Fan Fiction Title: A shift of destiny
Author: Soliloquys
Disclaimer: Hiten nor any of the characters in my fanfiction aren't mine, all belong to Rumiko Takahashi.
Chapter 10: Memories in a Thunderstorm
"Eh heh..." She mumbled as she took a bow and a quiver of arrows that Hiten presented to her. Clumsily she tied the quiver around her front, dropping a few shafts in the process and trying to hide her embarrassment by tilting her head down. She could feel him gazing down at her, her flustered face covered by thick lochs of falling ebony.
She retrieved the last stray arrow and slipped it back with the others, but remained on her knees as she both composed herself and pinpointed the location of the jewel shard. Yet when she stood back up and looked to him, she almost lost her posture to find him staring down at her and not looking away. It made her uncomfortable because his eyes seemed to engulf her, as if she was smothered by red magma and held there. Kagome could even make out two firm hands gripping her waist and keeping her in that spot, but she could see that his hands were at his sides. A dark brow lifted and she felt his voice grind against her ears. "Where is it?"
"Up ahead..." The bow was gripped tensely in two hands as she started off for the barn where she could see the shard gleaming through the walls. He followed closely behind her, she could see his shadow extend into hers as she looked down; afterall their backs were to the evening sun. The door was opened and the horses nervously shifted. On the other side the fragment was, and as she guided Hiten along in the open space of the barn, the miko felt as if she was vulnerable. As if this place was too spacious and empty to have a shikon no kakera. But perhaps they had gotten off easy this time. Hesitating, she looked over her shoulder at Hiten, who seemed to have never taken his eyes off of her. Her voice faltered. "Right there... in that heap of hay."
The youkai snorted as he walked around her, sifted through some hay, and meticulously plucked out the glimmering reward. "There we are." He still appeared menacing, she realized, whenever he dropped the jewel shard in with the rest. His face lit up with a wide, fang-bearing grin and those eyes glowed slightly. How had she ended up aiding such a vile monster! Atleast she could say in her defense that it was not by will that she did this. If she disinclined to help him, he'd turn her inside-out. The girl was currently brooding over this whenever he wrapped an arm around her shoulder and he pulled her petite body against his. "And without any bloodshed! 'Just how you like it!" That arm he had around her slackened so that he could tweak her cheek with his fingers, looking down at her flustered and rather confused face. The thunder demon smiled down at her bewildered expression and urged her onward. "Come on. I'm hungry, and since I can't eat you we'll have to find a place that has food."
Kagome couldn't grasp this man. Was he happy that his grand plan was going well? Use her to get jewel shards, get Manten back, use her perhaps more, then make a meal of her? His happiness would have to hold for the both of them, as she merely allowed him to drag her off. She doubted she'd be eating anyway, what with his appetite for human flesh that she was quite sure she didn't share. He wouldn't eat her, good, but he could just pick someone he walked past in the village and make merry with them instead.
More than enough peasants watched them as he searched the village until he came across what he'd been looking for: an inn. It was a smaller one, but it promised food, shelter, and plenty of company for travelers. Upon stepping inside the scantly occupied room, a woman dressed in a teal kimono that hung from her shoulders approached them -Hiten specifically- and clung to his front. She wasn't very attractive, having a rounder face than desired, wide shoulders, and probably had a plump body underneath her clothing. "What would you like?" She smiled and pulled back to invite him onward.
A meek gasp came from Kagome whenever he pulled her infront of him and rested his chin on her head. "Ask my beautiful mate that, and I'll have the same." It was obvious he did that to keep the lady away from him.
This warranted a stunned reaction from said 'mate' for quite some time, and she choked out a request. "S-some rice perhaps--and maybe stew if you have some too..." She was relieved whenever the woman respectfully bowed to the couple in an apologetic manner, and walked away. And in turn he released her. This time she whirled around and glared up at him. "Where do you get off saying that!"
Judging from his relaxed expression, he didn't think much of it and he gestured her over to a low table and sat down on a soft pillow. "It would've been different if she had been attractive." His pike was set off to the side and he looked around. Most of the women who worked here looked like that or were even more aversive. The youkai looked disappointed enough.
Kaede made better meals. Kagome noted this as they sat in silence while they ate. Every once in awhile the girl would frown impulsively, still upset over what he'd done earlier. Did he enjoy making her think too much about something? Was he teasing? A surprised sound murred from her whenever a chopstick bounced off her forehead. She looked up, over to Hiten, to see him sitting there watching her intently with the matching utensil dangling between two fingers. "You know, you're taking way too long to eat. I've been waiting for you to finish for so long that two other customers have sat down to eat and have left in the time it takes you to finish half a bowl of this shit you call food."
The stick rolled off the table and she looked over to him, replying in a flatter tone. "You seem to like it enough... you ate a whole bowl."
Hiten gripped his edge of the table and leaned forward, narrowing his eyes that gleamed in this light and gliding his lips against his fangs whenever they peeled into a smile. "What's wrong, woman? You're not pissed at me, are you?"
A hiss seethed in her exhale and she shot up to stand. She had enough. "What did you expect! You think that after so long I'll forget what you did to Inuyasha? --Because you got even and will now have your brother back you think I should just go off to frolic wthl you? That you can seduce me! No! You're a disgusting monster and no matter how much time I spend with you, you'll still make me sick!" His expression changed and those eyes glowed darker. The consequences...
She ran. Kagome fled to the exit and dashed out into the gray evening. Her yukata stopped her from running effectively, so she pulled it up above her knees and covered more ground with her hurried and panicking gait. This melee was shortlived, she knew, whenever she felt him behind her. No sooner did she feel the presence of him did his hands grab her arms and he picked her up off the ground. "Hck...!" Her insides fluttered whenever she was spun around then pinned to the ground. Despite her eyes tightly closed, she could see his face, close to hers, burned into her mind. So close that she could see the fine details of his face. In fact, she could feel the fine details of his armor against her body: her chest, her legs.
"No, you fucking idiot, you have no idea what seducing is. If I wanted you underneath me, you'd be too caught up in pleasure and desire to realize what was happening. Do you want me to show you?" Her eyes shot open whenever he straddled her waist and grinded up against her. Hooking his finger around her obi, he pulled back to catch her reaction as he began to tug it loose. The thunder youkai held back a grin.
"N---no!" The arm that was no longer bound against the dirt reached out to interfere, protecting the bow that held her clothes together. Her heart was pounding in her ears, her body trembling, her mind blurred by fear upon realizing something: she was half aroused by all of this. Yet she didn't want it, she was sure, if she even let him touch her body like that then she'd regret it. His hand was hard to keep away, and she struggled as, just whenever it was pushed off to the side, he would bring it back to try again with a grin wider than before. Make him stop. He was nothing but a blur against the dark sky. Everything was going black, she thought, as she fought the temptation.
A drop of water rolled down her cheek; it was neither warm nor salty like tears, rather cool and calming. Another one on her arm and another on her brow. It was raining. His forceful body slackened and she peered up to see him crouched over her with his head tilted back into the falling droplets. A distant roll of thunder seemed to pull his attention off of her, as if she were now a rock he had been previously sitting on. "...Hiten?"
"--Shh." The shower grew more persistent, and she swallowed as he remained there in that pose. A flash of white off to the side in the clouds, and another crack of thunder. This one closer. He stood up and over her, then grabbed her hand. "Get off the ground, you'll get wet. Come on back inside." The last thing she wanted to do was follow him back inside. They'd have a private room waiting for them back inside...would he continue where he'd left off?
He pulled up the curtain and gazed out the window when they were in that room. A cool gust was the only thing that blew inside. He watched the sky closely, and it didn't take Kagome too long to figure out why he was. She knew a part of him ached to see Manten arrive amongst the black clouds. He sat there, anticipating, waiting, hoping. Did he really care for his brother that much? Was he more than just a killing monster? She sat down on the other side of the room, her back to the wooden shoji door. "..Tell me something about him."
Molten eyes glanced over to her for a moment and he turned to face the storm. "He always felt inferior to me because of the way he looked. Sometimes he'd smile whenever I said he would be just as attractive as me if he had some hair on his head. So we tried everything...using the scalps of other people but his head was too big anyway." Hiten looked over to Kagome, smiling just a bit as he saw her look ill. He went on anyway. "Our mother frowned at us for just leaving the rest of the body unused so she gave us a recipe for a potion. I'm sure you already know that Manten was going to use you for that. Which is, by the way, why you won't be dieing under my watch." A pause. "Heh... he was the most precious person to me. I poked fun at him enough and made him cry more than once. I scared the shit out of him sometimes. I was an asshole to him, simply put. I wish I had treated him better. I wish I wouldn't need a second chance to show him how much he means to me. If I had known that he would've died that day, I--"
Kagome's thin brows furrowed whenever his voice finally grew so shaky, he could no longer speak eligible words. His head dropped and the demon fell silent. There was no reason to what she did next; it felt necessary to drop down next to him, place her hand on his back, and look into the storm that now poured down upon the inn and filled it with the trembling cracks of thunder.
Kagome was snug in the warm covers, with only her head poking out. The morning air was fresh and clean, and she noticed how comfortable she was. Her back was against what she assumed to be the wall, but whenever she shifted and heard Hiten groan, her eyes opened at once and she looked up to see that she was lying right there with him. His arm was even wrapped around her and keeping her close. There had been no way in hell she fell asleep like this. After a long while of sitting there with him, she told him goodnight and slipped off to bed. He must've laid down with her and slept that way. He didn't look ready to wake up, so he must've been awake like that for a good part of the night.
With a silent sigh, she slipped out of her spot and rubbed at her clothes to get the wrinkles out of them. The girl surprised herself; she wasn't too disturbed by the thought that she'd been so close to him. Perhaps because he'd done that to find some sort of solace? She didn't feel dirty or violated either. Out the room she went to go wash for the day. Hiten did not stir.
"Inuyasha...you're forgetting something." A bare foot stepped into a patch of wet grass, and the hanyou glanced over his shoulder at Kaede as she followed him out of the hut and held out Tetsusaiga in its scabbard. The old woman sighed. "Your wound isn't completely healed, but you're about to leave without it, so I suppose hiding it from you won't be keeping you here any longer." A clawed hand grabbed the scabbard and the boy slipped it into his obi. He turned his back to her again. "Just be careful, alright? Hiten now has all of your jewel shards and the ones he already had.
A low, raspy voice chuckled, and he inclined his head as if to smell the faintly moving air. "Don't worry...that bastard will soon be in the grave next to his brother." The cloudless sky yielded a bright sun, which shone down on a blur of gleaming silver and crimson as he dashed off.
( Hmm... I wonder what kind of comments I'll get on this chapter. I apologize for the wait...but my computer hasn't been working too well and I can barely use it anymore. And no, Hiten wasn't about to rape Kagome. ;o I suppose there may be one or two chapters left until the story has been told. I think I'll update my profile along with this chapter to rant about other things I wish to do. Review to tell me your thoughts and so forth if you wish to. )