Disclaimer- Of all the things money can buy… It has yet to be able to buy me Inuyasha, so he is not mine…
Rubbing the tiredness from her eyes, Kagome yawned very slightly and blinked in confusion. There was something wrong here…
It was far too bright out, she noted first. Once she got over the initial shock of realizing she wasn't in her house or any house in that case, but instead somewhere within a forest she did not recognize, Kagome noticed someone's arm wrapped protectively around her waist.
She remained silent for a second, using her eyes to trace the arm to its owner. It belonged to the strangest figure she had ever seen before in her life, and she was propped against it. It was some guy she was positive she did not know with red old fashioned clothes, very long white hair, and… oh my, were those dog ears on his head? What was she doing sleeping in the middle of nowhere with this strange… strange thing!
"Kidnapper! Monster!" Kagome screamed, pushing herself back from the figure and flinching as the person jumped.
"Do you have to scream so goddamn loud?"
Kagome gasped as golden eyes shot open flawlessly and fell upon her, his ears twitching very slightly as he spoke. Right now they were mostly laid flat against his skull from the sudden loud noise.
"W-w-who a-are y-you?" She asked in a shaky and quiet voice, which no human would have been able to hear. "What are y-you?"
The stranger blinked and again flicked his ears -cute, but resistible for now- before standing up and beginning to walk towards her.
"St-stay away you… you… whatever you are!" Kagome threatened weakly, looking away from the sword the person carried at their waist. It was obvious she had no means of defense and knew it, and she wondered inwardly why she was even bluffing if it was so apparent.
"What the hell is wrong with you? Don't your remember last night?" He questioned oddly, somehow remembering a battle of some sort. Why didn't Kagome remember that?
"L-last night?" She squeaked rather pathetically as the guy stopped about six feet from her slightly shivering form. "Oh no!" Kagome gasped, grabbing at her chest, "We didn't… you… rapist!" She wailed.
He seemed to go rigid and just stared at her before snapping, "No! What would ever give you that idea?" Though his face was slightly red, whether from anger or embarrassment was unknown. "Kagome…"
"How do you know my name? And who and what are you?" She repeated, eyeing the adorable ears atop the stranger's head with desire.
"You just can't make this easy, can you wench?" He quite literally growled, causing Kagome to gasp at his fangs. She seemed to be on the verge of tears at this point and fell forward.
"Don't kill me, monster!" she pleaded, almost groveling now. Kagome was only perhaps a foot from the red clad person. He crouched slowly, bring his face dangerously close to hers and pulling her head up with a hand then whispered, "Baka… you can't seriously tell me you forgot I'm a half demon, can you?" His tone wasn't regular, but it was obvious he was being truthful.
"Half…. Half…" Kagome saw the claws on the hand that had lifted her head. The next noise heard was a slap so loud it rivaled anything Sango had presented to Miroku. The hanyou fell back a couple feet from the girl who had smacked him across the face and gave her widened eyes.
"What the hell was that for!" He shouted angrily.
"I've been kidnapped by a half-demon!" Kagome wailed pitifully. After a couple of seconds of trying to calm herself down, she again insisted, "What's your name and how do you know mine?"
"It's Inuyasha, you idiot," Inuyasha snapped at her, sitting down angrily where he was. He put his hands in their opposite sleeves. Kagome had this really odd feeling that she had seen that somewhere before now, but couldn't recall. "As for your stupid name, I know it because you told it to me. A long time ago," he added distastefully and looking the other way.
She had mustered up enough courage to sit but a couple of feet from him. Inuyasha turned his head and eyed her for a moment (which caused Kagome to stop moving and breathing in fright) then looked the other way again.
"Feh. You know, you really should be thanking me for…" Inuyasha stopped dead in his tracks and put on a blank face with wide eyes.
"Are these real?" Kagome asked. She was on her knees behind him and pulling both of his ears gently between thumb and index finger. "They sure feel real…" She trailed off, stroking them with her thumbs but still tugging at them.
A low growl grew in his chest, both enjoying and hating what she was doing to him. Inuyasha flicked both ears, causing her to shriek and let go, falling back.
"It's 'cause they are real, wench!" He threatened, turning to look at her but covering his now flattened ears with his hands protectively. "What happened to you Kagome? You act like you never even met me."
Kagome blushed a little bit, realizing she had fallen on her back and that the Inuyasha thing was leaning slightly over her. She hastened to sit up straight and snapped, "I never did meet you, kidnapper."
"I didn't kidnap you, you came by yourself, stupid. It's not like I'm gonna hurt you," He explained, reaching a clawed hand toward her.
"DON'T TOUCH ME!" Kagome screamed, shoving Inuyasha's hand out of the way but cutting herself in the process. "Ow!"
Inuyasha looked her over carefully but sighed, snatching the slightly bleeding hand away from Kagome's chest, ignoring her gasp. She shivered at the contact, feeling how gently he had taken her hand and at the brush of claws against her skin. Frighteningly, she knew this Inuyasha person could easily kill her if he wanted, and she wondered why it was he didn't.
"See, this is why you don't get me angry. Idiot, being on my side just isn't good enough for you so you go and cut yourself. Is this some master plan to get us into another argument so you can 'sit' me?" Inuyasha growled, dropping her hand.
She blinked and cocked her head a little. "Side? Argument? Si-!" Kagome was cut off mid-word and screamed. Inuyasha had leapt forward, shoving his hand over her mouth.
"What are you trying to do? I didn't do anything that time."
"Pervert!" Kagome yelled, pushing him off of her. Still afraid he might kill or rape her, she asked shakily, "What's the big idea? All I did was start saying sit."
A resounding crash filled the air as the half demon struck the ground face first. Mumbles of muttered rude remarks streamed from the small crater, which Kagome crawled over to cautiously.
"What… what happened? Did you trip?" She inquired innocently, inching back when Inuyasha was released from the subjugation spell.
"So you honestly want to tell me you forgot all of the time that you've spent here? All of it?" He asked in the calmest voice he could manage… though, it still wasn't calm at all. His focus did not waver from her once.
She blinked twice and said slowly, "I don't know where 'here' even is, how you really know me, or what's going on. I have one thing to say, and that's you just better not kill me or rape me."
There was an awkward moment of silence and Inuyasha lost his composure. The wind picked up a little, as if edging one of them to say something quicker, and died down when Inuyasha gave his ear a twitch.
"I don't want to kill you!" He yelled at her, flexing his fingers and claws in an agitated manner. Kagome squeaked a little and drew back, noticing what he had left out. Eventually, when he did too, Inuyasha grew slightly red and hastily added, "And I don't want to rape you either."
There was a second silence in which Inuyasha approached the frozen girl and muttered, "You're coming with me."
"Where?" She cried, not believing a word of him. She was not going to let this complete stranger have his way with her.
"To Kaede's, so she can tell me what's wrong with you, " he said seriously, teeth clenched and fangs bared. When he reached her he turned and instructed, "Get on now."
As if she was just going to hop on this strange guys back. "Yeah, right. I'm not going anywhere with you, you sicko. Yahh!" Kagome screamed as Inuyasha grabbed her arm roughly. She crashed into him with a horrible blush that was almost as bad as Inuyasha's haori. In a second he had grabbed her under the knees and back, drowning out the worst of her cries of protest by flattening his ears as best he could. Kagome only yelled louder at the speed Inuyasha ran at.
"Shut up!" He demanded, holding her a bit closer. If she didn't be quiet, she'd attract every demon in the area! Luckily they weren't that far from the village to begin with, but the sight of the feudal civilization caused Kagome to shriek worse than ever.
Some villagers looked up from their work at all the ruckus, confused at why Lady Kagome was screaming. Surely Inuyasha had not turned on them? Then, at last, the half demon and miko reincarnation he carried disappeared into Kaede's hut.
"Child, what frightens ye?" The old lady asked, not looking up from treating one of Sango's wounds.
"This creep!" Kagome exclaimed. She didn't recognize the three people, kitsune, or very odd little cat but she preferred them to her half demon 'kidnapper'. Hitting him again across the face, Kagome was dropped and ran forward to the elder woman.
Kaede glanced between the two of them. " 'Tis only Inuyasha. Has he done some act of impurity?" She asked curiously, wondering if the pair had admitted their feelings.
"What are you getting at, ya old hag?" He said irately, but Kagome spoke up.
"He kidnapped me! He says he's a half demon, so… so kill him! Shoot him! Do something to him before he hurts me." She begged, backing up into the monk. Bad move.
"EEEEEK!" Kagome yelled loudly. Had he just groped her? What was wrong with these people!
Inuyasha ran forward and she fell into him, ignoring who exactly she had found comfort with as he spoke, "Can't you see she's messed up in the head, Miroku? She's not thinking right."
"Who, me?" Kagome said hotly, looking up at Inuyasha and blinking as he looked down to meet her gaze. "At least I don't have freakily fuzzy dog ears, you kidnapping freak!" Entirely ignoring her own comment, Kagome smiled and shot her hands up, latching onto Inuyasha ears for a second time and pulling them.
"What the… will you knock it off with the ears Kagome?" He shouted, pushing Kagome away from him. Unfortunately, she hadn't let go of the furry appendages and he tripped over himself. Sango laughed happily and even Kaede chuckled softly at the two.
"Kagome, perhaps ye should allow Inuyasha his ears back."
Right now, Inuyasha had fallen forward much like he would if he had been sat, and Kagome had jumped onto his back. She was petting one ear and tugging on the other like a carefree young girl.
"No, I could just sit and- eep!" She grabbed both ears tightly like horse reins, as the boy she was sitting on was forced deeper into the ground. "What is its with me saying 'sit'?" Her grasp became tighter still on the poor hanyou's ears as she hit him with a second enchantment.
"STOP SAYING SIT!" Inuyasha bellowed into the ground. He had almost lost the feeling in his ears thanks to her terrified clutches. Shippo was watching wide eyed with Sango, Miroku had his own eyes closed at this point, and Kaede was in all very interested with the predicament. "AND LET GO OF MY EARS! NOW!" His whole body was twitching with anger and the command effect was beginning to loosen up.
"NO! They are cute!" Kagome protested, getting off of him and letting the poor ears go for a moment. Inuyasha was about to stand up but Kagome frowned and he growled at it.
"SIT!"
"That's gotta hurt," Shippo commented.
"What is wrong with Kagome, Kaede?" Sango asked, shooting her friend a worried glance. The girl in question was kneeling next to Inuyasha's head and rubbing her face against his left ear, despite the fact he was twitching it in furiously. In fact, Kagome like it even more since it was flicking.
Kaede sighed and explained, "Apparently she does not remember us. I feel a tad bit sorry for Inuyasha though… perhaps more so than for young Kagome," She said, looking the two over. Now Kagome had resumed tugging at both ears softly. Everyone in the hut nodded in agreement, of course, with the exception of Inuyasha and Kagome.
Though threatening her with a range of vocabulary that was colorful, to say the least, Inuyasha could not manage to get Kagome to stop. He knew it was going to be a long night…
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Inuyasha sat against the wall of Kaede's hut, watching Kagome sleep. His ears were drooped; exhausted from all the fondling Kagome had done to them. He himself was almost entirely in slight pain due to all the sits she had used on him to be able to play with his ears in the first place.
It had been… interesting trying to explain to Kagome about the Feudal Era and their quest for the Sacred Jewel of Four Souls.
Flashback
"So… How do I know all you people again?" Kagome had asked. Inuyasha was still sitting next to her with a very sour expression plastered on his face. She was still gently patting his left ear; folding it down, letting it straighten, pressing it flat, allowing it up. She threatened to sit him again if he didn't allow it, so he had given into her… grumpily.
"All six of us are a group that's looking for all the fragments of the Shikon no Tama. We are trying to defeat a massive evil called Naraku," Miroku explained. When he finished Sango slapped him, the reason apparent as he reclaimed a hand from somewhere behind her.
"Naraku, Jewel of Four Souls… got it. I think… and this is all… in the past, right? It's why you all dress weird?"
"Us dress weird?" Inuyasha couldn't help but interrupt. "You're the one who walks around with the 'show-off-everything-I-have' outfit from your era, wench. As if you don't dress as weird as we do, or whatever the hell you want to call it."
"Excuse me?"
"Feh. Hey, what was that for?" he exclaimed, glaring at her. She had abruptly pulled his ear extremely hard. Inuyasha could deal with the petting and rubbing, because it secretly felt very enjoyable (and he was thankful for being able to contain the growls of satisfaction), but not the pulling.
Kagome said exasperatedly, "Just stop calling me 'wench', okay? What did I do to deserve that? As far as I'm concerned, you're lucky I'm putting up with this. Think about it; I wake up in a place I don't recognize, being held in my sleep by some man I never met. If I wanted, I could entirely sue you people. Oh, what am I talking about…?"
Inuyasha had been listening with only half of his mind, mostly waiting for her to shut up so she could answer.
"I can call you whatever I want to. Why, would you prefer bitch?" He asked with a falsely optimistic (if not sarcastic) face.
"I…. Uh…. what? No! Sit."
"Will you stop saying that!"
"I prefer Kagome to wench, you stupid half demon!" At this he growled, glaring up hatefully at her. Hoping to break it up before it began, Sango spoke.
"Well, yes… He has called you that for as long as I can remember Kagome. Continuing though. You understand why each of us fights, right? Our motives for hunting down and killing Naraku?"
"I think I do," Kagome said a little hesitantly, tweaking a dog-ear again. "But about that traveling part… do I really have to be asleep around him?" She inquired, pointing at an angry Inuyasha. "He might try something like he did in the forest."
He shot angrily, sitting up, "I didn't try nothin'! I'm NOT interested, believe me. You should worry more about being around that lecherous monk than me." The last part was rather dry. Inuyasha looked a little to the side, muttered "feh" under his breath, and shook Kagome's hand off of his head.
Kagome glared at him. Even without knowing any details, she recognized that at one point had liked yet hated him, even though she had no proof. She also knew that it was no different right now.
"So, you're Sango the demon slayer… you're in this to avenge your family and save your brother? With that cat demon thing… uh…. Kirara, I think. You're… Miroku the monk-"
"Lecher," Inuyasha interjected, still not looking at them.
"…You want to get rid of some hand curse before it kills you. That's Shippo- fox demon just tagging along because his birth parents are gone. Which leaves Mister Ego… I mean Inuyasha. And you're in it because you are a half demon and you want to be a full demon?"
Meeting her eyes proudly he snorted, "You got that right."
Breathing slowly, Kagome looked around and voiced, "The monk, the slayer, and the hanyou then… But my family, or blood family… they know all about this and are fine with it?"
Shippo nodded and said enthusiastically, "Yeah! You can go back to your time with the well in the forest. YEEP!"
"What the hell are you telling her for? Now she's going to want to go there, go back, and stay back, you stupid runt!" Inuyasha exclaimed with a glare, dangling Shippo by the tail.
If Shippo hadn't been so precariously placed in the way of him, Inuyasha would have been sat again. Though she didn't know quite why, it felt natural to Kagome that she should protect the kitsune from the older hanyou.
"Inuyasha, unless you want me to pull your ears right now, you'll let him go."
He froze and eyed her for a second, grumbling things in a low undertone (Shippo detected at a very minimal wench, baka, and stupid) but dropped Shippo, watching him run to Kagome for safety and then looking the other away again, hands once more in his sleeves.
Blinking, Kagome looked back to Miroku and Sango and asked, "But I have all of that information right? All your names and purposes, I mean. If it's not too much to ask… um… why am I in this? You seem capable to do it all by yourselves."
Everyone expected Inuyasha to make one of his snide remarks or at least say something rude. He had always been telling her to go home because he didn't need her, that he could do this whole quest by himself, and here was Kagome, asking why he wasn't doing just that. Yet all he did was twitch and ear and look back towards the group, interest at least attained once more.
"Well, in honesty you were the one to accidentally shatter the jewel, and you're the one who came back through the well and released Inuyasha from some sort of imprisonment against a tree by pulling an arrow out of him. So… you told me once you thought it was the least you could do, but since then I'm sure you just got more into it. Do you think you can get to like it again now that your memory seems to have been lost?"
The girl shrugged, starting to get confused with a brain overloaded with information and new knowledge. According to the 'strangers', it wasn't new knowledge at all, but forgotten memories, but she was positive that couldn't be right. Whenever she thought about the possibility of losing her memories, she seemed to remember some bright white light… but it meant nothing to her.
"Yeah, well she better. I don't care if she still wants to or not; she's coming with us until we finish. She's the one who purifies all the jewel shards and senses them. Besides, she has what we've gathered!"
"Inuyasha. You always said you didn't need her, perhaps your true feelings for our Kagome are beginning to surface?" Miroku asked. Someone who didn't know him would think he sounded sincere, and maybe a little hopeful. However, his friends -and sadly, that included Kagome- knew he was just being perverted.
His comment did cause Inuyasha to become motionless for a moment though. Inuyasha blinked and looked unsteady for a second before stuttering, "I mean… well, she can't leave because she has all the jewel shards. She wouldn't leave the shards with us yet. That's what I was getting to. And what do you mean by 'true feelings', monk?"
Miroku blinked and smiled, waving his hands dismissively. "Oh, nothing that important. Just keep… doing what your doing." He ignored Inuyasha's glance for a while, pretending to be preoccupied with food.
"For all of your information," Kagome said at last, causing both Inuyasha and Miroku to change focus to her, "I have final say in what I do, and I think I want to stay. At least for a little while. If what you people think is really true, that I've somehow lost my memories, I have a right to know what caused it, right?"
"Of course," a new voice came as Kaede entered the hut. She had left to revisit the sick child from the previous night. "Ye are allowed the final decision. But that which makes me wonder… I am positive Inuyasha stayed with you all night since he retrieved you from the Bone Eaters Well. Should not he know if something altered your mind?" She said honestly, eyeing the both of them.
"You know," Sango said distantly, "She has a point. Inuyasha, did anything happen that you can remember might have made her forget?"
Inuyasha blinked and narrowed his eyes. "Do you think I'd be keeping secrets from you at a time like this? Idiot, of course not. I got her from her time after she went on some date thing with a guy named Hobo and brought her back… I think there was a fight with a demon but it didn't get to Kagome at all. I got it to leave and we just fell asleep there," He figured, noticing how odd it was trying to recall the memory of what had happened after exiting the well. It seemed… harder to trace than the others.
"Hojo? I went on a date with Hojo? Really?" Kagome asked, excited but a little unbelieving. This caused Inuyasha to growl a bit more.
"Great. She remembers him but not me. Perfect."
Kaede smiled ingeniously and said softly, "Could it be that ye are jealous, Inuyasha?" Her question was perfectly timed and brought his growl to a halt and angry stare.
"Of course not. I've got no reason to be jealous of anyone for anything. I could kill him if I wanted, but it doesn't make me jealous… what are you trying to say now, hag?"
His word choice made Kagome glare at him, but also blush a little. Why were these people, her friends, always hinting that he liked her? Was it possible that he used to actually like her, and the feeling of liking him before that she hadn't understood might have once been real? She didn't feel right all of a sudden.
"Kagome, do ye remember the battle Inuyasha has described?" Kaede asked carefully. Her voice was followed by a weird silence as she thought and slowly shook her head.
"I only remember… no wait, after he mentioned Hojo, I remember up until getting home and I went to bed. I woke up in the middle of nowhere with Inuyasha."
Kaede looked thoughtful but Inuyasha protested, "That's not what happened! I came back and when you walked in the door I demanded you come back now because you were taking too long, and then you and I left through the well like we always do. When we came out we met a demon and we fought."
"Inuyasha, I don't remember hearing noise from a fight. We were here all last night, in this very hut. We would have heard you I assume. Nothing was heard or seen, and if it happened right in the well clearing, I'm positive we would have noticed. Maybe your memory is altered too?" Miroku offered helpfully. "You two can't decide on what happened, so who's to say one of you has to be right? Maybe you are both wrong."
A second silence. Inuyasha obviously hadn't considered that, and he tried to recall the memory, now thinking that he too might have had his thoughts altered. Now that he thought of it that way, he remembered seeing some white light. It lasted very briefly then skipped ahead to the recollection of fighting what looked like an insect type demon.
"Now that you mention it… When I think its possible I may not be thinking straight… no comments, idiot," He threatened, noticing Miroku about to say something, "I see some bright white light. Its right before I remember the battle."
Kagome looked over. "I see a white light too. Only mine is right before I step into my house. Its kind of like someone was shining a flashlight in my face," she described to the others. They only wore blank expressions, not really knowing what a flashlight was.
"A white light ye say? I wonder… It is obvious though that at least Kagome has a tampered memory, and possibly Inuyasha in addition. I only wonder as to the cause."
"Me too. I think we all do," Sango said calmly. As if having Kagome forget everything wasn't enough, to have it possible Inuyasha might too was too hard to imagine. In all, it would probably be more dangerous having him forget… there was voice in her head, though, that told her he wouldn't forget entirely.
Though no one spoke after that for a while, the group seemed to know they would have to try and find the cause of the memory loss and find out how to get their reminiscences back. It was silently agreed to start the next morning as to not waste any time in the search.
End Flashback
The hut was very silent, the sounds of the midnight insects being the only noise. Kagome had long since been asleep, Miroku and Sango as well. Having himself just drifted into the land of dreams, Inuyasha was not able to notice the few waves of shining, multicolored dust that came from nowhere, melting before reaching the ground.