "All right, all right. We'll go, but not tonight. Please?"
"Fine, we'll go tomorrow night. Deal?"
"Deal." Tora agreed, putting their things on the conveyor belt.
"Good, now let's go back to K-chan's place and relax."
"That I can do. I'll even carry all the bags for you." Tora offered.
Leota smiled, "Would you? You're so sweet, Tora-san."
"You think so?"
"Would I say it if I didn't mean it?" Leota asked, quirking an eyebrow.
"No, I guess not," Tora said, watching as their things were rung up and placed into plastic bags, "well, let's get going."
"Coming, coming." Leota said, jogging after Tora as he held the door open for her.
"So, what're we gonna do once we get to Kagome-san's place?"
"Well, I'm gonna do some stuff off by myself, but the rest of you can play a game or something until I get done. I shouldn't be too long."
"What're you planning on doing?"
"Stuff."
"What kind of stuff?"
Leota's eyes seemed to cloud over, "Just stuff, okay?"
"All right," Tora said, knowing when to back off, "just don't take too long, okay?"
"I won't, don't worry. Now let's pick up the pace. I don't wanna spend my night fighting rival gangs, okay?"
"Heh, I'm with you there."
"Good, I'm glad we agree on that much." Leota smiled.
The two of them walked on in silence after that, sharing the occasional smile or wink as they crossed the street. So lost were they in their thoughts of happiness that neither wolf nor tiger noticed the pairs of eyes watching them.
"Tomorrow it is, then, my pets. Tomorrow shall we meet once again."
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(November 29, 2004) A/N: Woohoo! Another chapter finished! I'm so happy! ::dances::
Amethyst-tears— well, you got the answer, didn't you? :-) Hope you liked this chapter.
26 days left until Christmas Day! Yea!
