A/N: I saw Pirates of the Caribbean last night! and OMG was it AWESOME! It was well worth having to go to the 10 PM showing because they were all sold out of tickets before then. I'm not really sure what to say without spoiling it for others...well, we finally learned what was up with Jack's compass, which was interesting, if nothing else...and Elizabeth finally kicks some major butt by finally swordfighting amungst the menfolk, Norrington came back (Yay!) out to get Jack yet again...there is a new evil baddie, and a new navy guy after them...a ton of Jack moments and rum jokes...and all in all a really good movie.
The only downsides were Will's constant angsting, Jack's overly horniness (and not in a funny way), and the way it ended. It ended in a way that...well, basically said "DID YOU KNOW THERE IS GOING TO BE A POTC 3!" in big, sparkly letters. But the OMG! moment was perfect. It's something small, that I thought would never end up in the movie, and yet it did. I actually screamed, "I KNEW IT!" when I saw it, just because I felt so cool for guessing.
Now, I must get to my fanfiction, but I am surely going to see that again...perhaps five more times.
Chapter 14: Beginnings of Desire
My heart cried out to Inuyasha as I saw his pain after we passed through that village. Though I had been insulted to for being 'his whore', it did not bother me as much as hearing him being spoken to like that did.
I knew what he had gone through all his life; how much he had suffered, and I knew, more than I had ever known before, that I just wanted to take that away from all of him. Inuyasha didn't deserve this. He deserved to be happy, to laugh like he did so seldomly. And I wanted to be the one to make him happy.
It didn't matter what making him happy meant, I made a vow that whatever it took, even if he just wanted me to be beside him as a friend forever, I would do it, if it meant seeing him laugh again.
But as I made that vow, little did I know that his happiness was my own happiness as well, and I would soon find out how true that was…
They left the village early the next day, Inuyasha the most eager to get away from the villagers that hated youkai. Once again his mask fell into place, and he pretended not to care about what happened with a well placed "Keh."
Kagome was unable to keep from staring at him with sadness in her eyes. It washorrible that he had to hide his true feelings all the time. She knew that those villager's comments had bothered him, but he would never let on to others to keep his pride. Kagome was the only one he would ever show weakness to.
No matter what she had said to him the night before, she could tell he was still upset. He would hardly talk to anybody, and in turn, she didn't say a word either. The urge to just run up and hug him and remind him she loved him was almost too strong for her, but she held back only because she knew he wouldn't react well to such a confession, despite how badly he was feeling at the moment.
The silence around them and the sadness in the air was enough to get the monk's eyes wandering in boredom—right to his beloved's behind.
Not a moment later there was a smack and a shout of fury, "Houshi-sama!"
Everyone turned to see a furious Sango, face bright red, while a grinning Miroku spotted a red mark on his cheek. "Forgive me, my dear Sango, but you look so radiant today…"
"Shut up!" she yelled, taking another swipe at him, making the monk duck before going into more half-hearted apologies. The rest of their group just rolled their eyes and continued going, the silence having taken over once again.
During this time, Inuyasha noticed his eyes kept glancing over at the woman at his side, unable to stop thinking about her. She had been so nice the night before, making him feel better despite what the villagers had said.
And her words, "I don't see you as a hanyou, youkai, or human at all, Inuyasha. I only see you as you." They made him happier than he had felt in the past couple of days. She didn't care what he was, she saw him as an equal, not as inferior.
Kagome had called him beautiful, something he had never expected to hear when being described. He had never really thought of himself as good looking, after all, no one would ever admit that a hanyou was remotely handsome, despite the fact that the ears on his head that he was cursed with were often described as "cute" by Kagome.
With a smirk to himself, he thought, Maybe I can get her to say that more often…
But it also hadn't been about his ego being stroked a bit and being comforted after the day before, her soothing words and gentle touch had triggered in him something he was constantly fighting as they walked on, the deep desire to just grab her and kiss her, for all she had done.
Inuyasha had stared a lot at her over the past couple of days, but now he wasn't just staring at her. He was glancing at her…lips…quite frequently. He had begun to notice how soft and smooth they looked…very kissable.
He had kissed Kikyou before, that was true, but when she had kissed him a while after he found out she was still in the world, he had only felt shock. Her touch was so cold…so unwelcoming. Holding her in his arms was like holding ice, not expecting to feel warmth physically or inside.
But Kagome…she was warm. When he held her close, he could feel the warmth inside of him, knowing that she was in his care, and she trusted him to protect her. And then thinking about kissing her…to have her warm lips against his, her arms wrapped around him, pulling him closer…he could feel the stirrings of desire within him…Imagining her gasps as he continued to kiss her, never relenting, "Inuyasha…"
"Inuyasha?"
The hanyou gave a small jump and felt a huge blush creep over his face at her voice, interrupting his thoughts at that moment. "Wh-wh-what do you want?" he asked Kagome, who was staring at him, lifting an eyebrow.
"Miroku-sama and Sango-chan found something." She pointed at their friends bending over and inspecting something on the ground. He took a second to cool down his thoughts before coming over to them.
It appeared to be four claw marks that had scraped the dirt, and Inuyasha smelled the scent of human blood coming off those same marks. He bent down, sniffing the mark before standing up again. "No doubt about it, it's a bear youkai all right."
"Is the village nearby?" the exterminator asked, glancing around the fields.
One whiff of his nose confirmed it. "Yeah, were close."
"Then we had better get going," Kagome said, glancing in the direction the marks went. "It's better if we get to the youkai before it has the chance to hurt anyone else."
Everyone (especially Inuyasha, who was looking forward to a good fight to get rid of pent-up frustration) wholeheartedly agreed, and they soon came upon the village.
It was very obvious a youkai had preyed upon this village, as there were some destroyed huts, and humongous bear tracks all over the streets and the fields. Most of the villagers stayed indoors, but some glanced out of huts to see the odd strangers walking through their village, dressed for battle. It seemed that their arrival had been anticipated as the headman walked up to them to greet them.
"You are the ones who will save us from the bear youkai," he said, not even asking it as a question.
Sango, who was dressed in her youkai slaying outfit, took charge. "Yes, and we would prefer to get this done sooner than later. Where is this youkai?"
The answer wasn't needed as Inuyasha began to sniff the air. "It's over that way," he pointed towards the cliff, that dropped off into a valley not to far from the village.
At seeing the strange silver-haired man sniffing out the location of the youkai, the headman became suspicious. "And your friend here is…?"
Fearing a repeat of what happened in the last village, Kagome stepped forward, "He wouldn't harm humans. He helps us."
Inuyasha glared at her and muttered, "I help you?"
"Just go with it, Inuyasha," Kagome whispered back. "You don't want to get into an argument."
Sighing, the headman replied, "Fine. But I hope you can exterminate this youkai as you say you will. All of the men that went after it never came back."
"We assure you, we are quite experienced in exterminating youkai," Miroku added, pulling a few ofuda from his robe. "I don't think it will take long."
With a few more well wishes from the headman, they took off in the direction of the youkai, determined to kill it and get it over with. Many of the villagers gave them encouragement, but others stayed indoors, whispering to one another and speculating on whether the exterminators could really do it.
Before long, they found the cliff which dropped off several feet below into a forest. The cliff itself was interesting; besides the brown rock, there were hollows that up to three men could sit in, hidden by the odd angle at which they had formed. Staring at them, Kagome was reminded of something that she had learned in earth science a couple years ago, and about how water could make such formations. And judging by the looks of this cliff, it appeared that there might have been a waterfall there at one time.
A waterfall…She instantly remembered the day she and Inuyasha were out alone, when they were both laughing as he ran faster and faster across the landscape, that leap he took off the waterfall that made her feel like she was flying…
Judging by the glance Inuyasha gave her, she wasn't the only one thinking of that day.
"It's down there, in the woods," Inuyasha said, trusting his nose as he looked down to the forest floor.
"Kirara," Sango commanded, and instantly, the small nekomata transformed with a flash of fire into her larger form. She, Miroku, and Shippou jumped upon the neko youkai, while Inuyasha pulled Kagome on to his back. They jumped down, and the instant their feet touched the leafy ground, they could see the claw marks all over the trees.
There was a loud growl in the darkness of the forest to the right of them; the youkai had smelled them entering his territory.
"Well, I guess that saves us the trouble of trying to find it," Inuyasha grinned, unsheathing the transformed Tessaiga and holding it ready to strike. Everyone else readied their weapons; Sango held Hiraikotsu over her shoulder, but kept it at an easy reach, Miroku grasped the paper ofudas close, Kagome notched an arrow in her bow, and Shippou stood behind them, failing at looking menacing.
But what they had waited for never came. Besides the growl, it didn't appear that the youkai wanted to attack them. After waiting a minute, Miroku piped up, "It doesn't appear to be coming."
Growling, Inuyasha shot back, "Well, thanks for pointing out the obvious! Looks like we'll have to just drive it out!" With that, he raised Tessaiga at where the growling had come from and yelled, "Kaze no Kizu!"
With a flash of light and a loud cracking noise, many of the trees were severed and were blown away before a dark shape,snarling in ragethis time, jumped for them.
"There it is!" Kagome shouted, just as her friends began to attack. Inuyasha, like always, was the first to jump up and fight, slashing at the bear's side, causing it to howl in pain. The next thing the hanyou saw was a paw smacking at him, hurling him into a tree.
"Inuyasha!" Kagome cried, watching him fall to the ground with a grunt of pain, not getting up yet. She started to run towards him, but was stopped as Miroku pulled her back.
He threw an ofuda at the bear, a sickly sizzling sound being heard as it hit. "Don't do anything reckless, Kagome-sama!" he warned, readying his staff.
The bear was immobilized for a second, and the exterminator used the opportunity to throw Hiraikotsu, knocking it back. Her friends attacked, while Kagome ran over to see if Inuyasha was safe. "Inuyasha, are you all right?" she asked, sounding worried as she knelt beside him.
With another grunt, the hanyou got up, grabbing his sword from where it had flown out of his hand. "Yeah…I just took a bad hit."
"Will you be okay?" Her eyes looked so worried, that he felt guilty for it as she stood up as well.
"I'm fine, Kagome," Inuyasha assured her, before running back to join the fight, Kagome coming with him.
"Sango!" yelled Miroku, as the exterminator barely managed to block a blow from the bear's claws with her Hiraikotsu.
She recovered and threw her boomerang once more. "Don't worry, Houshi-sama!" shetold him, catching it as it came back round.
The hanyou jumped forward again, rushing towards the bear youkai with his sword held high. "How's this!" he roared, slamming the blade into its flesh, before the dangerous paws came back again, knocking Tessaiga out of his hand. Reacting quickly, Inuyasha jumped into the air and dove down, his claws held high. "Sankon Tessou!"
Kagome, wanting to be useful in this fight, came forward and readied her bow and arrow, she checked her aim to make sure she wouldn't accidentally hit Inuyasha, before filling her arrow with her spiritual powers and letting it fly.
The hanyou saw the pink flash and jumped out of the way just as the purification arrow hit the shoulder of the bear. Screaming was heard from the youkai, and once the light cleared, it was obvious that the bear was missing an arm.
The unexpected happened, suddenly, the bear's eyes grew red with rage, and it charged at the woman who had caused him so much pain. Kagome barely had any time to scream before its claws swiped ather.
"Kagome!" Inuyasha yelled, diving for her and pulling her out of the way, a second too late. He heard her cry of pain and the rip of fabric, the smell of her blood reaching his nose.
Taking her to a place of safety, Inuyasha jumped into one of the small caves in the cliff, the opening only visible from one side. There was barely enough room for the two of them to fit in the tiny space, but he knew that she would be safe there.
Putting her down, his eyes widened as he saw what had happened to her. "Kagome…" His voice held guilt as he saw the stripe of red on her cheek, and the three other cuts on her left shoulder, red beginning to stain her shirt.
"I'm all right, Inuyasha," she told him, mimicking the words he had said before, but unlike her, he didn't believe them.
"You're hurt, Kagome." His voice was almost like a dog's whine, as he gently touched the cut on her shoulder and she shuddered.
She turned away, not wanting to meet his guilty amber gaze. "I told you I'm fine, Inuyasha."
He was about to reply, but he heard the gusting noise of wind from outside. Apparently, the fight had been finished with Miroku's kazaana. At least Inuyasha knew the youkai had been taken care of. "I'm sorry I couldn't protect you, Kagome," he murmured. His ears were slightly drooping, as he touched the wound on her cheek, unintentionally brining her eyes to look up into his.
"It wasn't your fault, Inuyasha," she whispered. "It happened because I shot the purity arrow. Don't blame yourself."
He wasn't comforted by her words. The hanyou felt so terrible for letting this happen, but he also couldn't ignore the warmth he felt at being this close to her. "I can't help but feel guilty, Kagome." His eyes began to soften as he looked upon her, the woman he loved. "I made a promise never to let you get hurt, and I broke it."
Her eyes were becoming a bit too enticing for his taste, he couldn't stop staring into them, making his heart race. "You keep me safe, Inuyasha," she murmured, also feeling her own heart begin to beat faster. "I feel safe when I'm with you. In fact…I don't feel safe if you're not with me."
"Kagome…" Why is it that she was closer? Or why he couldn't stop staring at her…or her luscious, beautiful lips. Or why he hadn't removed his hand from her cheek. Or why he was feeling the strong desire build within him once more…
At seeing that feeling of hazy desire in his eyes, Kagome couldn't help but gasp, "Inuyasha—"
But she was suddenly cut off as the hanyou wrapped his arms around her, closing any distance between them, and pressed his lips to hers.
