Okay, this is finally an Inu/Kag chapter. I'm particularly proud of this one, but I'll let you judge. And just so you know, Sesshoumaru is supposed to be out of character in the flash back. So don't yell at me for it (not that I think any of you would).
And also, just because I needed another character, and I got some inspiration, I'm throwing in Ayame the wolf girl into the mix. However, I've never seen anything of her in the show, so I'm judging everything about her off the pictures that I've seen of her. So if I royally mess up the character, I'm sorry, but I'm just gonna stick with it.
Thanks christeilea54, storm maker, Ozymandius Jones, and Tanwen-Whitefire for the reviews.
And just so you know, I know that it's spelt messages. Really, I do. Honest. I did not go back and change it once you told me. Honest. Hides
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Damn, she smelled good.
InuYasha walked slowly, drinking in the aroma. She was walking just a few feet ahead of him, her hands resting on the back of her head as she walked. He really wished that she didn't bother to cover up her wonderful smell with all that 'Sham-pooh' and 'de-oderant' stuff. It just got in the way.
She looked good to. Well, she always looked good, InuYasha had to admit. There was really no point in denying it. Her green skirt thingy was always nice, and that long sleeved shirt wasn't bad either. But he really liked what she was wearing now.
Her shirt was just plain blue, and fell loosely around her lithe frame. The sleeves were short, exposing her slim arms, and the bottom of it fell loosely just below her waist, occasionally exposing a tantalizing bit of midriff. And that thing that she called 'shorts' was nice too. Her normal skirt came all the way down to her knees, and sort of poofed out a little. But'shorts' were even better. They were just slightly loose around her legs and made of a clingy material, and they ended almost at mid thigh. Her legs were nice and smooth…
"InuYasha…" Kagome half yelled into his ear, snapping him out of his reverie.
He looked up. She had a look of impatience on her smooth face.
"Well?" she demanded.
Crap! Crap! Crap! She had asked him a question. What should he say? Dammit, he had been staring at her legs too. No way she hadn't caught that. Thinking very carefully, InuYasha prepared to respond.
He had been intending to say, very politely, "Sorry, could you repeat that?"
It came out as: "Umm…"
A look of annoyance crossed Kagome's face. She sighed, and shook her head. "I asked, how far away from the coast are we?"
Blinking, InuYasha quickly looked around. Crap! He maybe knew vaguely where they were. Why did the girl have to be distracting? He shrugged. "I dunno." He said gruffly. "We're within a day, so let's just go until we get there."
Apparently, he answered right, because Kagome nodded, and turned around, walking again.
InuYasha resumed his plodding pace behind her. It was nice not to have to run for a day. Hell, it was nice to not have to hurry. Sango and Miroku would be fine on their own for a little while, provided someone protect Miroku from Sango. They could afford to take their time, and besides InuYasha was sore. He probably couldn't run anymore. Not with Kagome and her Backpack on his back, anyway.
It was only a few more steps until InuYasha found his gaze settling down on the small of Kagome's back again. That 'T-shirt' was really nice looking. It didn't make any of her curvatures overly obvious, but rather betrayed them with subtle little folds and swells.
She stiffened just a little, and that told him that she knew he was staring at her. He wondered how on earth she did that. But it definitely meant he needed a new focus of study.
He quickened his pace ever so slightly, and was soon even with her. He couldn't really help but notice the slight blush that peppered her cheeks. But he needed to get his mind off her.
Idly, his right hand strayed down to the Tetsusaiga and led it slowly out of its sheath. The ragged leather of the bound hilt felt comfortable in his hands. He lazily let the light weight carry his arm down, and slowly began remembering some of the tips that Lled had pointed out.
Keep your weight distributed at all times…
Almost instinctively, he began to walk more fluidly, shifting his weight to the balls of his feet. He stopped swaggering, instead keeping his body as still as possible. Automatically, his breath stilled, and the Tetsusaiga elevated just slightly, the tip hovering at almost the height of his head.
Kagome was staring at him, but trying not to be obvious about it. InuYasha figured there wasn't that much of a reason to keep the training too secret now. She would be safer if she knew how seriously to take the bounty hunters, anyway.
Silently, he did a few basic thrusts, still walking steadily. Kagome was still watching him intently. There was a cross between fascination and admiration in her eyes. The hanyou's basic, braggart nature suddenly told him to do something, and there was no way he could resist.
"Watch this…" He declared, the cocky tone evident in his voice.
With a sudden burst of speed, he launched himself at a nearby tree. The poot plant very suddenly had four branches ripped of it, and into the air by InuYasha's dull sword. Smoothly, the hanyou leapt back down, and put the Tetsusaiga over his shoulder, grinning.
Kagome blinked, and clapped. "Wow, InuYasha." She said happily. "I'm impressed. You got really fast."
InuYasha held up a finger for her to wait, and looked up into the sky. The four branches were falling rapidly towards the earth. The hanyou grinned, and flailed out with the Tetsusaiga again, the blade flashing through the noon sun. The poor branches hit the ground in eight different chunks.
"Pretty cool, eh?"
Kagome rolled her eyes. "Showoff." She muttered, and kept walking. "C'mon. We can camp on the beach when we get there."
InuYasha sighed, and sheathed his sword. She didn't seem to buy it. Oh well.
Quickly he caught up with the Miko, and resumed his easy pace, making sure to keep his weight balanced.
"Say, InuYasha…" Kagome asked just a little while later. "Once we find the others, what are we gonna do?"
InuYasha blinked, and thought about that. "Well, I guess we'll pick up where we left off," He said at last. "We haven't gotten Naraku yet, and I'm not about to just let him get away."
Kagome smiled wryly, and looked down at the ground. "You really hate him, don't you."
InuYasha 'feh'ed, and crossed his arms, forgetting to walk with balance. "Hell yeah." He muttered, his voice slightly murderous. "Think off all the hell that he's put us through. Miroku's curse, Sango's family…" He paused just a moment. "Kikyo…"
He didn't even half to look at her to see the little catch in her breath that accompanied the name. They walked just a little longer in silence, then Kagome looked up again, and smiled. "You've changed, InuYasha." She remarked.
"Oh, really?"
Kagome nodded. "When I first met you, all you would have wanted to do was go after the Shikon Jewel. You wouldn't have even bothered to go find Miroku and Sango."
InuYasha narrowed his eyes. She was right of course. He had been a pretty grubby bastard in the past. But he wasn't about to let her know he knew that.
"Feh. I don't care about those two. I just want Shippo back, cause now I can punch him without you sitting me." Nice recovery.
Kagome perked an eyebrow at him. "Oh really? And you haven't called me wench at all lately."
"Well, that's just cause you haven't done anything particularly wenchy lately."
"Wenchy isn't a word, InuYasha."
"Yes it is. I just said it."
Kagome stared at the hanyou for just a few moments, then gave up. "Fine." She muttered, and resumed her brisk pace.
InuYasha shook his head, and continued walking himself. It was almost half an hour before either of them spoke again.
"Say, InuYasha, your dad used to be the Overlord of the Western Lands, right?"
InuYasha nodded. "Right." He said. "It's some sort of position of authority. In my dad's time, it was like being a king."
"So, now Sesshoumaru has that title?"
"Yeah, but I somehow doubt it's as powerful as it was."
They walked just a little farther.
"What was your family like?" Kagome asked, "You know, before your dad died?"
InuYasha tensed ever so slightly, slowing his pace. He hadn't thought about that it a long time. He could only barely remember.
Kagome slowed down with him. She must have noticed his tensing, because her gaze lowed again to the hard pack dirt of the path. "Sorry, I shouldn't have pried. Bad memories?"
InuYasha shook his head. "Good memories, actually." He said. "I just don't think about them much."
Kagome smiled. "Well, then tell me. C'mon."
InuYasha gazed at her for just a moment. Oh, what the hell! What harm could it do , anyway? It wasn't like she didn't already know enough about him, anyway. Besides, Kagome was easy enough to talk too.
"Well, see, I didn't get to see my dad that much, cause I was born in the middle of a war."
Kagome blinked. "War?" She asked, "I didn't know that any major wars were fought in this time period."
"It was a war between some youkai from China, and my father's armies. I really didn't get to see much of him."
"What was he like?"
"My old man?" InuYasha mused, staring at the sky. A chuckled very softly. "Like I said, I didn't see him that much, cause of the war. But whenever he did show up, he always spent some time with me and mom. He was always teaching me cool stuff." InuYasha grinned. "He would sneak up on me, and start tickling me. Wouldn't stop until I did something to fight back. I gave a few good scratches a couple times, but he always seemed happy when I did."
Kagome smiled at him. "You're ticklish?"
InuYasha glanced at her, then frowned when he realized how she was smiling. It was her evil smile. "Aw, hell no." he muttered.
Kagome darted in like a falcon, her hands spreading, going for his sides. InuYasha tried to dodge, but somehow Kagome managed to get to his sides first, her hands clamping down on his sides, and her fingers starting to poke and prod.
InuYasha let out a noise that was halfway between a girlish squeal and a pigs oink, and fell to the ground twitching helplessly.
Kagome's smile widened, and she went down with him, her swift hands quickly finding the sensitive bits right under his arms.
"Get off, Wench!" InuYasha commanded, squeaking horribly on the 'wench.' "Stop!" He was contorting in all sorts of odd positions, like a worm running away from a bird.
Finally, he managed to sieze her hands, and yank her up, holding the poor girl up ogg her feet by her wrists. "Don't do that."
Kagome was giggling, not really listening to him. The hanyou sighed. He could forsee a great many tickling attacks in the near future. "Jeez, wench." He grumbled. "Yer as bad as Sesshoumaru was…" He stopped suddenly. He had not meant to say that. Dammit, he had really not meant to say that.
Kagome had caught it, too, he knew. If there was one thing he preferred not to think about of his childhood, it was his half brother.
Kagome opened her mouth and asked the question he knew was coming. "What was your brother like when you were a kid?"
InuYasha sighed, and looked up at the sky. Dammit, why did she have to be so easy to talk to? He sighed, and fell silent for just a little while. Jeez, he hadn't though of his brother the way they had been in a while…
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InuYasha peeked out from behind the ivory pillar, tiny golden eyes exited, and cherubic face gleaming happiness. His little fuzzy ears swiveled on top of his head, twitching this way and that. After all, how often did he get to see Sesshoumaru practice.
Momma didn't think it was good for him to go and watch his brother. She said that it was 'too violent,' or something like that. But if Sesshoumaru was doing it, how could it be bad. He had snuck out of his nap to watch. He would probably get a spanking later, but it was worth it.
His brother was standing in the middle of the secluded courtyard that he always used to practice. His short, messy hair was blowing slightly in unseen breezes, and his golden eyes were fixed in front of him sternly.
InuYasha desperately wanted to cut his hair short like Sesshoumaru had, too, but momma wouldn't hear of it. Daddy apparently wouldn't either, although InuYasha hadn't seen his father in almost three months now. InuYasha thought that Sesshoumaru was awfully brave to cut his hair when Daddy wanted him to grow it out. InuYasha wanted to be brave like that too, but Momma wouldn't let him.
Sesshoumaru started with a few basic thrusts and swings, keeping a steady, cool grip on the sword. InuYasha's eyes shone with admiration as the young tai-youkai began doing more and more fancy strokes, beginning to slice at an already well cut wooden pole to simulate an actual fight.
InuYasha was so captivated by the smooth sword strokes that he didn't even notice that he had stepped out from behind the pillar until Sesshoumaru shot a confused glance at him, and stopped moving.
Panicking suddenly, InuYasha dashed back behind the pillar.
He heard Sesshoumaru chuckled just a little, and sheath his sword. "I saw you." He said, his voice just beginning to drop into manhood. "You can come on out."
InuYasha half squealed in fear. Was Sesshoumaru gonna tell on him? He was gonna get a spanking! He knew it! Desperately, he decided to cover his tracks. "I'm not here!" He declared, his childish voice quaking. "I'm taking a nap like I should be!"
Sesshoumaru chuckled lightly. "Oh, really?" His voice echoed from around the pillar. "Are you? I think your lying."
"Am not!" InuYasha denied vehemently. His hiding place was too good, there was no way that Sesshoumaru knew for sure that the hanyou was there.
His brother chuckled again, and crossed his smooth, bare arms. Sesshoumaru wore a awesome looking outfit that had his entire arms bare. Father disapproved, as usual, but InuYasha wanted an outfit just like it. It was really, really cool. "Tell you what." He said, "You best me with your sword, then I won't tell your mother."
InuYasha was out from behind the pillar in a flash. "Really?" He demanded.
"Surely." Sesshoumaru said with that fond smile that he always had whenever he was around his half brother.
InuYasha grinned, and his hand went to the sword (a short stick that Sesshoumaru had peeled the bark off of for him). "Alright then, you better be ready!" He cried loudly, and charged, drawing his stick and swinging it wildly.
Sesshoumaru, the sly smile still on his face, easily fended off InuYasha's first blows with his own sheathed blade, and danced nimbly back, standing at the ready.
With youthful endurance, InuYasha continued to charge, his little face scrunched together in concentration. Sesshoumaru easily fended of his sword strokes, until one of the little hanyou's stray blows womehow managed to knock the blade out of his hand.
With a squeaky cry of triumph, InuYasha swung his blade around and hit it into Sesshoumaru's side as hard as he could.
Sesshoumaru only chuckled lightly, and held up his clawed hands. "Okay, okay, you win. I won't tell your mom."
InuYasha, however, had forgotten all about that already. He was running in hyperactive circles around his half brother, declaring his victory loud enough for them to hear in China. "IbeathimIbeathimIbeathim!"
Sesshoumaru kneeled down and glared at his half brother fondly. "That's right." He said. "That was some blow, too. I think you might have broken some of my ribs."
InuYasha eyed Sesshoumaru suspiciously. He didn't look like he had broken ribs. "Really?" He demanded.
"Oh, yeah…" Sesshoumaru said mildly, and suddenly darted in, tickling lightly at the hanyou's sides. "Definitely. I'll have to stay in bed to weeks."
Inuyasha squirmed away from the dancing fingers with a little scream. "Quit!"
"Feh." Sesshoumaru breathed. InuYasha loved Sesshoumaru's 'feh.' Just anough disrespect in it to get away with… InuYasha wanted to be able to 'feh' like that when he got older. "Run along, and go take your nap. I need to recover."
InuYasha nodded happily. "Kay!" He said enthusiastically, and dashed off past the green hedges, laughing.
A little later that day, InuYasha got a spanking anyway, but he really didn't care.
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"InuYasha?" Kagome asked softly. InuYasha had stopped walking, and was silent. Had she asked something wrong? Had his brother beaten him as a child, or something? She blushed guiltily. Just when she thought she was getting the hanyou to open up a little bit more, she had to and ask something stupid.
InuYasha shook his head slowly, and shrugged. "Nothing." He muttered gruffly, and started walking again. "We should get going."
Kagome nodded. That was definitely the warning light to stop asking questions. It was funny, Kagome had never really thought of InuYasha as having a family. Well, she knew he had lived with his mother for a little while, but it was funny to think of him as having a father. A father on par with royalty, no less. She half giggled. Prince InuYasha. Certainly not prince charming, that's for sure.
Still, she wondered if his father had given him his looks. That fine, strong jaw. The wonderful, silky silver hair. An idiot smile overtook Kagome as she ogled just a bit. Then she caught herself, and snapped back to reality. Honestly, she was drooling over him like a drunken prom date!
A sudden jerk from InuYasha made her pause. "What is it?"
InuYasha sniffed at the air for just a moment. The growled lowly. "I smell something. Youkai."
Kagome felt an almost icy chill settle in the pit of her stomach. "A bounty hunter?"
"Maybe." He muttered, and kneeled down. "Hop on."
Kagome quickly jumped on to his back, and with a running leap they were air born, soaring through the sky.
InuYasha's intelligent eyes scoured the ground as they began the descent of their arc. "Bingo." He said, pointing down.
Kagome followed the pointing finger to a huge cloud of dust was rising.
InuYasha whirled into a flip in midair, and somehow managed to launch himself downwards at amazing speeds. Kagome had to grab her lungs as they went down. She hadn't known he could do that.
He flipped smoothly in the air just moments before contact with the ground, and in one smooth motion landed, dropped Kagome, and leapt again, this time flying into the dust.
Kagome gaped. What was he doing? If it was a bounty hunter, they needed to run, right?
She winced at the sound of a sword unsheathing, and a deafening roar. Quickly, she flung her backpack on the ground, and drew out her bow. She knocked an arrow, and took careful aim into the clearing dust. The roars were still booming from the cloud, but now Kagome could make out two shapes in the dust. A huge, looming shadow, and a swift moving one with a sword that surely belonged to InuYasha. Her eyes narrowed, and there was a third, smaller shadow standing near the edge of the smoke. It looked like it was shielding itself.
As the dust cleared, the shapes took on more character. It was, in fact, InuYasha fighting the hulking thing. The thing itself looked like some sort of giant ape youkai, its long bandy arms swinging this way and that, trying to swat InuYasha out of the air. The figure on the ground was robed in a white cloak of fur, and had long brown hair tied back in a pony tail. She was half sitting on the ground watching the battle with rapt attention.
Kagome's eyes narrowed, and she drew the bow taunt. Just one good hit, and…
InuYasha let out a yell of triumph, and threw himself at the giant roaring ape, just as both things hands crashed down at the spot where he hand been standing. InuYasha flew strait to the things head, and with one smooth motion, slashed into the things eyes with the Tetsusaiga. Kagome blinked just a moment. Why did he still have his sword in its small, beat up form? Not that it really made much of difference at this point. The great beast fell backwards, its eyes already clouding over.
With a smooth push, InuYasha jumped off the bulk of the creature, and dropped down to the ground near the white clad woman. Kagome also put her arrow back in its quiver, and headed over to woman.
She was just a little shorter than Kagome, and had a smooth, almond shaped face and alabaster complexion. She also had pointed ears, Kagome noticed. She was at least part youkai herself.
InuYasha spat, and rammed his sword into the ground. "You okay?" he demanded of the youkai woman.
The woman nodded at him, but her expression was annoyed. She dusted off her outfit, a red top of some sort that left her shoulders bare, and a white skirt of the same fur as her cloak. "I really wish you hadn't gone and done that." She muttered, her voice light and dancing.
"What are you talking about?" InuYasha demanded. "We just saved your ass!"
The girl looked at him. "I could have taken care of him myself, thank you." She muttered. "Wolf youkai aren't that weak, you know."
"Wolf?" InuYasha sniffed at her just a moment. "Damn." He swore. "You are a wolf."
Kagome blinked. What did InuYasha have against wolves?
She looking him casually up and down, her grayish eyes flicking to his dog ears. "Very good. And you're a half dog." The girl said in an insulting manner. She glanced back up at the body. It was already beginning to rot away. "Oh, and you killed him too." She sighed, despite the cheery tone in her voice. "Oh, well…"
Kagome blinked again. And what did she have against InuYasha?
"Since when have wolves cared about killing apes?" InuYasha asked, crossing his arms. He had said wolf like some sort of accusation.
The girl looked back towards the body. "Well I was going to interrogate him, and besides, you know what us bounty hunters say:" InuYasha froze, suddenly becoming stiff as a board. "'An innocent person is just a bounty head who ain't worth money yet.' He might have become inconvenient to someone with money someday. But no, thanks to you he's never gonna be worth any money to anything." Another sigh. "Oh well…"
InuYasha slowly began to back away from the girl, motioning subtly for Kagome to do the same.
The girl turned back around, this time towards Kagome. "Maybe you can help me." She reached into her white fur cloak, and pulled out a scroll. Kagome gaped at the scroll just a moment. Drawn on it clearly was InuYasha's face. "Have you seen this person?" She asked. "Name's InuYasha, about medium height, really bad attitude…" She slowly trailed off, then blinked at her own words. She flipped the parchment around again, and inspected it for just a moment. Then turned to InuYasha. Then the parchement. Then InuYasha.
A smile slowly spread across her face. She crossed her arms, and grinned at the hanyou. "Intresting." She said through a smile which exposed long fangs. The smile of a predator.
InuYasha was still backing away, his sword in his hands.
"Well, that was lucky." She remarked, holding up her hands. The claws on them seemed to grow ever so slightly. "You are under arrest by decree of the Lord of the Western Lands. Anything you say can and will lead me to beat you up."
InuYasha crouched down low, growling. "You really think you can take me on?" he growled. "You saw what I did to that ape…" He was very slowly circling the wolf. With a little flutter in her stomach, Kagome saw that he was making his way to put himself between her and the bounty hunter.
The wolf laughed, and crouched down low herself. "Oh, come on. I really don't wanna have to fight you. Won't you just come easy-like?" She drew out a long knife made out of some sort of fang from the cloak, and smiled. "You really don't wanna mess with me. I'm Ayame, the white wolf."