Chapter 29: The Challenge
"The Shikon No Tama." Kagome whispers under her breath, still entranced by the jewel's simple beauty . Finally she breaks it's hold on her and looks up at the nervous hanyou in front of her. She smiles widely at him, "Oh Inuyasha, it's wonderful! I love it!" To further express her appreciation, without thinking, she throws her arms around his neck and hugs him.
Slowly, his arms come up around her, hesitant, as if he were unsure as to what to do in this particular situation. Kagome stays where she is, allowing his arms to come around her and hold her close. They just stay like that, in each other's embrace and presence until it's unceremoniously by a servant pigeon crashing through the window to land on his bed. The two quickly separate and walk over to the impromptu landing pad, peering down as the poor thing tries to clear its head.
"Mi' lord!" the servant exclaims once it regains it's senses, "Most terrible news! I was flying over to Lady Kagome's village to check on the Masters Higurashi when I was the most distressing of sights."
Inuyasha growls lightly, a bit annoyed at having been interrupted, "Spit it out already!"
The servant winces before nodding and continuing on, "It was that horrid wolf demon you told us about, I'm sure of it! He's headed straight for the castle , I'm surprised that he didn't reach here before me. And the most distressing this of all…" the servant trails off, seemingly lost to the memory.
"Yes?" Inuyasha draws out, trying his hardest to keep his head and patience.
"He has the Masters Higurashi with him!" the servant blurts, causing Kagome to gasp and Inuyasha's eyes to narrow dangerously.
"He what?" he asks in a dangerously calm voice.
The servant almost replies but is interrupted by a deep, coarse voice echoing into the room from outside, "Mutt! I know you're in there, so listen up! Meet me in the clearing we first fought in by sundown! I want a rematch, winner takes all! To make sure you come and don't chicken out, I've brought along some persuasion tools."
Silence permeates the air for a few seconds before a scream is heard, "OW! Lemme go you jerk!"
Kagome gasps, "Souta!"
The unseen boy responds by yelling, "Kagome! Inuyasha! Stay away! It's not…OW!"
"That's it!" Inuyasha growls before leaping over to the window and swinging it open. With his superior vision he can clearly make the two out on a high ridge a few hundred feet from the castle. Kouga was holding the boy by the rope he was bound with, causing the boy to dangle uncomfortably.
The wolf smirks when he sees Inuyasha's smoldering form. "Remember mutt, sunset!" he yells before lifting the old man's unconscious form from behind him and takes off, leaving only a cloud of dust and the branches swaying in his wake.
Inuyasha can hear the blood pounding in his ears. He was pissed off. More than he had ever felt before. His instincts spoke to him through the blood rushing through his ear 'How dare he?! The wolf must be taught his place. No one messes with my bitch's family. Honor dictates the wolf must be killed for such an offense. Kill. I must kill.'
He is brought out of his near feral state at the sound of Kagome's sob. He snaps to look at where she had fallen on her knees, crying her heart out. Once again, instinct directed his thoughts, and for once in his life, he didn't even try to resist what it told him, 'Comfort her. I must comfort my bitch.'
With that, he slowly, softly walks over to her shaking body and takes it into his arms. "Don't cry, please, don't cry Kagome. I'll get them back, I swear I will." He says, nuzzling her slightly before growling under his breath, "Kouga will pay. I promise, he'll pay."
He's surprised when he finds her finger pressed to his lips. He looks up to her in confusion, where upon she smiles gently and softly mutters, "No."
He blinks, surprised more then anything, "No?"
Kagome nods, "No. I know what you mean by 'he'll pay', and no. Don't kill him. Please Inuyasha, I couldn't stand to see you kill anything. Please? Promise me you won't kill him."
Slowly, he nods, understanding at least slightly, "Alright Kagome, for you." He then sits back, huffing a bit, his classical smirk back on his face, "That's twice that idiot owes you his life. If I didn't know any better I'd think you had a crush on him."
The look she gives him is priceless in it's blend of abject horror and disgust, "OH! Wash your mouth out with soap! I've just spent that last ten years trying to get through that thick head of his that I feel absolutely nothing for him, don't you start on me too!"
Inuyasha can't help but laugh before looking to the sun's position where they can see it in his window. "It's still pretty early, but we'll need most of the day to travel if we're going to get there in time…You are coming, right?"
Kagome raises an eyebrow, "Of course! That's my family that's on the line, you couldn't stop me from going if you tried!"
Inuyasha nods solemnly, "I figured as much. Well, we better get going, your family's waiting. To be perfectly honest, I can't wait to get there. I've been wanting another turn at kicking that mangy wolf's ass all over the place." He finishes with a smirk.
A.N. Alright! Another chappie! Well, no Kouga butt-kicking yet, but Inu-chan's sure riled lol. Then again, he always gets riled around that sad excuse of a canine, so I guess it's no surprise this time around. How'd you like Inu's instincts taking over a bit? Was that a freak accident because of the situation, or will he lose control again? Alright, now that I've planted that little seed of a question in your head, onto Reviewer Replies!
animekat- Thank you very much. I hope that I continue to write in a way that you can continue to enjoy my writing.
Lady Dark Angel- Lol, well, here you go. More, just like you asked. Next chappie'll be a bit more action oriented. I'll update asap, promise.
RebelWriter- Lol, it's okay, fluff is good. It needs plot to back it up, but fluff is good. I look forward to reading your next update as well. Thank you for the compliments, and I promise to update asap.
RoseMaiden- Lol, don't worry, Souta won't get seriously hurt. I'd kill off Kouga myself if it came out that way, considering that the little kid's one of my fav secondary chars. I'll update as soon as I can as usual.
Hanyou Vixen- Lol, I'm glad to hear that you are enjoying the story so throughly. I promise to continue updating as quickly as possible.
ThatOneNerd- Thanks a lot for the compliments! I'll keep updating as fast as I can.
Kiara-Star- I thought the gift idea was pretty cool myself, thanks lol. I didn't ever plan it like that, it just came out that way. I'll continuing getting chappies written as quickly as possible.
CatHanyouNelia- Lol, first off, welcome to the club when it comes to hating Kouga. Secondly, of course she loves him! This is a 'romance' fanfic after all lol.
Neko-Yuff16- Don't worry, Souta won't get hurt to bad, in fact, in this chappie is the worst that I'm gonna let Kouga hurt him I'm pretty sure. I'll update asap, promise.
Ame-sama- Lol, don't worry, there might have not been THAT much Kouga bashing in this chappie, but the next one promises to chock full of the stuff, I can just feel it! Thank you for your support!
Oki489Tsubasa- Well, now you know! Lol, well thank you for reviewing! Honestly, if you guys didn't tell me how much you liked this story, I would've lost my inspiration a long time ago. I promise to update as soon as possible.
Well that's all for now, R&R please.