Disclaimer: Ow. I just whacked my knee and it hurts. And that, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, is why I don't own Inuyasha. By the power vested in me by possession of a keyboard, I says keep reading. (And none of the other copyrighted material I mention is mine, either. Desu.)
A/N: Look, Ma! Another chapter! Wheeeeee! Ah, sleep, I miss thee so…
Go to the bathroom and get some snacks from the lobby, 'cause this is the longest one thus far. More on that waaaay at the end.
Beast
Chapter 36
The rest of the day passed as quietly as it probably could have, given the circumstances. When Shippou began displaying distinct symptoms of boredom, Kagome regretfully set her manga aside and prodded Souta into doing the same so they could play cards instead; when Inuyasha slipped back in almost two hours later, he was greeted with no indication that anyone had noticed anything untoward in his exit, and showed his gratitude by also pretending nothing had happened.
The rest of the afternoon and evening was consumed by a fast-paced and confusing set of games, in only one of which he participated, though he was such a poor liar that he lost in record time. In the excitement, Inuyasha forgot about Shimoko's visit entirely, and it was only when they were finishing dinner in the increasingly stuffy little room that he remembered to mention it.
Sango's censure of his neglect in mentioning it till now was swiftly allayed by Kagome's suggestion that the servants had probably caught wind of it and were no doubt already in the midst of preparing, accustomed as they were to not waiting for orders. This would have calmed Inuyasha had he not also recalled his niece's parting shot as he, Miroku and Kohaku prepared to leave for the night. If the servants knew she was coming back the next night, they also no doubt knew about that, and he asked Kagome the usual question and bade her goodnight with unpleasant possibilities teeming in the back of his mind.
Kagome was thinking along similar lines. When she and Sango retired to the bath, the latter remained quiet most of the time, and Kagome, failing to think of a way to bring the subject up with any delicacy – "So! How 'bout those feudal Japanese clothes? Don't leave much to the imagination, do they?" doesn't have much of a ring to it… – played with Shippou instead of talking.
The deficit was more than made up when they returned to the room, though, and found Souta waiting for them, manga almost forgotten in his eagerness. "So you don't get out of here till you marry Inuyasha, Sis?"
Kagome sighed. She knew she'd regret letting him talk to Shippou earlier without her there… "It's a long story. The same stuff that keeps people out of the castle keeps everyone here inside till the curse gets broken."
"Oh. And that's how it happens?" Souta frowned. "How come you said no, then?"
"Because I'm not gonna marry him. Now go to bed. Shippou can show you where the other boys sleep, and you'll be safe with Kohaku." Kagome made a dismissive gesture. She'd pondered letting him sleep in her room, but Sango looked so weary that she didn't want to ask her to go elsewhere, even to Miroku. "Don't give me that look. I need to talk to—"
"But why not?" He crossed his arms, planting his butt firmly on the bed to indicate that he was going nowhere till he got a satisfactory answer. "You guys already fight like a married couple."
"We do not." This had the makings of a very long and painful argument. Kagome glanced at Sango, who was fanning herself slowly, and saw that the kit wasn't going to help, either—if anything, he looked just as curious as her brother. Traitor. "We'll talk about it later. Now go to bed."
"You do too. You give each other those weird looks, too." His frown deepened into a scowl. "What happens if you just don't feel like marrying him?" The scowl vanished, replaced instantly with keen interest. "Are you gonna stay here forever?"
"There's only a month left, and then…it ends," she replied evasively. "Now, seriously, shoo. I'll explain it all tomorrow."
Souta made a face. "No, you won't. You'll find somethin' else to talk about, like you're trying to now."
Kagome cursed herself: she'd trained him not to tolerate their older sisters' tendency to change the subject, and this was the thanks she got. "Souta, I'm really serious. It's not that easy. He—he's not really available, and even if he was, there are way too many other complications."
"If he's not available, how come he asked you to marry him? And how come you guys were sucking face, and then he was—"
"If you bring that up one more time, no one will ever find your corpse, brother dearest," Kagome said sweetly. "Good night."
Souta opened his mouth, then quailed at her Look, nodded, and scuttled out of the room without further argument.
"Temper, Kagome-chan," Sango murmured, covering a yawn with the back of her hand as Shippou also made a hasty retreat. "Didn't you work enough energy off at Kouga?"
Kagome looked at her blankly, then remembered and shook her head. "I never actually got to yell at him. He distracted me with something shiny first."
"Oh, the 'bike' thing you wanted so much?" Sango tilted her head slightly, then winced and massaged her temples. "From what I'd heard, you were quite angry at him. The girls I talked to thought you were going out there to kill him."
"I was. He told my dad he and I were engaged." She sighed patiently at Sango's sympathetic grimace. "Yeah. He just got lucky that he'd brought out that bike right then. I've wanted another one since we moved back to the shrine. We tried bringing my mom's old one in from the city, but it fell off somewhere along the way and got ruined, so getting another one was a huge thing for me." Life was funny, she mused: if the first hadn't been run over, she might have thought it safe to ask for a bike instead of a flower, and then what would've happened?
"I suppose that makes sense." The slayer seemed faintly amused, but Kagome could tell that she was too tired to be more than politely interested in the subject.
They went to bed almost as soon as the kitsune returned, and it wasn't till after her friend was asleep that Kagome realized she hadn't spent any nights with Miroku in…how long now? She still seems weird, too, but not bad weird. …Eh. Probably just tired. I'll ask about it tomorrow if she's not better.
It was too bad, really. She would've liked to show Sango the pictures of her family before they fell asleep. Ah, well, there's always tomorrow. Wonder what the pictures were doing there in the first place…
Her eyes came open on their own in the darkness. The pictures were Yoshio's, obviously, but though they had launched one of the first great misunderstandings of this whole business, no one had ever indicated that they were still on the grounds somewhere. She hadn't thought of them at all till now.
Despite herself, Kagome snorted quietly, adjusting the loose gold bracelets she'd kept on even in bed. If you'd have told me two months ago that Dad was going to come back with a flower for me and then make me come here and fall for a half-demon…
Something clicked. ……Flower? Wait a minute. Yoshio had gotten in trouble in the first place thanks to flowers. Kagome had seen a few miniature Zen rock or sand gardens around the grounds, but not much actual greenery; the castle was far more utilitarian than most human nobles would have preferred. Considering that, and that her father was not the sharpest tool in the shed, he couldn't have stumbled across any flower gardens by accident. Where had he found them, then?
Something else teased the outside edges of her memory, something about purple and a question she should've asked yesterday, something else out of the ordinary, even for this place…but, oddly, her mind shied away from the prospect. It wasn't that it scared her: it almost felt disrespectful to think about it, so much that she had no desire to even try. Huh. Now that's weird. Nothing else she'd come across had felt quite like that. …Or had it?
Feelings. Blah. Okay, Sango and gardens, two more problems for tomorrow. Joy. Right. Shutting up now. Kagome put it firmly out of mind for now and rolled over, nearly squashing Shippou in her determination to escape her thoughts. Time for sleep. Gotta think of something relaxing…hmmm…
Inuyasha came to mind. The thoughts that tagged along after him were not relaxing, and it was a long time before exasperated weariness won out, pictures and flowers quite thoroughly forgotten already.
Morning arrived so clear, bright and gently sunny that Kagome could blame her premature waking on it, as Shippou patted her shoulder urgently and Souta nearly shouted into her ear: "Hey, Sis! Wake up! C'mon, let's do something!"
She mumbled a few choice words and stuffed the pillow back over her head, then yelped and grabbed at it vainly as its warm weight was gone. "Get your ass up and take the brats somewhere else," Inuyasha advised, cocking his head at the boys; Kohaku was standing by the door, less vocal but just as enthusiastic as the other two. "They've been bugging everyone since dawn." Souta nodded vigorous agreement, and Kagome rolled over, groaning.
Sango had also been evicted from sleep, but was in good spirits and only mildly annoyed when Miroku insisted upon helping Kohaku with breakfast so that he could have an excuse to observe the kitchen maids as they bent over the charcoal braziers upon which lunch was already cooking. To his dismay, Sango's improved standing with the other women meant that she was – very good-naturedly, with much glaring at Miroku and encouragement not to be lenient with him – informed of the incident almost immediately.
The monk's protests and denials lasted throughout the meal, after which Souta interrupted just loudly enough to ask Kagome if they could go see the river Shippou and Kohaku had told him about. His new friends vigorously seconded the motion; with no major objections from Miroku or the women, they were following the boys through the woods on the servants' path to the water in record time, almost before Inuyasha could finish formulating his arguments against the idea.
"One of 'em might drown," the hanyou pointed out as they emerged in time to see Souta step cautiously into the sparkling water, squeaking slightly at the icy touch on his hot, dirty feet. "The runt can't swim at all."
"That's what we're here for," Kagome replied, kicking off her sandals and trotting down to the bank to arrange them neatly along the water's edge. "Sango-chan, can you swim?"
"A little. We were taught enough not to drown if we were ever thrown or dragged in, and how to keep others afloat." The slayer, Kagome noticed with much relief, was back to herself this morning. Weird feeling? …Check. Damn. She'd have to ask later…when Miroku wasn't sneaking up behind Sango and eyeing her, then the water, and arching an eyebrow at Kagome so innocently that she had to look away before she accidentally betrayed his intentions.
"It's already quite warm out," the monk noted genially, shading his eyes with his left hand as he gazed at the cloudless stretch of blue overhead. "And the exercise would do you some good." He made as if to pinch her backside, raising his hands as she turned on him. "I could hold your clothes if you'd like to wade a bit."
Sango glared back at him, then shrugged, unable to spot diversionary tactics as Kagome instantly had. "Hmmm…I think I'll hold off till it gets warmer." With a last Look at the monk, the slayer raised her voice to her brother, who had just stepped out of most of his clothes and started to ease himself beneath the water. "Stay where we can see you, and don't go under too long."
"No corpse contests, Souta," Kagome added, explaining to her puzzled friends in an undertone, "We used to see who could stay under the longest, but that was when there were lifeguards around, people specifically trained to rescue anyone drowning."
"You're no fun," her brother complained, but, recognizing her slight emphasis on the second word, obediently paddled over to Kohaku and attempted to dunk the smaller boy by surprise, with mutually disastrous results.
The splashing soon drew a little too close to the bank, and Sango firmly suggested they restrain themselves, or go closer to the other side for that. They elected to float instead, Shippou eyeing them nervously from his vantage point on Kagome's shoulder.
"You know, he got used to this pretty quick," the latter mused, sitting on the bank to let her feet enjoy the surprising bite in the sun-drenched water. "Souta adjusted to the move and everything better than the rest of us, but if I were him, I'd still be freaked out, not playing around with another kid I didn't really know yet."
"Ah, youth…" Miroku chuckled, easing Sango closer to the river without her noticing. "It may be that he enjoys more security in a strange setting and strange people with you present, Kagome-sama, than his home and family with you missing—and I might add that the tendency towards random destruction is a perfectly normal part of young male bonding. Inuyasha and myself spent a great deal of our initial acquaintance trying to kill one another."
"I agree, houshi-sama, though I'd rather not have to remind Kohaku that his opponent isn't a demon, nor trained the way he is, and hardly a fair match." The boys began to drift towards each other, almost bumping heads till Kohaku noticed and veered away with a little flick towards Souta. "Perhaps we should bring some of the other children out here in small groups some time."
"Maybe. As long as Souta's here, he's gonna come back to the water, so we might as well let the others have some fun." This is pretty fun, too. I feel like a mom, watching the kids horse around and talking to the other grownups…though I'd have to use the term loosely with these guys. Kagome smiled at the thought. Grownup or not, it's hot. Time to go in. She pulled her hair back tightly, adjusted her long, dark T-shirt so as to maintain coverage over her old bikini – there was no way she was going to run around in just that thing – and dove right into the water without thinking.
The affable quiet died a violent death at her reaction to the cold, and then her retaliation to the boys' laughter. Mindful of the other "grownups" and the little fox demon's isolation, Kagome called a halt to impending Water War II to invite Shippou down with them, threatening the older boys with consequences worse than dire should they even think of splashing either of them while she held the kit above water.
Shippou's wariness diminished as it became evident they were probably not going to sink, then vanished; emboldened by her success, Kagome turned her attention to calling Inuyasha down. "Come on, the water's not gonna melt you. Unless you're scared, of course."
Her teasing proved fruitless; though he was repeatedly invited and exhorted by all below to come down and cool off – especially Miroku, who maneuvered the slayer just a little closer to the edge as they turned to address him – Inuyasha not-so-politely declined to leave his perch, much to Kagome's disappointment. She had to admit it was probably wise, though, given his aversion to wet in general and the quantity of water being thrown around already. Kohaku's having more fun attacking Souta than he's probably had the whole time I've known him. Nothing like attempted homicide to make a boy happy, I s'pose, but I doubt Inuyasha'd get much of a kick out of it.
Sango was making fairly similar observations. Lulled into false security by a gentle hand on her shoulder and her brother's ebullience, she didn't think to question Miroku's proximity till they were suddenly much nearer the river than she'd thought. "…Houshi-sama?"
"Yes, Sango?" Three feet separated them and the slow-moving water, and Sango couldn't help noticing that he was leaning into her so that she was forced to move almost imperceptibly in that direction. She began to entertain some very strong suspicions, telling him as much in a glare fit to ignite most inflammable substances. He retaliated with a blinding smile. "Was there something bothering you?"
Kagome started to paddle away from where the slayer or monk was likely to get dunked at this rate. Then she got a fairly interesting idea, motioned Shippou to be quiet and caught Inuyasha's eye, which had just so happened to be resting on her. She made a suggestion with a quick jerk of her head towards the feuding couple and a short but eloquent gesture.
"You're not thinking of doing anything rash, are you?" Sango's voice lowered almost to a growl as they stopped less than a pace from the lip of the bank. She intertwined their fingers tightly. "Especially considering you're going in the second I do?"
Miroku affected surprise, never suspecting that the four in the water were gaping at him for any other reason than to see if he'd call her bluff, or that Kirara had come out of the woods as well to watch Inuyasha pad silently down the slope towards them. "Why would I do such a thing?"
Kagome had the foresight to get to the bank and deposit Shippou as Inuyasha took advantage of Miroku's distraction to hover directly behind him, fill his lungs, and half-shout into the monk's ear: "'Cause you're an idiot!"
Miroku jumped like an overdosed cat, and Sango tried to whirl around; with fingers and arms entangled, all they managed was to topple off balance together, crashing into the river with a satisfying fwoosh of water spattering water.
"You were supposed to push 'em, Inuyasha," Kagome called out over the boys' cheers and applause in mock pique, though her grin was almost as wide as his smirk. "Extra style points for making him do it himself, though."
"Keh." Inuyasha made no attempt to restrain his smugness at having been a participant in a prank for once, rather than the object. Damn, that was fun. No wonder they're always fucking with me! He waved at the two dark heads that surfaced moments later. "So, bouzu, cooled off yet?"
Miroku spat water, clearing his mouth of an interesting expletive or three in the process as Sango steadied him from beneath. The slayer looked as put out as her lover, though Kagome got close enough in assisting them to the bank to detect some effort in maintaining it. "That was uncalled for, Inuyasha," Sango said severely, sweeping wet mahogany strands off her face with the arm not looped around the monk's neck and shoulders.
"Indeed." Miroku disentangled himself at the bank, climbed out of the water and surveyed his dripping robes with a wry frown. "I don't suppose you'd like to retrieve my sandals for me, Inuyasha."
"I'll get 'em, Miroku-sama," Kagome offered with the beginnings of pity. He'd been in no danger with Sango, Kirara and herself in attendance, but…
"No, no, Kagome-chan, he does have a point." Sango accepted the monk's help onto the bank, though they both nearly lost their footing in the process. Only Shippou and Kagome noticed her eye Miroku as avidly as he was appraising her sodden figure, and the moment passed almost instantly. "Inuyasha, would you care to assist the houshi-sama?"
"No, I wouldn't. Why?"
The boys' renewed laughter should have alerted Inuyasha, but with the wind at his back, attention as diverted as Miroku's had just been, and the taste of victory still fresh, he failed to interpret Sango's gesture till it was almost too late; Kirara lunged from behind, and when he managed to leap clear of being dunked, a deft twist of her heavy tails knocked him downward.
Kagome couldn't be sure, but she was at least reasonably certain she had never seen anything as funny as the way he landed, frozen sideways in a spider-like pose no human could so much as dream of, clinging to the bank with his right arm and leg while his left arm struggled to hold up the majority of his hair the way it had draped itself just out of the water. It didn't occur to her to precisely quantify the humor of it because breathing had suddenly taken priority, and doubling over while treading water proved difficult at best.
"Glad you're having fun," Inuyasha grumbled. He gingerly climbed back up, then stood, shaking his left leg in an unmistakably canine fashion where it had been submerged below the knee, doubling Kagome's merriment. Fortunately, though, a glare at Sango, a snarl at Kirara as she mewed sweetly from the other bank, and a sudden smirk at Miroku was the extent of his wrath. "You still got a hell of a lot wetter'n me."
"How kind of you to notice." Good humor restored by Inuyasha's near-disgrace and another thorough look at Sango, Miroku bowed courteously as Kohaku surfaced with the missing sandals. "Thank you, kind sir…" He slid them back on, grimacing. "Ugh. Nothing quite like the feeling of wet footwear."
"Shoulda thought of that before you went in," Inuyasha muttered, shaking his leg again. He glanced at the couple, wrinkling his nose and raising his voice above Kagome's half-suppressed giggling. "You guys can go back and use the baths first if you want. Just be back in Kagome's room later."
The exasperated insinuation completely escaped the boys, even if they did notice untoward speed in Miroku's assent and wonder that Kirara was called upon to take the two back instead of walking. Kagome didn't put the pieces together for quite some time, until her limbs started to tire and she left Shippou by the water to settle down with her back against Inuyasha's tree, bare legs drawn up to her chest. "Oh," she murmured, unaware of having spoken out loud. They don't get much private time during the day, and this's as good an excuse as any.
"What's that?" To her surprise, Inuyasha hopped down, crouching next to her. "You say somethin'?"
"Not really." To her gratified surprise, one of her concerns came to mind, and she decided to ask about it before she forgot yet again. "Does Sango seem…off to you somehow? Not in a bad way, just not the same."
"Depends what you mean by 'off.'" She flushed faintly. "Geez, wench, not like that, not why I let 'em go back early. They've been smelling like that all the time since they had that mushy talk, 'cept for her getting sick and…well, the past couple days."
"I don't blame them. Things haven't been that great lately." Kagome pressed the backs of her still-cold hands to her cheeks, which only burned more. "As long as she's not sick again or anything, it's probably just my imagination."
"Nah, if you think something's up, she's probably dying or something. Everything's a pain in the ass when you're involved." He folded his arms and frowned as she toyed with the wet band around her neck. "Are you ever gonna get rid of that damn thing?"
"I'm so sorry I went off on you like that." Neither expected that, but Kagome found herself speaking almost automatically as guilt emerged from the back of her mind, where Souta's appearance had relegated it. "You weren't keeping it from me just to piss me off, and I went and acted like it was all some kind of personal insult." She buried her face in her knees to relieve some of its stiff heat. "All I did was make you feel bad, and I didn't mean to. It just made me feel so—"
"Kagome. Look at me."
Kagome looked up so fast that her neck twinged in complaint. The command had been quiet, more openly concerned than she'd ever heard him and only slightly irritated.
The pounding redoubled as Inuyasha leaned over, taking her face in one hand. Careful of his long claws, he ran his thumb lightly over her cheek, turning it this way and that as he stared. The intensity of his gaze was more unnerving than the physical contact, which was enough in itself to make her feel distinctly weird. As it was…why was he leaning in closer? Please tell me he's…but what if Kikyou's out here? We can't. …But we did, consarn it, and I—
"You're sunburned."
Her blood stopped moving for a second. "Huh?"
Inuyasha snorted, scanning her face again and releasing it with a little pat, unaware that the gesture was more insulting than soothing. His ears were his best source of information now that she had the bracelets on, but he couldn't be sure how to interpret the changes in her heart rate. What, did she think I was gonna chew her out for trying to bring it up again? Damn, women are paranoid… "That's what you get, tryin' to watch out for everything at once without staying outta the sun the way you usually do. Didn't work this time."
"Sunburn." One heavy, flat word, toneless.
His ear swiveled. "Yeah. As in, you're probably roasted all over, with your luck."
"Roasted." Kagome buried her face in her hands. "Oh, God, why do I even bother?"
"Huh?" Inuyasha's brows furrowed. "What's wrong now? It doesn't look that stupid."
"Nothing." She half-smiled at his frustrated growl. "All right, it's not nothing. Did you even hear what I said?"
"Yeah, and we've already been through that crap. You only need to say it once, or it gets annoying. 'Sides, I thought you'd rather know you look like that fish the cooks are always tryin' to make me eat." He inserted one claw into his hair to get at an itch that had started behind his ears, cursing as the point snared and clung no matter which way he tugged at it. "Dammit." Another tug. "Ow! Dammit!"
Kagome contemplated hitting him, but only for a split second. Not everyone's mind is in the gutter too, Kag. Instead, she smiled ruefully at herself, scooted over, and raised herself onto her knees before the struggle could intensify. "Hold still. You're just making it worse."
Inuyasha submitted with only token grumbling, relaxing against the tree as her fingers located the tangle and began working the coarse hair apart to separate the finer strands beneath, careful not to cut herself on the claw's edge. Damn these things. I keep forgetting about 'em.
Down at the river, Souta and Kohaku were seeing who could hold himself upside down the longest, scrawny legs jutting out of the water like mutated plants. "Looks like they're havin' fun," he mumbled, freeing his hand with her help and propping his head up with an elbow on his knee. Her nails trailed over his scalp once more, eliciting a grunt and a shift closer. "Little to the left."
"Aye aye." Pleased, Kagome glanced out at the river to ascertain that the boys were not drowning themselves or each other and then set to work scratching, relishing the unconscious sigh and slackening of tense muscles against her shoulder as she found the itch. "Good?"
An inarticulate mumble expressed his approval so eloquently that Kagome grinned, spacing her fingers to rake loosely through his mane. "No wonder you never do anything with it, if you can't even touch it without getting your fingers caught."
"Mmmmwh'er." It was all Inuyasha could do to stay upright. The trunk supported most of his weight, though Kagome's shirt soaked his shoulder and knee where she leaned over him. He usually found getting wet outside the baths highly unpleasant at best, but with the sensations her nails were starting to draw up and down his scalp, he wouldn't have moved if she'd tried to set his hair on fire.
Kagome briefly considered trying to complete her apology again, vetoing it just as quickly. If he doesn't want to talk about it, I shouldn't bring it up again. We pretty much made up already. Affection slowed her hand and brought the other up to work on the other side, alternating light and harder strokes so that his eyelids drooped completely shut. A lot can happen in the next couple of weeks. No point stressing about it. Till then, might as well—
Inuyasha's ears snapped forward at the sound of Souta's startled voice. "Who're you?"
"A friend, young master." Shimoko's casual reply had Kagome on her feet and Inuyasha scrambling to his instantly. Luckily, her hands had come free easily, and she could attribute her color to excessive sun; what were the odds, both wondered with only slight variation in ratios of embarrassment and irritation, that she hadn't seen them?
The camera swinging from the demoness's wrist conveyed little reassurance on that score. She stilled it with a slight movement of her hands, glanced behind her sharply, and raised an eyebrow at Souta. "Another Higurashi? How did you get into the castle, if I may ask?"
"That's my little brother, Shimoko-san, and we don't really know." Further embarrassed by her wet shirt and bedraggled ponytail, Kagome came down the slope and bowed awkwardly. In what had to be deliberate showiness, Shimoko stood on a large rock jutting from the far bank, letting the sun play on her elaborately styled hair and bird-embroidered green kimono. Kodak moment.
"I see." Shimoko cracked her knuckles and scared Souta stiff by winking out of sight, reappearing moments later next to where the boys had just climbed onto their bank. "My name is Shimoko. Yours?"
"Uh…S-Souta." To their credit, though both boys were slightly pale, Kohaku didn't move away, and Souta bowed stiffly despite his evident nervousness. "Pleased to meet you."
"I am demon, Souta-dono, but I assure you, I won't devour you—not without your permission, at least. You don't seem terribly suicidal, so consider yourself safe." Shimoko raised one shoulder and let it drop carelessly, cracking a smile at his bewilderment; -dono was much more respectful than a boy of his age should merit. "I like your sister very much, you see, and until you prove unworthy of the association, my addressing you thus is not intended to make fun of you. I prefer to do that more subtly." She inclined her head, half-turning to Inuyasha. "Isn't that right, oji-chan?"
"Maybe we should head back now," Kagome suggested diplomatically over Inuyasha's irate growl. "Didn't you say you wanted to do something special tonight?"
"Ah! Karaoke." Shimoko nodded, smile widening at Souta's reaction. "How does that sound, Souta-dono?"
It might have sounded good to Souta, but Inuyasha was inclined to be slightly more skeptical; they trekked back to the castle, the boys went to change – Souta would need to borrow fresh clothes till his could be washed again – and the others found Miroku and Sango examining another strange device in Kagome's room, already hooked up to the huge television, metal dance mats shifted awkwardly under the bed with one corner sticking out. "What the fuck is that thing supposed to do?" the hanyou wanted to know. Kagome glared at him as Shippou turned over in his sleep, snuggling down into her pillow to escape the noise.
"It's very simple. It plays the music of popular songs, displays the text, and allows you to sing along so your friends can laugh at you," Shimoko said cheerfully, moving to several small bags set next to the karaoke machine. "I brought some traditional beverages to complete the experience."
Kagome stopped rummaging for fresh clothes as she caught a glimpse of several long-necked bottles and groaned. "Shimoko-san, we already have sake."
"Oh. Well, you don't have any Kirin beer, now do you?"
She could hardly argue with that.
Sango frowned thoughtfully. "Kirin? Isn't that some kind of—"
"It's a kind of alcoholic drink, Sango-chan. And it's disgusting. Don't let her tell you it's not, 'cause it is."
"Not if you've the palate for it, Auntie. Dare I ask how you might know?" The demoness started to open one of the cans, putting it down discreetly as the shoji opened to admit Souta and Kohaku.
"Actually, Shimoko-sama, I think a bath and a change of clothes is in order," Sango cut in respectfully, eyeing the boys' rumpled, half-dried appearance with considerably less deference. "Would you like to demonstrate how the machine works in the meantime?"
"Yeah, I do kinda reek," Kagome said candidly, holding her arms out from where she was sitting on her bed. Inuyasha snorted as she stopped sniffing and examined one arm more closely, running a finger over the sheen of bright pink. "I can't believe I forgot. I burn at the drop of a hat."
"Moron. You really wanna take a hot bath like that?" Inuyasha didn't wait for her to answer, jerking his head at Kohaku instead. "Go get someone to fill up one of the tubs without heating it, and come right back."
The younger slayer nodded and hurried out, torn between chagrin at his sister's irritation and eagerness not to miss anything by having to bathe right away.
Shimoko reached into one sleeve, pulled out several CDs, and handed them to Kagome. "While we're waiting, Auntie, I'll let you decide on the song order."
"You brought Disney?" was all Kagome said in reply, though her tinted face went through varying degrees of amusement, delight and indifference as she looked through the stack, shuffling the jewel cases in her hands carefully.
"I'll have to get you some aloe vera for your skin. As rude as he is, oji-chan has a point. You're too pretty to risk looking like old leather before you're thirty." Shimoko clicked her tongue, producing nearly the same sound as her knuckles and similar reactions. "Isn't she, oji-chan?"
"Keh." Inuyasha bent to rummage amongst the bottles. "How long you staying tonight?"
"Until I get bored, or until everyone gets sick of me." The demoness sat daintily on the edge of the bed. "Not interrupting any plans, am I? I did give you notice."
"No, you didn't. You just said you were bored." The hanyou sniffed at a beer can, almost dropping it at the foul odor. "Holy shit. Get this out of here!"
"Oh, come on, oji-chan. It never hurts to expand your horizons a little. I used to hate it, but it's been my favorite drink for a while now." She popped her knuckles again, startling Shippou awake with a sleepy murmur. "Auntie's just too young to appreciate different tastes."
"I am not," Kagome protested. "It tastes like soap mixed with dog poop."
Shimoko waited for Kagome to scoop the kit up and put him down where she had been sitting on the floor to show him the karaoke machine. Then the demoness flicked on the digital camera with deliberate casualness. "Would you like to see something interesting, Souta-dono?"
"No!" Kagome lunged for the camera, which Shimoko had held up in swiping range, and nearly fell over as it was deftly lifted away. "Shimoko-san, that's not fair!"
"Maybe. But neither is your culinary bias." The camera was proffered again, not quite tauntingly. "Correct?"
"Okay, okay. Beer's not that bad. Geez…" She grabbed it neatly, daring to stick her tongue out at Shimoko and earning a chuckle in return. "You're mean." Kagome turned it off and handed it back.
"A little, yeah, but it's a sign of affection, and you're not as easy to screw with as oji-chan. I have to take whatever I can get." Unperturbed, the demoness drew a beautiful fan from her sleeve and opened it with a graceful flick of the wrist.
Inuyasha snorted. Kagome couldn't help noticing as she sat down and let Shippou crawl into her lap, though, that he didn't look as amused by the exchange as she would've thought. Well, s'not like he wasn't in it, too…
Kohaku chose that moment to return and prudently knelt as far away from Inuyasha as possible. "It should be ready soon, Kagome-sama." She acknowledged him with a smile and nod of thanks.
"Can I say something?" Souta asked timidly. Shimoko nodded, for the question had been directed at her. "You're really weird. Is that a demon thing?"
"Souta!" Kagome hissed.
"It's all right, Auntie. Bluntness comes in handy sometimes—it cuts through a lot of crap." Shimoko made a fatalistic gesture with the fan, almost a shrug. "I act differently to different people, Souta-dono, but what you see now is how I show I'm comfortable, and it's actually weird in comparison to most of the greater demons. For example, my sire, Sesshoumaru, is Inuyasha's older half brother, and I haven't seen him really smile in over 93 years."
Souta's eyes bulged. "93? Then, how—"
Thwap went the fan on his head, not hard enough to hurt, but still meaningful. "Bad idea, and not just because I happen to age at one hundredth the rate you do," Shimoko admonished. Souta rubbed the spot sheepishly without further comment. "For your edification, though, I was born in the time of the Meiji."
"Really?" His eyes defied physics by widening further. "Is that why you talk funny? 'Cause you're o…I mean, you've been alive so long?"
Shimoko visibly decided to let that one slide. She flicked the fan back open with a dark smile and snapped it shut. "You could say I'm a good example of bad timing. Feel up to listening to your elders for a minute? I warn you, it'll be a very long minute." The boy nodded eagerly. She glanced around, then continued when general interest became apparent.
"Y'see, Sesshoumaru violently opposed the presence of the Portuguese missionaries – first Europeans to come along, Europe being a huge land mass halfway around the world – from their arrival in…1543, I think, by the Western calendar, maybe fifty years after this place was put to sleep, and supported their expulsion and the confinement of other foreigners to…Deshima?" She scratched her head. "Some city somewhere. Either way, they were limited and contained about a century later, so outside influence was negligible from that quarter. I haven't studied any of this in decades, so I might get something blatantly wrong somewhere."
"That sounds about right. Please keep going," Kagome said eagerly, and the others nodded. Where else would they find out what had happened while they slept, almost firsthand?
"Good." Shimoko rather indelicately scratched her neck with the closed fan. "Anyway, demon children tend to mature early, but I was more inclined to torment Jaken when I was little than pay attention to stuff like national politics and sociology, so most of what I know is still hearsay or out of books. …Oh, yes. The point. Point is, Sesshoumaru has never been much for humans, or foreigners, in general. He wasn't afraid of them, but he did start to get a little concerned about their weaponry when Perry showed up around the nineteenth century. His main worry was that, if the strangers could develop guns, cannon and other weapons like that, and they were only human, what kind of demons might there be elsewhere? Would they force their way into our harbors, too?"
"Kagome-sama, your bath is ready," a servant piped up from outside, and Kagome nearly fell off the bed.
"Go on, Auntie, the story's really not all that interesting," Shimoko said airily, aware that even Inuyasha had been listening closely. Then, with a chuckle for the girl's murderous expression, she shook her head. "The long story short is that, though there are demons in other parts of the world, very few that were able to cross the ocean were interested in a small, rocky country with a dense population but nearby, larger and more populated neighbors. Almost all stayed away thanks to Sesshoumaru and a few other demons' reputations. Trust me, when you're still alive and in power after three or four centuries straight, people start to talk.
"Anyway, Sesshoumaru pretended not to care as long as it was only humans trading with Japan, though I'm pretty sure he was pissed that no foreign demons of any real power thought us worth invading." She held up both palms in amused resignation. "He was curious about the newcomers, though, and wanted to be the first to know what was going on amongst them. Since he wanted a free interpreter he could trust and my only role in the household was seeing how high I could make Jaken fall from without killing him, I was allowed to learn English, German and other languages.
"The problem with speaking with different people is that you tend to start getting ideas, and thinking about them, and eventually you want to talk about them. In this case, I started learning things none of my friends or family wanted to bother with—like the fact that being human and not bathing every day automatically makes you stinky and short-lived, but not necessarily a good or bad person. It took me over 60 years to reach that conclusion, which means I grew up not knowing whether I wanted to be more like Sesshoumaru, who is a fine warrior and leader but an arrogant, narrow-minded bastard, or my demon teachers, who were too busy groveling at Sesshoumaru's daughter's feet to instill any real pride in me, or my foreign teachers, who seemed kind and right about some things, but scorned many aspects of Japanese life to my face…till Sesshoumaru found out and started beheading them, which the ambassadors didn't really care for. Mother had no use for any of them, and their guns and engines and body odor fouled the air, so she was gone for years at a time and no help. To summarize, I spent my childhood not knowing what the hell was going on, which taught me how to pretend to be in control by throwing everyone else off before they caught on." A corner of her mouth twitched. "And that, my lords and ladies, is my excuse for being strange, though the only true motive is that confusing people amuses me." She almost barked a laugh, making them all jump. "So much for short. Now, run and take your bath, Auntie."
Kagome mulled the story over as she shucked her wet clothes, soaked in the cool water, and gingerly tried to dry herself without irritating the burn further. What a life. Immortality's probably not all it's cracked up to be. It was almost like she was reciting—how many other humans has she told it to? She shuddered involuntarily. Maybe, a couple of centuries down the road, she'll tell someone, "I knew this girl named Kagome back at the turn of the twenty-first century," and they'll shake their heads and say, "Nuh-uh, that was a bazillion years ago" in some weird future slang…
Her shoulders had escaped the worst, but she fancied the scar on her back stung as she draped the towel over it. Poor thing. What happens when her husband gets old and dies? Or Tadako? Kagome's throat tightened. Then she smiled, shaking her head. Maybe I can ask her to babysit my grandkids, too. "Y'all be nice to the demon lady, or she'll bite your knees off, and it'll serve ya right." She tried not to giggle too loud lest one of the servants should hear. It could have been her imagination, but she thought she'd gotten some very strange looks today.
Sango, who had already bathed, was waiting near the entrance, trying to conceal her yawns. Dried and changed into a fresh tank top and long shorts, Kagome followed her back to the room, unaware of a shadow creeping behind them, or that it fled at a sudden blast of music from behind the shoji.
"What in the…?" The slayer's bewilderment decreased only marginally as the music was hastily turned down to non-painful levels. "Are they playing DDR? It doesn't sound like it…"
"That's a children's song." Kagome cringed as the name assaulted her brain. "Oh, God, I hate 'It's A Small World After All'!" I'm gonna have the damn thing stuck in my head for another five years now!
As if to prove her point about strangeness, Shimoko had indeed chosen to run through the old Disney song for their first hands-on demonstration. "What the fuck was that?" was Inuyasha's baffled verdict.
"Odd," Miroku remarked.
Sango looked halfway between amusement and constipation. "Very."
"I don't get it," Shippou complained.
That nearly prompted Shimoko to play it again just to prolong their reactions; Miroku and Kagome persuaded her to turn it off so they could eat a very late lunch first.
"Uh…Shimoko-san, if it's okay, I'd actually like to wait a little," Kagome said quickly as the demoness began fiddling with the machine again about halfway through the meal. "Before we get into it, could you tell us some more about demons?"
The woman frowned. "Demons? Auntie, you just sat through my rambling, we have a karaoke machine and all this fresh m—first-timers here, not to mention the sake…why talk any more?"
"I'm curious, and Souta doesn't know anything about you." Her brother nodded, sparing Kagome from having to add, and Sango and Inuyasha look ready to puke. "I know you've told us a lot already, and we don't mean to pry, but…"
"But you're already involved with demons, and if you know for sure we exist, it's best you know all the facts." Shimoko paused, glanced at Miroku, then at Sango, and back to Kagome. "Any questions in particular?"
Aware that the others probably knew most of this and reluctant to bore them, Kagome nonetheless thought it over and began to clarify points that had been unclear for a while, discovering so many things that she soon ignored Inuyasha's impatient noises: no, most demons were no more monogamous than teenage humans, and some much less so, but greater demons of certain types did tend to mate for life, particularly canines and raptors; single marriage was generally practiced in order to maintain and preserve bloodlines and keep their numbers from reaching unmanageable levels—even the most ideal territories couldn't keep many greater demon appetites fed for centuries on end, and land itself was in short supply for the more mobile and territorial breeds.
No, the tendency to look down upon intermarriage had not declined significantly from Inuyasha's time; Shimoko herself had nearly come to blows with Sesshoumaru on that point, till Kagura intervened to point out that the human in question already had offspring and Shimoko had only to ensure she provided no more to avoid any lasting inconvenience. All but the most liberal of the great families still chose to maintain their standards for suitable mates and face extinction before diluting their blood with human or hanyou; those strictures had relaxed just enough since Shimoko's birth for her unequal marriage to be acceptable on any terms, even guardianship, instead of turning her into an outcast and disgracing the Morimoto. "Until my Shiro is gone, though, I'm not expected to show myself amongst other demons unless invited, or visit my former 'friends'—as if that was a punishment."
By now, contrary to Kagome's fears, everyone was still listening, keenly interested in hearing either everyday or new facts from a demon's perspective. Inuyasha was paying particularly close attention despite himself, though only the directions of his ears gave him away as he slouched against the wall.
"Breeding is an odd thing, too, you know." The segue was made in the same conversational tone, giving no one an opening in which to protest or show embarrassment till it was too late. "There are some demons who've never been able to breed with humans at all, or to mate with different kinds. Snake demons, for example, only attach themselves to other snakes. And, to my knowledge, there's never been a tanuki or a koi hanyou. I suppose that has more to do with plumbing than DNA…"
Kagome had to fight not to clap her hands over Souta's ears, which would interrupt and only make him really want to listen. 'Sides, he heard worse from Akemi all the time. At least Shippou and Kohaku seemed lost, she consoled herself.
Shimoko sighed deeply as Kohaku gathered the empty dishes. "But, as I've mentioned before, not many hanyou live to have children. It is possible, I know, but there haven't been enough for us to learn how demon blood shows when it starts to thin. It may be just as well, because three-part-human children are…not encouraged. I've seen many decent and otherwise reasonable people go almost insane at the suggestion that a half-demon might have as much right to a normal marriage as a full human." Shimoko grimaced with such remembered feeling that even Inuyasha pretended not to have seen.
The demoness' spirits rose again, however, as she suggested that karaoke might be more fun than listening to her ramble, and only Inuyasha's desperate suggestion managed to delay once more. "How's that sake you brought? Ours is probably better."
"I strongly doubt that, oji-chan. Hand me the bag, please, Souta-dono, and don't look at me like that, Auntie, because he's not getting so much as a sniff. I have better ways to scramble young brains than alcohol." She produced several sake cups from her other sleeve and began to pour from an opened bottle. "Who'd like to try it?"
Inuyasha was first in line, followed closely by Miroku. Kagome then found herself holding one of the tiny, dish-like cups, letting Shimoko fill it with a smile. "Just sip it, not too fast, or else you'll pass out by the end of the third song. What did you want to start out with?"
"I have an idea for one you might like, Sango-chan," Kagome told her friend, moving aside so Sango could receive her own cup. The slayer winced at the smell, but, faced with the choice of taking sake she had no intention of drinking or being rude by refusing entirely, dutifully selected a cup from the stack Shimoko had brought.
"I hope you're…not…" Coppery eyes narrowed on Sango. "Huh." Shimoko sniffed lightly, eyes widening slightly. "Ah."
"Is something wrong, Shimoko-sama?" Miroku asked warily.
"That depends on your perspective." The demoness inclined her head, gesturing Sango aside and adding in an undertone, "No alcohol for you, dear. If I were you, I wouldn't eat much at dinner, either. It'll make you sicker at bedtime, and sleep is your friend."
"What?" Sango glanced at Kagome, who had no more idea than she did. "What are you talking about?"
"Auntie?" Shimoko beckoned Kagome closer so that the three women formed a loose circle. Only Inuyasha could hear his niece's quiet amusement now. "Has anything about Sango-san been bothering you? I understand from Jaken that you're naturally sensitive about some things."
"Well, maybe, kinda, but nothing worth mentioning. I thought she was just tired." Pause. She and Sango exchanged glances and spoke in perfect tandem. "Why?"
"No reason." Click went the TV and the karaoke mike. "All right," Shimoko said into the latter, winking. "Auntie, you want to go first?"
It took two cups of sake – not as stringent as the castle supply, easier to sip quickly, she thought – for Kagome to overcome her reserve and take the microphone from Shimoko, who of course had a heart-stopping alto, low, rich and note-perfect…even if she was displaying it on songs bought for Tadako's use in a few years. "Here, lemme warm up a little," Kagome said coherently, making sure her legs weren't wobbling as she stood and changed the CD. "Ooooh, you've got Tenchi Muyo. I used to love that show. Let's see…"
She selected one of her old favorites and, assisted by the alcoholic warmth loosening her joints, managed to swallow her pride long enough to turn in what she thought a rather credible performance. All but Inuyasha applauded and complimented her warmly at its end, with the latter rather uncharitably pointing out that he hadn't understood a damn word. Kagome was highly offended until she realized that she'd been ignoring the subtitles and singing the English version, as it had been ingrained in her mind as one of the first songs she had known was safe to use in learning pronunciation.
They stopped long enough for Shimoko to top off the other three sake cups, Kagome insisting upon doing the honors for her, and then Miroku was persuaded to try. At Sango's whispered suggestion, Kagome managed to locate a simple song the monk had heard once or twice on the Discman, and Miroku got off to a rousing start by being startled by the sound of his amplified voice every time he attempted to read the rapid subtitles. Kagome controlled her laughter long enough to get him to mimic her into the microphone, which meant he was always five beats late at best; the last two bars repeated so many times, though, that he finally got it, and managed to nail the very last note on nearly the right pitch, relinquishing the 'stage' with a deep bow and a satisfied gulp of sake.
Souta tried to get Kohaku to go with him, but the younger slayer turned a shade rivaling Kagome's sunburn at the very thought of having everyone stare at and listen to him; besides, his reading skills weren't up to the subtitles' speed. So Souta took a turn alone, forced to sing Escaflowne's 'Mystic Eyes' in his cracking voice when Kagome grew tired of his complaints about the selection, hamming it up so that the pop-romance lyrics entertained his audience despite some confusion over the smattering of English words.
Kagome was four cups in and feeling positively wonderful by the time he finished. "'Ey, Sango-chan, les' do this one…" She flipped through till the song's title came up, extending the mike. "C'mon, Sango-chan, this thing's heavy. You gotta help me."
"What are gonna sing?" Shippou asked Shimoko, curled up on Kagome's pillow in the absence of a trustworthy lap.
"You know, little one, I'm not sure. It's my husband's CD. I think he got it for his birthday a few years ago." She drained her sake, leaned down and picked up a beer, sighing contentedly as the song played through a long, wordless, dramatic opening. "I do know this one. You're in for a treat, oji-chan, houshi, boys."
Shimoko's idea of a treat became apparent as the lyrics started, Kagome singing lustily and Sango whispering along, voice trailing off into bemusement at the words, which warned young men to run away from relationships with evil women.
"What the fuck?" Inuyasha mumbled, not for the first or last time.
Another long musical break, during which Sango appeared to be asking Kagome the same thing. Then the lyrics started again, in the same vein, with Shimoko snickeringand further bewilderment from everyone else; what made the heavy melody and cynical words even more surreal was the fact that Kagome's voice seemed to have strengthened, smoothed out and steadied despite the way her knees kept buckling, almost compelling her listeners' attention.
The sound itself grew more appealing through a repetition of the chorus, with Sango joining in tentatively – half grinning incredulously at herself – only to leave Kagome to belt out even worse on a new verse.
"Kagome-chan, stop," Sango gasped, unable to stand upright. Her friend was putting everything into it, launching her voice full-speed into every note to draw utmost melodrama from each syllable and rendering her dreadful pronouncements downright silly. Shimoko giggled nonstop into her beer, and the males were collectively unsure how to react.
They got their answer at the last urge for men to run away and a sudden outburst of, "It's so true!" from a sake-saturated Miroku. As one, they stared at him, frozen by the near-tearful passion behind it, and offered comfort and understanding by bursting out laughing so hard that servants ventured to tip open the shoji and peek inside to see if anything was the matter. Of course, nothing was, unless one could count the sight of Inuyasha laughing, which was fairly astonishing despite the sake fumes the room exuded.
"You've got a wonderful voice, Auntie," the demoness said once the mirth had died down to some extent, pouring Kagome another cup despite Inuyasha's pointed cough, which sounded suspiciously like "Nomore!"
"Oh, no, it's nothin'," Kagome demurred, smiling blurrily at the maids who began streaming in to lay out dinner, serving specially prepared chicken and her other favorite foods. "You jus' keep it fed 'n watered, an' look what happens. Birdy!"
Inuyasha glanced at the sake bottles in growing alarm. The stuff was definitely much stronger than what they'd been drinking the last time alcohol had made one of them look stupid, and though Sango was abstaining, Miroku's reaction alone was worrisome, never mind what Kagome would do when… Oh, shit, the question. Aw, fuck, what if the brat…what if Shimoko says something and she answers wrong?
"Inuyasha, dear, you got my chicken," Kagome announced.
Inuyasha's eye twitched as the servants bowed themselves out, faces carefully unreadable. Shit.
Despite his fears, peace reigned throughout most of dinner, broken only twice: by Kagome's insistence that the identical dish sitting in front of Inuyasha was hers and there'd been a mix-up, and then an epic and one-sided food fight wherein Kagome decided to see whether soy made rice stickier by throwing it at Souta and Inuyasha. That was literally the moment the maids returned to collect the dishes, forcing them to peel grainy globs off at lightning speed; the servants hardly needed further confirmation that Kagome-sama was utterly plastered.
"Maybe we should ask if she wants to go to sleep," Kohaku whispered to his sister.
Sango shook her head. "Best not to force it. She drank most of that on an empty stomach, so the effects will be worse. We can hope it'll knock her out faster, though."
"Why the hell did you let her have any in the first place?" Inuyasha demanded from across the room.
"I didn't see you taking it away from her. You were too busy drinking yours," she retorted. Miroku nodded distantly, then leaned on the bed and closed his eyes, apparently dozing.
"Mechanical failure could be helpful. Here…" Shimoko turned off the TV with a glance. "I think it's time for karaoke to go to bed for now, Auntie."
"Really?" Kagome pouted. "'Kay. I hafta go pee anyway."
"It happens to the best of us. Oji-chan, would you escort her outside?"
"No way in hell. Sango, you do it."
"She'd be much safer with you, oji-chan."
"What about me? I don't wanna get molested again!"
"Even if I believed you, I wouldn't care, oji-chan. Or did you not notice that thing watching you at the river earlier?"
"What? You mean Kikyou? Look, don't ever—"
"I doubt your Kikyou stinks of old mud, or that she wears wooden shoes in order to keep her scent off the ground, or that she'd run away just because I happened to come along."
"What?""'Ey, the mike shtill worksh!"
"Thank you, Auntie. As I was saying, oji-chan, you have a bit of a problem. The wind was against you, and scalp massages are nice, but you might want to keep your eyes peeled the next time you go out. You're lucky you were on the other side of the water. I doubt something of that construction could cross there."
"Who wantsh t'hear some mucusals?"
"You're saying…shit." Inuyasha sloshed more sake into his cup and gulped it all at once as bile rose in his throat. "It's never attacked us in open daylight before."
Shimoko's tone was dangerously mild. "Let me get this straight. You have a known enemy, and you not only haven't killed it, but you let your guard down when Kagome and children were depending on your protection?"
The cup nearly shattered in his grip as the nightmare threatened to surface. "It won't happen again," he grated, throwing the fragile thing to the tatami. "Stupid mistake." How could he have been so stupid?
"It had better not." Somewhat mollified by the ready admission, Shimoko turned back to Kagome. "Auntie? How are we feeling?"
Kagome responded with a hearty belch that echoed off the walls, then raised a finger. "The elephant fliesh at midnight."
Sango scooted forward, impelled by Souta's open glee. "Inuyasha, do you have any of the powder you gave me last time?"
"I think…no, I used it all. Dammit. Your crap got her into this, Shimoko, you fix it!"
Shimoko started to say something, leaving off as Kagome ceased her mindless humming and began to sing again. Souta stopped laughing, Miroku raised his head, and Inuyasha's ears pricked up at the sound.
"I've never heard her like that," Sango whispered.
"Me nei—when did she ever sing around you?" Inuyasha felt his inner ear bones hum slightly at a change from a low, soothing line to clear, high tones. Why did the thought of Kagome letting anyone else hear her outside an alcoholic stupor piss him off so much?
"I don't blame you being jealous, oji-chan," Shimoko said very seriously. "She's not Broadway material, but…" She sighed. "It's a wonderfully romantic piece, too, a man and a woman—oh, she's skipping around. This is the best part, though…" She sighed again, pouring herself some more sake in growing melancholy. "That always reminds me of my first husband."
"You were married before, Shimoko-sama?" Shippou provided the obvious question.
"Mmm. A very powerful water demon, when I was young. Takimaru was a good husband. That didn't save him from an ambush with about twenty holy arrows, but I'm still impressed that Sesshoumaru married me off to a man I actually liked." The demoness raised her cup in a mock toast at their expressions. "This is the part where I assure you that it's all right, I was grateful to have had him at all, that your loved ones always live on in your heart and all that happy crap. And I am, and they do…but damned if I don't still miss him sometimes, 102 years later."
"So you're married now?" Souta asked, just as Kagome fell silent and hiccupped, punctuating his now-lone voice.
"To a human, yes, who may possibly be a relative of yours. I have yet to confirm it, though." The demoness raised her voice to Kagome. "Auntie. Do you know any other romantic songs?"
"Sure. 'Bout yer height, little taller." Kagome hiccupped again. "D'you know who wash shingin' jes' now?"
They blinked at her in perfect unison. Miroku curled up on the floor and closed his eyes again.
"Anyway," Shimoko said briskly, turning back, "Shiro's no Takimaru, and he's not even half as handsome as my second husband was – he was a waste of skin, may he be reborn as a diseased termite – but I can hardly fault him for that." Another pause, as Kagome mumbled something about pink turtles, hummed and resumed singing in that steady, pure tone, as if she was speaking into a tape recorder and randomly pressed fast-forward from time to time.
"So he's your third?" Souta pressed.
Shimoko shook herself. "Yes, he is."
"I know this one," Sango remarked as the song grew louder. "I thought a young man performed it."
"That's allowable in English. There are no distinctions for male or female in referring to yourself, and these words are directed at the speaker's lover, who could be either," the demoness explained. "It's getting to the point where some female Japanese singers use male words simply because they can."
"Isn't it weird being married to a human?" Shippou wrinkled his nose as Shimoko popped another can open. "What happens when he gets old?"
"He'll die, and I'll mourn him. There's not much else to be done, I'm afraid." She shrugged gracefully. "Humans and some demons have been searching for a way to safely prolong human lifespans since my grandfather was young, but the only successful techniques had hideous side effects—humans aren't designed to tolerate demon energy, and infusing them with it is the only way to keep their bodies young. They eventually either die very painfully or become totally corrupted, no better than animals. Even if there was no downside, I wouldn't do it."
"Why not? I like humans. I don't want Sango or Miroku or Kagome to ever get old and die," the kit protested. "Why not at least ask them if they want to live longer?"
"Of course I want more time with him. But, for one thing, it's not fair to other humans, and we can hardly keep everyone alive forever, can we?" She sipped her beer, choosing her words carefully as Inuyasha's frown deepened. "You also have to consider that demons are designed to withstand centuries of wear and tear on the mind as well as the body – little though I like Sesshoumaru, his mindset is a perfect example – but humans aren't. I wouldn't make Shiro stay alive long enough to see Tadako and her children die. It would be selfish, not to mention unnatural, and he'd be justified in hating me for it."
"S'not selfish," Inuyasha argued. "Who says humans want to live just 50 years before they wither up?"
Shimoko eyed him over the top of her can. "However short it may be, oji-chan, that's the extent of their natural life, and tampering with it doesn't do anyone any favors. You're not required to like it, only to accept it, unless you're willing to put your loved ones through a lot of grief by fighting the inevitable."
"Why'sh m'face feel funneh?" Kagome mumbled mid-note, switching instantly to yet another song.
"Don't give me that 'loved ones' crap. Humans are just a pain in the ass." Inuyasha accepted more sake from his niece, who raised an eyebrow at his sourness but said nothing. "Weak and pig-headed, and they die before you can blink. Waste of time even bothering with 'em."
"Precisely. Love makes no sense, does it?" Shimoko emptied her can and crushed it into a tiny ball between two fingers. "I've always liked humans in general, but before I met Shiro, the thought of mating with one would've made me sick to my stomach. I'll be the first to admit he didn't win me over with his looks, either. It hardly follows that I can't keep my hands off him. Just goes to show you, love's the best aphrodisiac. …Except for beer, of course, but that gives you a headache in the morning."
"Have you ever had any children, Shimoko-sama?" Sango asked, partly to divert that line of talk and partly from curiosity.
The demoness smirked at her, then shook her head. "Nope. It's just as well, or my loyalties would be divided even further from my human family. I have enough trouble not thinking of Takimaru. Canine demon blood is useful, but a tendency toward faithfulness can be inconvenient when your first love is long gone and you can't stop thinking of any new affection as betrayal."
"You talk like it isn't," Inuyasha snapped without thinking, grabbing a fresh sake bottle and filling his cracked cup as Kagome's voice swelled in the background.
"Because it isn't. The fact that I married Shiro on my own recognizance doesn't mean I never loved Takimaru, oji-chan, any more than Shiro being a fraction as handsome and strong and intelligent means I love him any less. Difference doesn't equal inferiority, and even if you think it does, your emotions don't abide by distinctions and comparisons like that." Shimoko helped herself to another can. "What's more, if our positions were reversed, I'd be furious if Takimaru sacrificed his own happiness in order to stay faithful to my memory. Why would I want my first love to suffer any further when he'd already lost me?"
"You're nuts." The hanyou cursed and swiped at his foot where sake had dribbled through the broken porcelain cup. "No one wants their mate running after someone else the second they start feeding worms. Who filled your head with all that shit? Fluffy?"
Shimoko snorted, nearly spewing beer all over the tatami. "Fluffy? That's brilliant, oji-chan! Why didn't I ever think of that?"
"I shtill have need of the f'shilties," Kagome informed them between breaths.
"Yes, I suspect you do, Auntie. See, oji-chan? This is why humans are necessary. If they didn't live for such a short time, they wouldn't do stupid things in the knowledge that no one will remember them in 100 years, and we would all kill each other out of sheer boredom." Shimoko beamed at him, the picture of jovial yet genteel benevolence. "Now, take her outside before she stops reminding us and pees all over the place."
"Dammit…" Inuyasha hauled himself to his feet, shaking a few more drops of sake off. "Oi, Kagome. Can you walk outside?"
"Sure, if y'carry me." She dropped the mike with a static-screeching thud and held out her arms. Ears nearly bleeding from the sound, Inuyasha nevertheless managed to catch her before her face met the floor. "Whee! Look, Ma, I'm walking!"
Inuyasha had never been so grateful for the bracelets; he could only imagine the way she had to be reeking with all that sake in her system. "You're shitfaced, Kagome, you know that? No, don't answer. Just hold it till we get outside, okay?"
"Okay, I won'."
Inuyasha made a noise of complete panic, and they were both gone the next second.
"I mean' I won' ansher. Shilly puppy." The near-half moon shone on the courtyard from perfectly clear skies, warm breeze wafting across their faces. He had transported them out to the nearest privy pit, around which a three-sided screen had been erected some weeks back at her request. "'Kay, pu'me down. Gotta do…that thing where you don' hafta go anymore."
Ignoring her incoherent protests, Inuyasha stationed himself on the open side, back to her and facing the forest with Tetsusaiga loosely at the ready. Eyes and ears constantly scanned the trees on each side, nose ignoring the privy but attuned to any other odors from the castle's direction in case the kugutsu should decide to circle around them. Privately, he was almost grateful to have to be out here. It was infinitely better to be actively protecting Kagome in any capacity than sitting inside with his niece while she lectured him with her life story. Never mind how eerily familiar some details sounded; that didn't mean any of it applied to him.
"Done," Kagome announced presently.
He waited till the rustling of fabric ceased to turn back to her. "All right, come on and—"
The thin whistle of something fast piercing air spurred his body to instinctive action; Inuyasha scooped the girl up in one arm, darting to the side as the screens burst into splinters. Enraged, he shifted Kagome to his left arm and ripped Tetsusaiga free with the right, hacking at the half-visible mass, and was rewarded with a hiss of pain from farther up the courtyard.
"You…!" Inuyasha tensed to charge, faltering as Kagome began giggling against his shoulder. Shit. I can't attack this thing while I'm holding onto her. But if I let go, she'll probably try to give it a fucking hug!
"Ge' it, boy!" The girl waved merrily in his face. "Fetch!"
"Shut up and hold still, bitch!" His ears detected another sound, clattering footsteps; Inuyasha made a set of quick calculations, hefted Tetsusaiga one-handed, and threw it like a spear, impaling a smudge of shadow as it fled for the woods. Got it!
Shimoko's scolding had had more of an effect on him than he'd thought; instead of rushing over, he paused to check the area, only moving when nothing threatening revealed itself. Was that all? Adrenaline still flowed, but anger at the thing for attacking Kagome when she was completely helpless and satisfaction at nailing the bastard so easily overcame his misgivings.
"I give y'a 9.3," he heard her say as they approached the spot where Tetsusaiga now leaned point-down out of the dirt at a low angle, but he wasn't listening. His attention was riveted on the pattern of loose mud and rock littering the ground, the same stuff that had fallen around Sango's katana when she killed the thing last new moon. They had evidently just met the second kugutsu.
Good riddance, you cowardly piece of shit. Setting Kagome down with strict instructions not to move, Inuyasha cautiously pulled Tetsusaiga free and sheathed it. You should've died a lot more slowly for this.
A pair of wooden platform sandals lay nearby, the kind worn when the ground was very muddy, which confirmed Shimoko's theory about scent. There were too many of them in the servants' quarters and too frequently shared for him to be able to track individual pairs by their owner's scent, and the soles were too high and thick for foot odor to permeate each step as it did with normal sandals and tabi socks. Odd, that he hadn't smelled the rest of it on the wind before he heard its attack—but what did that matter? The thing was dead, and Kagome was safe.
"I feel funny," said the girl in question.
"You drank enough to knock out most guys, and you're scrawny enough as it is." Inuyasha would have spat into the dirt as a last token of his esteem, but his fangs made proper technique impossible. He shrugged, leaning down to pick her up again. "Plus you almost got…hurt." He wouldn't think of her impaled. Almost without noticing, Inuyasha hitched her up closer against his chest. "C'mon, your ass needs to be in bed."
"No, I really feel funny." Kagome tried to push up to scan the area, motor control sufficing to place her head in the crook of his neck. "Think something's happening."
Whatever the girl thought was going on had restored her speech somewhat, an improvement marked enough that Inuyasha bit back any number of sarcastic replies. "Are you okay? Gonna be sick?"
"Nuh-uh. Just feels weird. Something…" She shuddered. "S'gone, whatever it was."
"If you say so." Was there a third puppet somewhere? But she hadn't felt the others… What the hell is it now?
Her head tried to bob in a nod, resulting in a grimace that stretched her burned face rather painfully. "Owww. My brain hurts everywhere."
Inuyasha failed to suppress a snort at her expression. "Good one. Try not to move or breathe or think, and you might start feeling better."
Her tongue flicked out in feebly childish defiance. "Shaddup. You're mean."
He didn't deign to answer that, preferring to note with tolerant amusement that he couldn't recall having ever seen Kikyou drunk or sunburned, much less both at once; he couldn't even bring himself to imagine his priestess doing something so undignified or careless. Not that it was fair measuring Kagome by the same standards, or that he wanted to, like Shimoko had said, but it was still interesting.
…Come to think of it, he had been too annoyed and busy drinking to listen closely to that part of the lecture. What exactly was it she'd said about comparisons? Something about—
"What was that?" Kagome shuddered again. "You hear that?"
"Yeah…" Cursing under his breath, Inuyasha suddenly leapt almost straight up, landing perfectly on the open upper floor's railing. At the top of the stairs, Kohaku lay on his back, blood trickling from under his head. "Shit!"
"Uhhh…" The boy stirred, groaning again. His eyes cracked open, focusing uncertainly on them. "Inuyasha…sama? Kagome-sama?"
"Don't try to move, kid," Inuyasha advised, but Kohaku was already sitting up very slowly, gritting his teeth. "What happened? Did you fall or something? What're you doin' out here?"
"I came out to relieve myself…" The castle boys and even a few men sometimes saved themselves the trouble of using the pits by going over the sides, though the laundry women who often walked underneath condemned the habit in the strongest possible terms. "Something knocked me out. I…I didn't see anything."
"Probably the kugutsu, didn't want any witnesses. You sure you should be moving? You coulda knocked something loose." Suspicious, Inuyasha took a deep breath. Kid's not lying. Guess he just got lucky it didn't kill him. …Ah, it didn't want a lot of blood stench to warn me. That makes sense. He relaxed.
"Concussions are bad," Kagome said in a very small voice, startling Inuyasha back into alertness. "You're…blood."
Kohaku bowed very shakily. "No, ane-ue and our father used to give me worse than this in training. I'll ask her to bandage it, so please don't worry about me. It's my fault for not avoiding…what was it? A kugutsu?"
"Don't beat yourself up, kid. It didn't have any demon energy for you to notice. Be grateful it didn't kill you. If you can move, we'd better get back inside and tell the others."
If Inuyasha thought that that was the last unpleasant surprise of the night, he soon found himself grievously in error; Kohaku insisted on tottering down to the baths alone for hot water to wash his bloodied hair, and when Inuyasha approached Kagome's room, half listening to Shimoko and Sango's conversation inside, he froze, eyes drawn to kanji scratched into the wall beside the shoji:
Once more soon"Wha're we doin'?" Kagome slurred, fatigue robbing her of what little alertness she'd enjoyed outside.
"Nothing." A moment of concentration was all it took to force the wood back into innocuous smoothness. "Time to go to sleep, Kagome." Proud of how steady he sounded, Inuyasha opened the shoji and wasted no time in informing everyone that another kugutsu was dead, Kohaku had been slightly injured but was already fine, and the party was definitely over.
"I knew I shouldn't let him go alone," Souta said worriedly. "You told me there was something weird out there, and—"
"It's all right, Souta-dono. There was nothing you could've done. Besides, the thing is dead now, isn't it?" Shimoko caught Inuyasha's hesitation in nodding, but continued cheerfully. "You've nothing to worry about. Could I prevail upon you to let me stay the night, oji-chan? I'll try to make myself useful—after all, it is a mess here."
"If you want." Inuyasha nodded curt gratitude at the unspoken offer; he hated to admit it, but another demon's help in guarding the castle would be extremely reassuring right about now. He'd have to wait to tell them about the message.
Finding room adequate for everyone's peace of mind presented enough of a problem to occupy him for a while, though. Kagome protested when he put her down on her bed, and kept up a stream of unintelligible complaint all through Sango's insistence that Miroku wasn't capable of being moved to his own room, then Shimoko's snap of fingers and the monk's disappearance, which upset the slayer till she was sent after him a moment later; Souta rushed to see if Kohaku was really okay as the other boy returned, and trekked after him when he left to find Sango despite warnings of all the stairs he'd have to climb, leaving Shimoko to sigh and promise she'd take care of the rest of them if Inuyasha would watch over Kagome for the night.
It took Inuyasha a moment of silence in the deserted room to realize that his niece would probably convince everyone to sleep in either Miroku's or the adjoining room, for safety's sake, or to let Kagome get some much-needed rest, or some other reason just legitimate enough to trap them in here for the night. Would there be enough room if he brought Kagome up there? …No, there wouldn't even be space for Shippou, considering how small Miroku's chamber was. The kit was snoozing on the floor, so deeply asleep that the sound of his name spoken in Inuyasha's gruffest tone produced no effect.
Great. Even if he woke the brat up, Shippou would just annoy him by asking stupid questions, or report what Kagome did or said to the others. Best to let him sleep.
Speaking of which…. Inuyasha weighed his options and prudently decided to just skip The Question tonight. No telling what she would say, and he needed to stay alert in case something made good on the threat. His hackles rose just thinking about it.
Something brushed his ears, startling him so badly that he had Tetsusaiga halfway out before Kagome could pull her hand back, eyes wide. "Sorry." She curled up, tucking her arms against her torso, wincing. "I sleep now."
"Shit." Chagrined, Inuyasha climbed onto the edge of the bed, leaning forward on his right elbow to pat her hair awkwardly with the left. "Relax. I'm not mad at you, just a little tense. Can't blame me, can you? …Eh, you probably can. You're a woman, after all."
"Yeah…" Clearly failing to comprehend everything but the reassurance, Kagome grasped his sleeve and tried to pull on it. "M'scared."
"You picked a pretty bad night to get drunk off your ass." Inuyasha growled softly as she rolled over to make a pillow out of his left forearm, forcing him to lean over further. "That's not yours, wench."
Kagome sighed, closing her eyes. "Night, Inuyasha."
"Dammit, Kagome, we're not doing this again. Get off." Her head's weight was so negligible as to feel nonexistent, but Inuyasha still found he couldn't move. "This ain't that comfortable."
"Move." One eye creaked open, pleading with glassy brown.
"Friggin' spoiled wench…" He moved to her other side, settling himself against the wall a safe distance apart. "There."
Count of five.
Kagome rolled over and sprawled half on him.
"Dammit!""Sh'p." A limp arm inched up his chest, migrated round his neck and dug into his hair, neutralizing his burgeoning will to push her off and reestablish his personal space.
Only a stern self-reminder of his earlier slip saved him from falling victim to her nails again. When he firmly removed her hand and placed her arm between their chests, Kagome simply snuggled closer. "Riv' was fun."
"Yeah, but the kugutsu was there, too. We coulda been killed. You could've gotten hurt or killed while I was just sitting on my ass."
"Wha' else y's'posed sit on?"
"Don't change the subject. …No, screw the subject. Go to sleep." He willed the last of the torches out. "We'll talk about it while you're hung over."
"Hope Sango feels 'kay. Real' kill Nark-guy now." Kagome yawned. "Make me same's Sango aft' drunk."
"What?" He'd been able to pick up on most of her babbling, but that one escaped him completely. "Same what?"
"Want to la'er. Cu' li'l ears good." She stuck her face into his neck so that his pulse fluttered against her cheek. "Night."
A fitting end to a very strange day, both good and bad. Inuyasha satisfied himself that she was going to stay quiescent, then carefully curled his arm around to rest over her shoulders and keep her head tucked under his without obstructing his vigil of the doorway. Damn, those bracelets make this weird. Handy, and less distracting than heat, to be sure, but smelling nothing of her all day except old, mixed scents on the bedding was downright depressing. He'd almost prefer to take his chances and ask her to leave the silver off, if it meant he could stop thinking of sniffing everything she might've touched recently. That was just pathetic.
Not much chance of that now. The whole room stinks, no thanks to Shimoko. Inuyasha knew his niece couldn't help it, but her smell set his teeth on edge, even if she was careful to apply subtle and reasonably pleasant perfume before most of her visits. No one's forcing her to mouth off about loyalty, acting like she wasn't talking to me most of the time. If she'd thought to persuade him by planting new ideas indirectly and having him undergo some kind of epiphany and spontaneously decide to…something…that just showed how well she knew him. Not one fucking bit.
"Soy sauce," Kagome distinctly muttered under his jaw.
Her meaning eluded him once again, this time with more dire consequences. In fact, he had no clue how long it took him to remember what soy sauce had to do with her sudden decision to start licking a spot on his neck, because his brain immediately decided that the damp, gentle stroking was Not A Bad Thing; his body agreed heartily, and between the two, the parts of his mind not dedicated to enjoying it were shunted aside till Kagome's slow breath on the wet skin alerted him that she had fallen asleep.
Threw rice at neck. Had sauce on it. The stilted explanation fought its way to the forefront, but wasn't entirely successful in quelling his reactions. As he had no bracelets on, the smell of her emigrated saliva was more than capable of reaching his nostrils, which were not far away and perfectly willing to assuage any lingering doubts that his mind was out to drive itself insane by coming up with unlikely scenarios.
The negative aspect of such a pleasant attack lay chiefly in the fact that his attacker was drunk and not likely to continue, of course, or to pick up where she left off once her ability to remain awake returned. His less noble instincts had several definite ideas about what to do next, and even the more prudent ones ventured that she might not mind if he woke her and asked first—
What the fuck is wrong with me? She has no clue what the hell she's doing. Even the bouzu wouldn't try anything now. Inuyasha shook himself as her breathing deepened into contented near-sighs. Can't believe I even thought about it.
Gradually, very gradually, the ache diminished and his head cleared, and he could return to his vigil with exasperated anger to keep him alert. It's always something. Can't let her touch me, can't let her out of my sight, can't keep her away when she's in sight.
There was a moment of panic as she made a noise and started squirming in her sleep, allayed as soon as he lifted his other arm and stopped pressing her burned skin. "Sorry," he mumbled aloud, and imagined a sigh of "Nah" in response.
Now that his mind was ranging over this kind of thing, Inuyasha found himself extremely grateful that she'd accepted his fate already; he'd known seppuku or ritual suicide was no longer practiced in this era, but her reaction to the discovery had still been much more violent than he'd expected. He could even understand, in retrospect, why Kikyou had told Kagome, if she'd thought it would soften the blow. Why Kagome had been so upset in the first place…he couldn't pretend it was because she'd been worried he'd leave them to deal with the kugutsu, or fear of losing her main guard against Kouga's advances.
Inuyasha stifled a growl at the thought. Kagome was too openhearted for her own good. If she'd just stop being so friendly to the damn wolf, he wouldn't bother her, the same way she wouldn't have been so affected by a stupid hanyou's mistakes if she had refused to come in the first place. Like I actually would've killed that idiot and wasted five seconds of my life, not to mention the cleanup.
…But…if she hadn't come along, we'd all be dead by now, and I'd never have gotten to make the bouzu fall in the river. Served him right. He smirked. Never would've found out which one of 'em would make the first move. Gotta give Sango credit there. And I never woulda known I had a pain in the ass for a niece, or what it's like to have the servants talk to me like I'm not a walking piece of dog crap…or how weird a girl can be without being sick or possessed.
There was an interesting thought. Maybe she's got some kinda brain disease that makes her prone to touching people when she's not supposed to. I'll never forget the first time she grabbed my hand…didn't know whether to boil it or never wash it again. Now look at me, letting her treat me like part of her bed—
His mind took that in an unfortunate direction, and Inuyasha amended it as quickly as possible. Treats me like some kind of pet.
Another tangent presented itself in a more somber light. What would Kikyou have been like after we got married? Beyond the obvious physical and emotional freedom, and the possibility of children, he really hadn't devoted much thought to it. She was always so sad, so serious. And that was a good thing, it was her, but… He'd hoped, in the back of his mind, that they would both be happier in their new life. Why wouldn't they have been happier? There'd never been any doubts regarding each other's feelings, and even without her more specialized abilities, Kikyou's healing skill would have guaranteed them a place in any village they chose. The ingredients had nearly been in place before the kugutsu ruined it all…
And how did it manage to ruin it? The new thought made him go stock-still, no longer aware of Kagome's discomfort where he gripped her shoulder. All it had to do was wait till you refused to go after her. All it had to do was bait the trap and lead you both into it. All it had to do was kill her and let guilt kill you, too.SHUT UP! Inuyasha no longer cared that he was arguing with himself. The fact that it was his self saying these things rendered escape or denial impossible. What the fuck was she supposed to think? She saw and felt me rip her apart! Pain constricted his chest. How am I supposed to blame her for that kind of mistake? She still died because of me. She was right. She still is.
Inuyasha waited, literally not daring to breathe. So there, dammit.
That, of course, was not that. He could feel that rebellious voice casting around, trying to shift through his faulty memory for parts of Shimoko's speech, and it was only a matter of time before it found something suitable. His mind was just screwed up enough to know where to hit itself effectively.
Distraction. He needed to think about something else, someone to talk to…
Kagome. Asleep, breathing still soft and heavy, leaning up against him when the room was more than warm enough and he knew from experience how sake could raise body temperature. What else had her decision to come and then stay given him?
Tetsusaiga. Can't forget that one. Inuyasha swallowed, muscles beginning to unlock as he concentrated on the sound of Kagome's respiration. Got some good fights with the wolf…that stuff she brought, with the noodles, that was pretty damn good…and fights with her, those arguments we used to have. The corners of his mouth pulled themselves up for a moment. Never had anyone yell right back at me. I still don't get why she didn't just throw her food at me and leave…
That left the most obvious point, the one he couldn't pretend hadn't happened – and frequently – without being hideously unfair to both of them. After all, she'd made it clear enough how much it offended her when he dismissed physical contact as something she did to annoy him. The discovery still made him want to bang his head bloody against the wall at having hurt her, and at having hurt her with a stupid lie, no less. Without descending into nauseating metaphor or short-changing the experiences, Inuyasha could safely say that he had never had any clue how exhilarating, peaceful, and very personal the act of slobbering all over another person's mouth could be, sometimes all at once.
There was no use telling himself Kagome had just felt sorry for him or did it as a matter of habit, either. He believed her that the first had been hers, too, and he didn't need experience himself to know that there was nothing habitual about any of the times that had come after. Hell, his leg still twitched thinking of that time in the treehouse, never mind Souta's interruption. Would they ever finish it?
And what happens if we do, and then we get carried away? That wiped the smirk off his striped face. That's…no. Not going to happen. His limbs grew cold, drawing Kagome closer protectively. Can't spend all my pre-Kikyou time with Kagome, either, or I won't be able to look her in the face.But as long as he was here, he could hardly ignore her, either. It would be impossible to ignore someone who unconditionally liked and accepted him in a manner he'd never dreamed of as a hanyou, and he would have to develop a much wider masochistic streak than his occasional bouts of self-doubt to reject the girl who had become the best friend he could've wanted: patient, understanding, good-natured and forgiving without being a pushover. No way in hell you could call her that after the way she called me a fuzzy asshole to my face, took out the spider, stood up to Fluffy…stupid, maybe, but not a coward.
That was as good a place to end that line of thought as any. Inuyasha wasn't used to excessive gratitude or introspection, and it was a little alarming to think that Kagome would probably be as embarrassed as him to hear it—even considering the notion of telling her any of these things gave it way too much credence. He did trust her more than anyone he could think of, but…
But nothin'. He liked her, trusted her, and there was some attraction, occasionally a little too much. Kagome was a good person, after all, so there was nothing wrong with acknowledging it…to himself…when he had to. Hell, I'll let the wolf know he doesn't deserve her any day.
All things considered, and as bad as most of those things were, Inuyasha knew he could've done much worse than having met Kagome. I might even tell her one of these days. …Yeah, gotta do that before I die. I owe her, after all.
A/N: Ouch. Fingers. Brain.
Yes, that was massive. That easily could've been two or three chapters. It was one, for a few reasons: I didn't feel like splitting it up again; inspiration hit, and I'm notoriously poor at shutting up my shared Irish Imp muse; it was taking long enough anyway; and most importantly, I feel like poo. Stress from job-hunts and college and potential new college and pneumonia-mono double-sick boyfriend and possible case of mono from said bf are not conducive to good writing, and I'm probably going to wait another week for spring break to even start outlining the next chapter. Till then, please enjoy, and may all your croutons be crunchy and your throats not horribly itchy like mine.
(Ran into problems chopping song lyrics and had to reupload. Grr.)