Being Brave

A One-Shot by Sky's Song

The clouds were drifting by happily, forming illusive shapes that your mind always seemed to recognize, but never in accordance to another's thoughts. Each person's view of a cloud tended to be different and unique, almost allowing you to delve deep into their thoughts and understand them. Almost.

"Inuyasha, what do you think that on looks like?" I asked my hanyou gleefully, pointing to a cloud in the sky. We were lying in a golden field together, not even a full day after our battle with Sounga, the evil sword of the Dog-Demons.

"That one? That's easy, it's a headless zombie!" Inuyasha declared smugly.

"A… zombie?" I asked in amusement. It seemed that that last battle had gotten to him this time.

"Yeah, can't you see it, wench?" he looked at me suspiciously, as if wondering if I was going to make fun of him. When he didn't see any signs of ruthless teasing, he turned back to the sky and pointed to his cloud. "That's his body, see? And that's the head being knocked of!"

"Hm…" I answered good-naturedly. "I guess I can see it." Not. What I saw was a girl playing with a volley ball, but maybe that's because of Inuyasha's latest stunt in my world. I couldn't tell him what I really saw, though, because that would surely start a fight. I was content to just continue as we were: lying quietly next to each other, about two feet away each other. And besides, it's not like he would know I was lying anyway!

Just then a hand slammed down next to my head, startling me into a sitting position. "Wench!" growled Inuyasha in accusation. "You're lying!" Oops.

I was about to yell at him for startling me unreasonably, when he pulled a whipped-dog look over his face. His ears drooped and he stared at me sadly. "Why can't you just tell me the truth? Don't you want to?"

I was shocked momentarily by his question and I forgot that his previous action deserved my anger. "You want to know what I think?"

He stopped as if realizing what he had just said. "Keh!" He huffed and turned away. "Of course not. I just don't like being lied to is all."

I nodded and him and laid back down with a smile on my face once again. "Okay," I agreed. "All I saw was a girl playing volleyball. It's not as interesting as yours, though."

Happy with my response, Inuyasha also laid back down and watched the clouds shift their shapes a bit before speaking again. "What about now?" he asked, looking at me out of the corner of his eye curiously. "What do you see, Kagome?"

I focused my attention on the sky, trying to ignore that when he had lain back down he got much closer to me than before. I deliberately pointed to each cloud I described. "Well, you see that diamond shape over there? That's a jewel shard. And over there looks like one of Shippou's mushrooms! That one could be Sango's boomerang hitting Miroku's head. And that one…" I paused in my inspection, wondering if I should tell him what I saw in that particular cloud.

Inuyasha looked at me, before staring at the sky again. "Go on, wench."

I smiled softly to myself. "That one is… you." He turned to me in surprise, and after a moment I saw a flicker of pleasure flash through his molten eyes, before it was hidden by disinterest.

"Me?" he asked in a "I don't-really-care-I'm-just-asking-to-be-nice" kind of way. "What am I doing?"

I stared at him, wondering what he could want from my answer. "Well," I started and closed my eyes to picture the cloud and everything it had meant to me. "You're happy; you're calm, and trusting, and secure. And you have that look where you're about to do something unexpected." I opened my eyes. That cloud was how I saw Inuyasha' future.

"I don't see any of that." He declared in obvious defiance. I clenched my fists in aggravation. Damn his rebellious streak! "This is a stupid game, anyway."

I tried to reign in my temper. It was hard to imagine that this was the person I cared about most, this person who angered me more than anyone; this person who protected me without a second though, and who seemed to care about me, if that kiss at Kaguya's castle had meant anything. But did he even remember that? Sometimes I would catch him staring at me with an odd expression on his face, almost like he was lost in memory. I used to get angry, thinking that he was using me to remember Kikyo and her kiss, but what if he was instead remembering me? That single positive thought alone brightened my mood. It even made me slightly giddy.

"My father."

I snapped out of my thoughts, realizing Inuyasha had spoken. "What?" I asked him, confused as to what he was talking about.

"My father." He repeated, lost in the clouds. "I see my father."

My eyes softened as I gazed at his handsome face. My heart went out to him as I saw the carefully hidden pain in his eyes. "Even though I had never met him…" He continued, "I always felt connected. Especially since I got Tetsaiga. I didn't get much else from him. Yesterday was the first time I saw ever him."

Inuyasha looked sad, and suddenly the sharp features of his jaw, nose, and chin were softened, almost boyish. His golden orbs shone with unshed tears, unobvious to the casual observer, but I knew my hanyou well. He stared off into the sky limitlessly.

"I don't remember my father." I whispered, almost to myself. I wasn't sure if Inuyasha had heard me at first, but then he turned his passionate gave onto me. Our eyes locked; I shivered. "I know I knew him once. I mean, I lived with him until I was at least five, but I can't remember him. Strange huh? I don't even have one memory. He hated pictures, and the ones he was actually in got destroyed in the fire, and he was always on business trips, Mama said. Even the memory of the fire… I remember calling out for Mama and Grandpa as I held Souta with me, but not Dad. But he was nice…I think he was, anyway. Mama doesn't talk about him much." I smiled at Inuyasha. "I guess we have a lot in common, huh?"

He smiled back, which surprised me slightly, as I wasn't expecting it, and went back to staring at the clouds. The wind had pushed them all away—all but one. I didn't tell him that it looked like a heart; I wasn't sure how he'd respond.

"Inuyasha?" I asked my hanyou carefully as I thought of a new topic of conversation. I wasn't sure how he would react to it, but my curiosity was overwhelming me.

"Yeah?" he still seemed to be thinking of what I had said earlier. Was that a good thing?

"Well," I tried to sound casual. "I thought Sesshomaru hated humans." Would he get angry at me for bringing up his dreadful brother? I hid relief as Inuyasha's eyes barely flickered in my direction – he wasn't going to fight me. I smiled as I realized that he must have been deep in thought. However, now I wasn't sure what kind of answer I would get.

"He does," Inuyasha answered, and then continued his thoughts on something else. He licked his lips, and my heart jolted.

Okay, get a grip girl, I told myself, unsure of why I had reacted that way, He's probably just hungry.

"But," I continued with my hopeless conversation. "Why did he have that little girl with him then?"

"I don't know. Who cares."

I sighed, finally admitting defeat. Maybe Miroku would be up for a conversation about it later. But I wanted Inuyasha to talk with me, and we were alone so…

"Oh!" Suddenly I sat up, remembering why I had originally asked the other three to leave us alone for a while (I had to put up with Miroku's lecherous winks all through lunch! I should have asked them afterwards.) "Inuyasha!" I called out happily, some of my giddiness still left over. "I have a nice present for you."

That got his attention. "Huh? What is it?" He sat up in interest.

"Close your eyes!" I told him earnestly.

"Keh. Fine." Inuyasha obeyed.

Quickly I pulled out a rosary—Inuyasha's had broken and he needed a new one. Now I smiled to myself as I thrust it over his head; he would never dare to run off on his own again! He really had to learn that I was here to stay, demon battles or no. "Open!" I commanded, my mission complete.

"What the—!" Inuyasha felt the rosary around his neck and his eyes flew open in rage.

"Sit boy!" I said simply, hoping that this "sit" wouldn't be too hard on him. I only needed to activate the spell.

"Why you—!" Inuyasha yelled as he recovered from his subduing. "I thought you said it was nice!"

"You were thinking of something perverted, weren't you?" I asked him slyly.

"What? NO!" He denied, but his blush seemed to disagree. "Ahhh!" He yelled and growled ferociously as he tried in vain to pry the rosary from his neck. After a minute, he finally accepted defeat, his ears drooping. He came and crouched by me. "Don't you trust me?" He stared at me with sad eyes. He looked even sadder than when he was talking about his father!

I was determined however, to make him see it from my point of view. "Trust you? Of course I do." I insisted. I poked him in the chest before he could interrupt. "But, I also trust that if I'm not with you, you'll do something stupid and get yourself killed, or near killed, like you did yesterday! And don't say you didn't! You ran away from me!" I hated how my voice was filled with accusation, as if he had meant to hurt me. But it was true; he had run away from me…and when he had done so, I had felt slightly betrayed. I just hoped that the hurt wasn't creeping into my voice. "Besides," I continued without thinking. "The rosary connects me to you." Oops. I didn't mean to say that! I blushed a bit and quickly looked away, waiting for his response.

Inuyasha, who had been watching me first with hurt, then with anger, now looked at the beaded necklace with new interest, though he still didn't look too pleased about it. "Still, I aint happy about being leashed." He stated, almost as if he accepted what I had said to be true.

He wasn't yelling at me, for any of my comments, and for that I was grateful. Maybe he even liked being connected to me as much as I liked being connected to him? I could hope…And then a bout of courage took hold of me so suddenly that I didn't have time to think about it. "Do you want me to make it up to you?" I asked him innocently. I just hope you don't hate me for this…

Inuyasha looked at me suspiciously. "You can keep your eyes open." I reassured him. It was now or never!

I leaned closer to him. I felt him tense up as I placed my hands lightly on his shoulders, and I saw his blush creep into his cheeks as I stared into his eyes. My cheeks burned too, but my courage had pushed me this far, and I wasn't about to stop halfway.

Slowly, I inched my lips towards his, making sure to give him every opportunity to escape if he wanted to. But he didn't. He almost looked… expectant.

I closed my eyes then, at the last moment, and I felt my lips touch his. Electric shocks went up and down through my body as I gently pressed myself against his soft lips.

I pulled away after a moment, and I opened my eyes to look at Inuyasha. I tried to continue to be brave and accept that I had kissed Inuyasha just to kiss him. There was no excuse about saving the world to back this one up. It was only me. And, my innermost self sighed, it had been soooooooooo nice. Who knew his lips were so soft and pleasing? I blushed against my own thoughts, but I forced myself to say something. "…Inuyasha?"

He was now looking at me tenderly, but I couldn't tell what his thoughts about the kiss were. Was it too much to hope for that he enjoyed it too?

But again, I attempted to be brave. It seemed to be taking me places, if nothing else. "…Does that make it better?" I smiled shyly at him.

Inuyasha took my hands in his own strong and comforting ones, running his thumbs on the outlines of them. My skin burned wherever he touched me. Then, he slowly pulled me in and returned my kiss, this time taking much longer, and instead of a chaste kiss, I felt his lips caress mine, to which I automatically responded to. When he pulled away, he whispered, "Does that answer your question?"

I smiled bravely. Oh, yes, it was certainly taking me places. "No. Maybe you should do it again, you know, to make the message go through."

Inuyasha smiled too and we leaned in again.

Hm, I decided as Inuyasha deepened our third kiss. Maybe I should be brave more often. I could definitely get used to this.

End