Disclaimer: Noperz, I don't own Inuyasha!
Author's Note: Gomen nasai minna-san!! Gomen times infinite! I haven't updated in like, a month! Now on with the excuses: my internet was down for a week, I had a severe case of writer's block, plus CATS testing started this week at school. Mostly it was the writer's block's fault -_-;;;;; But amazingly, the other night I decided to open my electronic fortune cookie and it said something like "You are on a creative streak", so I sat down and tried to write. And suddenly I really was on a creative streak! In between miscellaneous muck at school I came up with the most kawaii things ever!! I hope you all agree; I personally think that this is the most kawaii chapter yet! Okay, I'll stop boring you and let you get on with reading and reviewing "Chapter 5: Questions Left Unanswered".
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"In the Crossfire" by: Jesia-chan
Chapter 5: Questions Left Unanswered
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"BOO!!" Kouga shouted.
"Wahh!" Sakura shrieked. "Kouga-kun, you baka! You sca – err, startled me."
"Gomen Sakura-san," Kouga said, then smirked. "Think I'm too serious now?"
"Huh?" Sakura asked, puzzled.
"You said I'm usually serious," he explained, "Would you rather that I was more fun? More unpredictable?"
"Ano [Well] . . . actually I'd rather that you just be yourself . . ."
'What is wrong with him?! He almost gave me a heart-attack!' Sakura thought, looking down towards the ground, clutching her rapidly beating heart; she breathed in slowly to catch her breath.
"Sakura-san, daijoubu [are you alright]?" Kouga questioned, a slight hint of worry etched in his countenance. "Did I really scare you that bad?"
The girl's breathing evened out. "Iie, daijoubu [I'm alright] Kouga-kun," Sakura assured him and started walking again. Kouga, like the lovesick puppy he was, immediately followed.
"Are you sure you're okay? Gomen nasai, I really didn't mean to –."
"You've been acting SO strange, Kouga-kun. Is there something on your mind? Something you want to talk to me about?"
". . . . ."
"Kouga-kun? Are you listening to me?!" She glared at him demandingly.
". . . We're here," he replied finally, rather sullenly.
"Hmm?" Sakura looked ahead and saw her destination down the hill a little ways ahead. "Oh . . ."
'He sounds so sad. And why is he avoiding my questions? What's he trying to cover up?' Sakura wondered, a distressed look on her face.
"A good bye kiss, Sakura-san?" Kouga asked eagerly, yet unsure.
"N-Nani?!" Sakura breathed. Surprised and shocked, she turned to face him with uncertainty in her golden-amber eyes.
'What did he just say?' she thought, a sudden rush of adrenaline surging throughout her body, speeding up her heart rate once again. 'Do my ears deceive me? Is this real, or a dream? Oh kami, he must be able to hear how fast my heart's pumping; how embarrassing!' Millions of thoughts raced through her head at once and, being the inexperienced, distressed teenage girl that she was, blushed and her mind began to panic. 'Ohh gods, what am I supposed to do, what am I supposed to say?! I NEED HELP!!' her brain screamed.
The next few moments seemed to go by in slow motion. Kouga ignored the fact that she seemed to be in a state of shock and enveloped the girl in his arms; she didn't object. Before Sakura knew it, the thing that she had so feared was over. He simply planted a warm, gentle kiss on her right temple and pulled away.
"Sakura-san . . ."
"Kouga-kun . . ."
'Oh no, here it comes. She hates me. I made the same mistake again, I was too forward. How could I be so stupid --?'
Sakura's shock and embarrassment had already subsided; she smiled at him. "I've told you hundreds of times before . . . we're friends --."
'Oh no,' Kouga thought whiningly, 'not the "we're-just-friends-you're-like-a-brother-to-me-so-let's-just-keep-it-that-way-and-not-complicate-things" talk!'
"You don't need to be so formal with me!" Sakura finished.
'Huh?'
"You don't have to call me 'Miss' all the time. In fact I'd prefer that you just call me Sakura, okay?"
Kouga blinked once, then twice. "Oh . . ." was all he could think of to say to this.
"Now, what was it that you were going to say?" she asked him sweetly, flashing her canine fangs at him flirtatiously.
"Well, I was hoping I could see you again in two days."
Sakura raised a suspicious eyebrow at this. "Why?"
"I simply wish to spend more time with you. Is that alright?"
Sakura's face flushed at this. 'He wants to spend more time with me?'
She pretended to think about it for a moment and said, "Ano . . . I'm pretty busy at home . . . helping out with Sango-sama [Lady Sango] . . ."
"The exterminator?!" Kouga interrupted.
'Oh gods, don't tell me that witch is teaching her to slay demons!' Kouga gulped.
"Hai, Sango-sama is an experienced demon-slayer. But she hasn't been able to work for a while because she's, well . . . you know? Pregnant." Sakura said the last word rather quietly.
"Hmm?" Kouga noticed that she seemed a bit uncomfortable with saying that last word. "What's wrong?"
'Please don't tell me she would be afraid of having pups!' Kouga's mind pleaded.
Sakura said nothing; she was uncomfortable with the subject because of her upcoming fifteenth birthday. 'I'll officially be eligible to any male of age, whether it be ningen [human], hanyou, or youkai, in seven days . . . But . . . the problem is . . . no one will want me . . . ever . . ." she thought to herself sadly. 'No, I won't cry in front of Kouga-kun!' she told herself sharply.
Kouga finally got up the courage to ask, ". . . Sakura-sa – I mean, Sakura? Are you afraid of what might happen after your birthday?"
"You remember my birthday?" she asked quietly, trying to change the subject.
'He's such a great friend to me, being so concerned for me and all . . . Too bad that's all he could ever be: a friend. Actually Kouga-kun, I'm afraid of what might not happen.'
"Sakura, there's nothing to be afraid of . . . I'm here for you," he assured the girl, suddenly taking her hand in his and giving it a tight squeeze. "I lo--," he stopped himself.
"Hmm? What were you going to say?"
Kouga mentally cursed at himself, 'Aw, kuso! What should I say now?' But then he caught notice of her kawaii inu [dog] ears and thought of a good cover-up. (Or at least he thought it was a good cover-up.)
"I love your ears."
Sakura giggled almost uncontrollably at this as Kouga let go of her hand and started playfully tweaking her ears. "You can thank my father for giving me those," she purred. Kouga barely let out a slight growl at the mention of Inuyasha, but Sakura took no notice. "Well, if you get to tweak my ears . . . I get to play with your tail!!"
Kouga stopped petting her ears and grinned. "Oh yeah? Well . . . you'll have to catch me first!" He took off down towards the riverbank, Sakura quickly closing the distance between them.
'Hmph, fifteen years ago I could've run twice as fast with the Sacred Jewel shards!' Kouga thought, irritated. 'Oh well, doesn't matter now that I've taught myself to run faster and get stronger on my own; I don't need those stupid shards anymore!'
While Kouga-kun was occupied with his thoughts, Sakura made her move. She got up enough running speed to finally pounce on her prey; they rolled down to the very edge of the water with Sakura sitting on top of Kouga, grinning. "Gotcha!" she shouted triumphantly. Kouga hardly knew what hit him. Sakura burst into giggles at his surprised expression and said, "Now I get to play with your kawaii wolf tail!"
"Oh yeah? Not if I've got you!"
"Huh?"
Kouga grunted as he used his brute strength to force the girl and himself to roll over to one side so that their positions had been switched. Now he had her pinned to the ground. "See? Now I've got you," he grinned from ear to ear.
"Hey! That's not fair, you're a guy! Of course you'd be much stronger than me," Sakura laughed and used her palms against his armor to try to push him off of her. But he wouldn't budge.
'What's this feeling?' she thought, 'Why won't he move?'
Kouga wanted to tell her plain and simple, 'I want you,' but he knew that he couldn't. Not yet.
"So, will you meet me in the forest in two days?" Kouga asked a bit forcefully, still unmoving from his dominant position.
"Um, of course Kouga-kun," Sakura replied with a slight unease.
"Promise?" a pleading look in his dark, stormy blue eyes.
"Hai, I promise," she said, smiling reassuringly.
As reluctant as Kouga was, he crawled off Sakura and sat down next to her, facing the river with his back towards her. She sat up as well and stared at the crystal sparkling water. "Go ahead," Kouga said.
"Huh?!" Sakura said, blushing, confused.
He turned his head so that his profile was visible to her. "You said you wanted to play with my tail. You caught me, go ahead," he said simply and faced away from her again.
"Oh," Sakura replied, embarrassed. She scooted up closer directly behind Kouga and began gently combing her clawed fingers through his thick, furry tail. Kouga turned his face up towards the sky, his eyes closed, and a low, contented growl emanating from his throat. They stayed like this for a few minutes until Sakura finished smoothing out his tail. "There!" she said, finally satisfied with her work. "So soft . . ." she mused, still patting the mass of fuzz. "So, I guess you better go, ne? I'm sure you've got more important things to do other than waste your time with a silly quarter-demon girl . . ."
"Not really. I like spending time with you, Sakura. For a long time before I met you, I was really sad," Kouga explained. Sakura stopped playing with his tail and immediately became concerned for him. "Someone very dear to me, sort of just . . . disappeared," he shook his head. "But that's in the past."
'Or rather, the future . . .' he thought.
"Arigato for making me so happy again."
Sakura's cheeks turned hot. "Uhh, you're welcome Kouga-kun."
"But I guess I'd better go anyway. Leave you to your bath . . ." Kouga responded and rose from his sitting position.
"Yeah, I'll bet one of your comrades is looking for you. Being leader of a wolf-demon tribe is a full-time responsibility, ne?" asked Sakura, looking up at him.
Kouga ignored her question and helped her to her feet. "Here's our real good bye kiss . . ." he said softly and lightly kissed her cheek before she could object. "Ja ne Sakura! See you in two days, just come to the forest and I'll find you," he called as he quickly retreated into the Forest of Inuyasha and back to his tribe's den. "Have a nice bath!"
'She's just like her mother, always concerned about her hygiene!'
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Now that she was alone, Sakura began preparing for her bath. Her small backpack had gotten smushed while "playing" with Kouga, but no real harm done. She opened the pack and took out a strange outfit that her father had said belonged to her mother called a "bathing suit". Sakura used both her demonic and miko senses to make sure that she wasn't being watched . . . She wasn't.
The girl then quickly stripped down and immediately changed into the strange one-piece swimming garment, one of the many things that her mother had left behind. Sakura then dipped her toes into the water to test its temperature. 'Brrr!' she shivered. 'Oh well, it is only spring after all. Cold water is to be expected.' She started to walk into the frigid water anyway but then quickly retreated back to the grassy shore, shivering. 'I've just got the jump in and get it over with!' she told herself. Sakura dove in and forced herself to stay under for a few seconds. When she finally resurfaced she held back a shriek. 'S-So c-cold . . . !'
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"Oi, Kouga!!" shouted Ginta from his perch on a ledge next to their waterfall home. "Where've ya been?"
Hakkaku, who met Kouga down below, laughed, "Smells like he's been with Sister's daughter!"
Ginta laughed too, "AGAIN?!" he hooted.
"Ursai you two! I happen to be planning on claiming her soon; she'll be our new alpha-female and your new 'sister'," explained Kouga.
"Oi, I've got a question, Kouga: why do you only go to see her when she's about to bathe, and then not stick around for the show?" Hakkaku teased.
Kouga growled audibly, "Because, you baka, I'm not a pervert like that houshi [monk] and his son! She could tell if I was spying on her anyway and I would lose her trust . . ." explained Kouga, then grinned. "It's also part of my plan to keep Mutt-face from finding out and keeping her away from me."
"How's that?" asked the naïve Ginta, interested, as he leapt down from the ledge to join in the conversation.
Hakkaku was puzzled as well, "Yeah, what does bathing have to do with anything?"
"Feh, have you no faith in your leader? When I'm with her my scent gets on her one way or another, then she washes it off! She also washes the clothes that she was wearing and puts on a fresh garment; this way she helps me unknowingly . . ."
~ * ~ * Later, in the evening at Sakura's house after dinner . . . * ~ * ~ * ~
"So Sakura, you're looking rather clean and fresh tonight . . ." said a smirking, flirtatious Shunusuke as his hand started down her back . . .
Sakura slapped his hand away, leaving a scratch from her sharp claws. "Yeah, so keep your dirty hands off me before I'm tempted to drown you in the pond . . ."
Shunusuke acted shocked and taken aback, "Aww, what's wrong Sakura? My hands are too dirty to even hope to touch such a delicate flower?"
"Guh, uh, um," Sakura stuttered.
"She said to keep your hands off her," Inuyasha reminded him. "So, you'd best take control of your wandering hand before I chop it off!" Shippo and Miroku looked at Shunusuke and warned him silently with their eyes.
Shunusuke gulped, "Hai Inuyasha-sama [Lord Inuyasha]. Gomen nasai."
"Sakura-chan? Can I talk to you for a little while?" asked Sango, motioning towards Sakura's room.
"Of course Sango-sama, anything to get me away from your son!" Sakura glared daggers at the wide-eyed Shunusuke.
The two women disappeared into Sakura's room and sat down. Sango was the first to speak, "Sakura-chan, pay no attention to Shunusuke. I think he might be a little nervous that you'll be of age soon . . ."
Sakura's eyes widened, 'D-Don't tell me he wants to marry me! I'd rather be mateless for all eternity than settle down with that lecherous baka!'
"W-Why do you think that, Sango-sama?"
Sango continued, "I think maybe he's afraid that you might get hurt. He wants to make sure that you end up with a man that will take good care of you, a man that will love and support you despite of what you are. We all hope to see you married to a good, decent man. But that wasn't what I wanted to talk to you about . . ."
Sakura blushed. "S-Sango-sama! You've already talked to me about . . . that . . . !"
Sango giggled, "No, I wasn't going to talk to you about that either. I just wanted to ask you if you had any questions, also to explain a few things about how youkai claim mates." Sakura looked at Sango with respect and swiveled her ears forward to catch every word. "First of all, do you think you know of any male youkai that might be interested in you?"
"No . . . At least I don't think so." Little did she know, a certain wolf youkai was thinking about her just then . . .
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Kouga lay on his back in his nest in his tribe's den, thinking about Sakura. Then he began reminiscing when he found out that Kagome was pregnant . . .
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * Kouga flashback (Kouga's point of view) ~ * ~ * ~ * ~
It was the night of the new moon. I decided to pay a visit to my dear Kagome-chan while the mutt-face was off hiding his sorry human self.
"Oi, Kagome!" I called. She was on her way to that strange Bone-Eater's Well that would transport her home, she turned around with a nervous look on her face upon seeing me. As I came closer, I smelled something different about her . . . MUCH different.
"Kouga-kun . . ." she said quietly after I skidded to a stop right in front of her. "I-I . . ."
My eyes widened . . . No it can't be . . . She was to be mine, not Mutt-face's! "Kagome . . . you . . . you're . . . carrying Mutt-face's pup?!" I couldn't believe it, she was unfaithful to me . . .
"Hai, Kouga-kun. Inuyasha and I love each other . . . I'm sorry –."
"Kagome . . . h-how could you?! I-I trusted you!"
Kagome immediately became angry with me for some reason. "Kouga-kun, you're just a friend to me! I've always thought of you as just a friend; I never agreed to be with you! I LOVE INUYASHA AND HE LOVES ME. End of discussion." I gaped at her. No, she couldn't really mean those words, could she? I stared at her, my jaw still hanging wide open as salty tears began to form behind her soft brown eyes. "Gomen Kouga-kun, but I don't love you." Then she disappeared down the well.
Okay, Kagome. But as soon as he hurts you I'll take you back whether you like it or not! I'll have to keep a close watch on them . . .
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Kouga sighed and began to sulk. 'How could I have been so stupid back then? Why didn't I realize before?'
He sat there sulking still more for a few moments, but then turned his thoughts back to Sakura. 'What a wonderful day it will be when I proclaim my love for her. I just know that she'll agree to be mine!'
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"Okay, well, just in case a male youkai may be interested and you just don't realize it, I'll tell you anyway," Sango said and began the explanation, "The first step is the male will claim you verbally. Then if there is another male that wished to claim you as well, a fight may ensue. The loser, if still alive *grim face* will promptly leave. The winner will either wait for you to agree, or will proceed to claim you regardless. This depends on how patient he is and how bad he wants to have you as a mate. To make it known to all other males that you are taken, he will bite down on your neck gently, leaving a mark with his fangs."
Sakura nodded, soaking in the knowledge intently. "How do you know all of this, Sango-sama? From all of those years of demon-exterminating?"
"Hai, a youkai exterminator must know everything about demon ways, just to be safe," Sango replied. "Do you have any questions, Sakura-chan?"
"Um, no, I don't think so . . ."
"Alright, I suppose it's time for bed, ne?" Sango and Sakura hugged for a brief moment, then Sango started for the door, holding her bulging stomach.
"Oh wait! I do have a question," Sakura piped up. Sango turned around to face the young woman, awaiting her question. "How will I know when I love someone? Or if he loves me back?"
Sango smiled. "Don't worry about it, Sakura-chan. You'll just know."
Sakura returned her smile. "Arigato. Good night Sango-sama."
"Good night Sakura-chan."
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Dear Diary,
Shunusuke-kun was being a lecher again this morning. I wonder if he'll ever learn? Of course I got back at him, though! And Dad threatened him again. Dad also seemed very tired and irritable this morning, like he didn't get enough sleep or something.
Shippo looked after Sango-sama today while I went to the river to bathe and wash my clothes. I met Kouga-kun today . . . he's been acting very strangely in the past several months. He also kissed me twice today! Well, sort of anyway; once on the temple and once on the cheek. He's in love with someone else though.. I still don't understand why he never wants to meet the rest of my family. Every time I bring up Dad or any of my "adopted family" he changes the subject. Oh well. I'm glad that I got over my little crush on Kouga-kun a couple years ago, 'cause I know that it would never work out, he only sees me as a friend . . .
Well, there's not that much going on lately, that's why I haven't been writing as much and probably won't be for a while. There's just not anything all that interesting in my life to write about these days! I'd better finish for tonight, 'cause I think I hear Dad coming down the hallway to say good night.
Ja ne,
Sakura-chan
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Sakura put away her diary (another one of Kagome's left-behinds) just as Inuyasha cracked open her door. "Good night Sakura-chan."
"Good night Daddy," Sakura said, lying in her bed under the covers. "I love you," she blew him a kiss.
Inuyasha's smile brought a certain softness to his features. "Love you too," and disappeared, closing the door behind him.
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Author's Note: Whew!! That . . . was . . . a really . . . long one! It took me forever!! ^.^ I'm not sure when I'll be able to update again, so please just be patient.
Please review!!!!!!!!! I adore reviews; I'm hoping for at least ten or twelve more before I have to update again. Onegai minna-san, I'm beggin' ya! Clicky that button down there. *Puppy dog eyes*.