Okay, so I lied when I said that the name of the next chapter was New Friends and a Love in Question. Actually, I didn't. I just forgot to change the summary for the next chapter after I decided that the big long chapter would do better as two small ones. In this chapter is where Inuyasha seems to be having difficulty deciding on how he wants to think of Moyuru. Anyway, here it is, chapter 13. READ REVIEW AND ENJOY!
Mayu Kitsune
A Love in Question
"Bye Kagome!" Shippo called.
"Bye Shippo! I'll be back soon!" Kagome replied, That's if I survive my geometry test. she thought to herself as she headed away from the village and towards the well. She suddenly paused, "Where's Inuyasha?" she questioned. He was almost always somewhere around when she was supposed to be leaving.
She shrugged, letting out a heavy sigh. She would probably run into him on the way there. For some reason he had been spending an awful lot of time at the sacred tree. He had seldom been seen over the past few days while Moyuru had been recovering. It almost seemed as though he were avoiding the kitsune hanyou.
"Bye Kagome chan!" A little voice yelled.
Kagome looked back, that wasn't Shippo's voice. She smiled upon noting that Naomi was waving to her.
"Good-bye!" Moyuru added as well.
"Ja-ne!" Kagome yelled back to them as she continued towards the well. I'll have to remember to bring them back something too. she thought to herself. She was all smiles as she entered the forest.
Inuyasha sat in one of the limbs of the large sacred tree, his amber eyes trained on the sky above him. He had to go back to the village sooner or later, but what to do about Moyuru? He had promised Kagome that he wouldn't put her through a repeat of Kikyo ever again. How was he going to do this?
Now he knew that both girls liked him, maybe even loved him, but what to do about it? Kagome would freak if she knew of that moment between him and Moyuru! He knew what she would say, "How could you Inuyasha! You promised!" she would cry, following it up right afterwards with a "SIT!" Then he'd end up face-down in the dirt, like always.
He sighed heavily. Sure he loved Kagome, he would die if anything happened to her, but he couldn't ignore that Moyuru was growing on him. He had denied any interest at all in her until recently. He hadn't wanted to admit it, but he had begun caring a lot about her when she risked it all to save Kagome.
Then when she opened up to him on that hill top, both times. She put confidence in him, trusted him with everything. Kagome would probably never trust him like that and they had known each other longer. Moyuru was shy and quiet around the others, but when she was comfortable. She was herself and he liked her. He also couldn't ignore the fact that she was a hanyou like him.
"Hey Inuyasha!" A cheery voice called up to him.
Inuyasha jumped, not having expected the sudden intrusion. His shifting around caused him to lose balance, he was falling out of the tree! He tried desperately to catch himself, but it was no good. "Ah!" he cried as he fell from the branch, landing on the ground below with a thud. Don't tell me now all she's gotta do is yell anything and I fall on my face! he thought.
Kagome ran to him, "I'm sorry, are you okay?" she asked as he began to get up.
"Damn it all! Don't sneak up on me like that!" Inuyasha exclaimed indignantly.
Kagome looked to him in question., since when had she ever been able to sneak up on him? Well, one thing was for certain, she didn't like the way he was talking to her. "I said I was sorry! I wasn't trying to sneak up on you you know!" she retorted a bit heatedly, "I just came to tell you that I was going back home!"
Inuyasha, who had gotten up and was now brushing himself off, paused upon hearing the news. Going home? She couldn't go home now! Not when he was questioning things like this!
"What's wrong?" Kagome asked frusturatedly, giving him a quizzical look though she still looked to be a bit mad.
"What? . . . oh. . . Nothing's wrong with me. I guess I'll see you in a few days." he replied, still having yet to look her in the eyes. His tone at first hadn't been too indignant that time.
Kagome's expression changed to be completely confused, it was like he just all of a sudden forgot that he had been mad at her. "Okay. . ." she said slowly as she turned to continue on her way home.
"Inuyasha sure was acting weird." Kagome mused aloud as she appeared on the other side of the well. She shrugged and began her ascent up the ladder. He's been acting kinda weird ever since Moyuru showed up. He's only half been himself! she thought as she climbed over the side. "Then again, he always acts different around other half demons." she said aloud, "It's probably nothing to worry about." she said to herself, beginning in the direction of her house. But I just can't stop worrying about it. she thought.
"You know, the others are kind of worried about you." Moyuru said as she approached the tree.
Inuyasha nearly fell off of his perch again but managed to catch himself. "Would you people all stop sneaking up on me already, jeez!" he grumbled.
"Oh, sorry." Moyuru said, reverting back to being shy and quiet. "I'll just go back to the village if I'm bothering you. I understand if you need some time alone." she said, beginning to turn around and head back.
"No, wait." Inuyasha said quickly, slipping down from the tree limb.
"Nani?" Moyuru prompted as he approached her, she sounded much the same as Kagome had after he got indignant on her, though Moyuru was trying to hide it.
"I have to talk to you about something." he said, avoiding the bright blue eyes. "Talk to me about what?" she asked, though she had a feeling she already knew the answer to that question.
"I-it's about. . . you know, what happened the other day." he said timidly
"No, I don't know." she replied.
Inuyasha looked to her in shock. Talk about a bad short term memory! If she didn't remember that then she didn't have one! "You remember. . ." he began.
"No I don't." she insisted, giving him a pointed look.
He continued to look to her in question a few moments before seeming to get it.
"I understand that you don't want to upset Kagome, so it never happened. You took me there, brought me back, end of story. I don't feel anything for you and you don't feel anything for me." Moyuru stated.
Inuyasha seemed to be quietly thinking about something. She was giving him an easy answer to his problem, but something in her eyes just said that she was hurting. What was he supposed to do now? He didn't want to hurt Kagome or Moyuru. . .
"So he does like her." Miroku mused softly to himself from his hiding spot in the bushes a distance away.
"Yeah, now I see why Kagome was so worried." a voice whispered behind him.
He started, turning to find Sango right beside him. When did she get there! "Sango? What are you doing here?" he asked uneasily.
"Well, what are you doing here?" she questioned, looking to him and raising an eyebrow. "We came to join you, figures you'd be eavesdropping." Shippo stated in a whisper. Miroku let out a nervous laugh.
"So you're saying we should just forget about it?" Inuyasha prompted.
"Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying. We should completely forget about it. It never happened, you stay with Kagome and I'm. . . I'm just a friend." Moyuru replied, her voice firm until the last statement. That's the most she would ever amount to, just a friend.
"You and Kagome are supposed to be together and I'm just getting in the way." she said quietly, her ears drooping.
She wasn't just doing this because of Kagome was she? She didn't seem as though she wanted to be just friends. Her ears drooping and her eyes downcast like that told all. It was hurting her to do this. She had tried to hide the fact, but what good it had done her.
"I'm going back now, I promised Naomi that I would take her out to gather some fruit today." she said, forcing her lips into a bit of a smile before turning and walking away at a rather swift pace.
"Wait--" Inuyasha started, but she only continued to walk. He sighed heavily and looked to the ground, he didn't like this.
Moyuru continued to hold back her tears but let them go as soon as she was sure she was out of sight. This was it. She was throwing away a chance that she had to be happy. She was throwing it away . . . just because she didn't want to hurt Kagome.
"Hmmm. . . This is more complicated than I had anticipated." Miroku mused.
"What were they talking about?" Sango asked.
"I'm confused." Shippo added.
"It seems as though something happened between the two of them." Miroku replied.
"Well, let's go think about this somewhere else, we'll get caught out here and what's Moyuru going to think when she gets back to the village and we're not there?" Sango asked.
"Good point. We should go back." Miroku agreed.
Shippo sniffled a bit, "What kind of bushes are these?"
Sango looked to him in question, "I don't know, why?"
"Because," he replied, sounding stuffy, "I could be a. . . a. . ."
His sentence trailed off as he struggled to hold back a sneeze. Oh no! They would get caught for sure if he let one out!
"Shippo, no!" Sango exclaimed in a whisper.
"Try to keep it in!" Miroku urged.
Shippo paused for a few seconds, seeming to relax. "I think it's gone." he said.
Sango and Miroku both let out a sigh of relief.
Shippo paused as the sneeze seemed to sneak up on him very suddenly. This time he couldn't keep it in! The kit let out a small, high-pitched sneeze.
The sound wasn't much, but Inuyasha's dog-like ears twitched as they picked up the noise. "Who's there?" he demanded as he turned towards the very bushes the rest of the gang hid in.
"Oh no! What do we do now? He's going to kill us!" Shippo cried frantically.
"Just calm down and maybe he won't notice that were here." Miroku said quietly.
As if by on cue, their cover was suddenly blown as the branches of the bushes were pushed back and an agitated Inuyasha stood looking down at them.
They were busted.
"You were spying on me weren't you!" Inuyasha growled.
"Spying? Who's spying?" Miroku asked innocently as he and the others began to back away.
"RUN!" Shippo cried. There was no hesitation as they all began to scramble away, Inuyasha in hot pursuit.
"Come back here damn you!" he yelled indignantly.
"I've got it all figured out, okay!" Inuyasha insisted once things had calmed down.
"Well, what are you going to do?" Sango questioned.
"Moyuru told me to stay with Kagome and that's what I'm gonna do. Me and Moyuru are just friends." he replied.
Miroku suddenly got a mischievous look about him. He moved in closer, jabbing him in the ribs with his elbow, getting him an agitated look from the hanyou. "So, what exactly did happen on the way back?" he asked.
Inuyasha's grumpy expression didn't change though a feint blush painted his cheeks, "Nothing." he lied.
"You were gone for an awful long time." Sango commented.
Miroku suddenly paused, gaining an appalled expression.
"What are you lookin' at me like that for?" Inuyasha asked, puzzled.
"Yeah, what is it Miroku?" Sango questioned.
"You didn't. . ." Miroku started, giving Inuyasha a pointed look.
"What?. . . No! You pervert! What makes you think I would do that!" Inuyasha exclaimed in disgust.
Miroku let out a sigh of relief.
"What are you talking about?" Shippo asked, looking between everyone in confusion.
"Uh, nothing! Just forget I said anything." Miroku stated quickly, waving his hands in front of him and now feeling pretty dumb that he had made that assumption. Of course who wouldn't have?
"Only you Miroku." Sango stated sarcastically. Miroku just laughed nervously, rubbing a hand on the back of his head.
"Anyone could have made that assumption." he said in his defense.
"You lech." Inuyasha muttered.
"Besides, even if that's not what happened out there, something did." Miroku stated.
"Yeah, what happened out there to make you act so strange?" Sango questioned. They all looked to Inuyasha for an answer.
"There's nothing to tell, nothing happened! So would you people just get off my back!" Inuyasha yelled indignantly before getting up and exiting the hut in a huff.
"Well, that was a lot of help." Shippo commented sarcastically, "We still don't know what happened."
"What do we tell Kagome?" Sango asked.
"Nothing I suppose." Miroku replied.
"Nothing? But doesn't Kagome have a right to know if Inuyasha's been two-timing her?" Shippo asked, a bit shocked that Miroku was actually proposing that they keep a secret from his friend.
"I think that it would be better if we stayed out of this one and let Inuyasha deal with it on his own. If we told Inuyasha that Moyuru was crying when she ran off like that then we would just complicate things." Miroku pointed out.
"He does have a point. It works the other way too. If we tell Kagome then it would only make her more angry at Inuyasha than if Inuyasha were to come out and tell her the truth himself." Sango agreed.
"Moyuru was crying?" Shippo asked.
Miroku just nodded, "I think that she really has fallen for Inuyasha." he stated.
"I don't get what it is she sees in him." Shippo stated, "It's beyond me." he added, shaking his head slowly.
"He rescued her and they understand each other, what other reason do you need to fall for someone?" Sango asked.
"And because they understand each other so well they can help each other out. Inuyasha might also feel that Moyuru needs him more than Kagome does and it's in a man's nature to feel needed." Miroku stated matter-of-factly.
The others seemed to be seeing the picture now. "And if you ask me, she's really easy on the eyes as well." the monk added as an afterthought.
"What, and Kagome's not?" Shippo asked.
"I didn't say that, she is beautiful as well." Miroku said in defense.
Sango cleared her throat, looking to him pointedly.
"Oh and Sango, how could I forget you! Of course, you're beautiful too!" Miroku added quickly.
"I thought so." Sango stated simply. Miroku let out a nervous laugh, seeming to back away from her a bit and sighing in relief once he'd figured that he had saved himself a bump on the head. "Hopefully this will all go down without anyone getting their feelings hurt." Miroku said brightly.
"I think it's already too late for that. Moyuru didn't seem like she wanted to tell him to stay with Kagome." Sango pointed out.
"She'll get over it. This is Inuyasha we're talking about here. She'll probably meet someone else." Shippo stated.
Well, it seems as though there is trouble in paradise. Just so you know, I didn't plan this! Actually, I really had no idea who I wanted Moyuru to fall for. When you try to write with everyone in character (something I hope I have accomplished. Reveiw and inform me please) it's not really like it's you writing the story. Sure, you're coming up with some of the situations and keeping your grammar in check, but it's really your characters that write the story because you have to think about what they would do. If you have to yell at anyone for making Moyuru fall in love with Inuyasha, yell at Moyuru. . . I had nothing to do with it I swear! (Hehe) Anyway, as always, here's a preview for my next chapter.
PREVIEW!
Chapter 14: New Friends
So, who is it exactly that's taking care of Naomi? What do they think of their adoptive daughter hanging out with a hanyou that nearly all of the villagers have blamed for their misfortunes for nearly the past month? Be there when Moyuru meets Naomi's adoptive parents for the first time.
Please keep reading and enjoying! And of course reviewing. . . Anyway, don't fret if this is a boring chapter, this story's about to pick up the pace really soon. . . trust me.
Mayu Kitsune
P.S. I'm so happy! I just got a Sesshomaru plushie for Christmas! Yay! It's so cute even though it looks so pissed off at the world!
