Finally a longer chapter! Also, I realized I completely missed last week, so at some point either expect double chapters or a surprise chapter.
Enjoy!
1 week later…
Before Kagome knew it, a week had passed with Inuyasha. An entire week since she had left the humans behind and had accidentally bound herself to a demon who treated her a lot kinder than a demon ought.
She'd spent the week getting acquainted with her new home. Since Inuyasha had said nothing about her leaving or implied such a thing, Kagome was settling into the idea of staying for good. She went through all of the supplies in the first two days and organized the cave under Inuyasha's curious eyes on the third. Generally, he was pretty happy to lounge in his favorite tree while she did this, occasionally allowing himself to be coaxed down to move something heavy for her. Overall she found several pairs of usable cups, bowls and chopsticks. Even though nothing matched, she was grateful for the luxury. Today, she pulled out the fur bed and had Inuyasha hang the pieces over branches of the trees to air out while she'd used water to carefully clean the hollow they were in and let air dry. The rest of her time was spent organizing their supplies and cleaning what she could with very little soap.
She had just managed to coax Inuyasha down and send him grumbling back into the cave with the furs when she felt a sharp pinch on the back of her neck.
"Ouch!" She complained, slapping her hand over her neck. She pulled it back to find something- or rather somone settled into the palm of her hand. A demon.
"Hello." The tiny demon said.
Kagome shrieked, flinging the demon out of her hand and scrambling towards Inuyasha's favorite tree, clutching the trunk like a lifeline.
"Kagome!" Inuyasha came barreling out of the cave, alarmed by her scream. He found Kagome still against the tree, pointing to where she'd flung the demon.
"Master!" The tiny demon hopped onto Inuyasha's shoulder before Kagome could say a word.
"Oh, it's you Myoga. What the hell did you do to scare Kagome so bad?"
"I assure you master, I had no intention of scaring your lovely companion!" The tiny demon hopped up and down on Inuyasha's shoulder.
"Master?" The ex priestess stared in confusion at the tiny demon on Inuyasha's shoulder.
"Myoga, Kagome. Kagome, Myoga. He was my old man's retainer."
"Oh, it's a pleasure to meet you. I'm sorry for reacting so badly, I'm just not used to meeting demons." Myoga bowed in return to her apology. "No need for apologies, lady Kagome. I hear congratulations are in order?" Kagome and Inuyasha exchanged a confused glance.
"Were the rumors incorrect in that you had taken a mate, master?" Instantly Kagome's face went deep red and she covered it with her hands.
"Keh! More like she bound me, but whatever." Kagome peeked through her hands and saw he had his hands buried in those red sleeves, his cheeks tinged with pink.
"So… if you don't mind my asking Myoga, what kind of demon are you?" Kagome questioned, breaking the awkward silence that settled over the three of them.
"I don't mind in the slightest milady." The tiny demon abandoned his gruff master for his new mistress.
"I am a flea demon you see. I served master Inuyasha's father for many years before he died."
"Which reminds me, Myoga." Said half demon pointed a stern finger at the flea. "She's off limits for blood. No exceptions." The flea at least had the decency to look properly admonished by this.
"Blood? You drink blood?" Kagome questioned, eager to learn more about the flea and perhaps her companion.
"I prefer blood, yes. Especially master Inuyasha's blood, something I'm delighted to say he inherited from his father. but I'm also partial to tea."
"Well then," Kagome started towards the cave with a smile. "It would be horribly rude of me not to offer you tea."
"I wish I could accept my lady." The flea said longingly. "But unfortunately I'm here on urgent business for master Inuyasha."
"What kind of business?" All thoughts of tea were instantly forgotten.
"The spider demons have returned, my lord. They've settled near the abandoned temple along the north of the Forest."
"Damn it all to hell." Inuyasha snarled, causing Kagome to stare at him in alarm. "I thought I cleared this Forest of those nasty things when I destroyed their nest the last time."
"Afraid not, my lord." Inuyasha peered up at the sky, appearing thoughtful.
"It's gonna have to wait until tomorrow. Then I'll finally run those bastards out of here once and for all!"
"I'm coming with you." Kagome planted her feet firmly, aware that she was in for a fight.
"Yeah that ain't gonna happen Kagome. I can't get rid of those damn things if I'm too busy worrying about you."
"Inuyasha, you forget I was almost a fully trained priestess before I… came here. I can hold my own ya know." Both of them missed the alarmed look that crossed Myoga's face at the mention of her being a priestess.
"All you have is a bow and a few arrows Kagome, how're you gonna fight those things? You have no idea what we're up against!"
"I'm not some helpless little girl you know!"
"Doesn't matter! I ain't giving you the chance to get yourself killed!"
"If I can save you, I can certainly handle myself!" Kagome didn't give him a chance to reply, simply wheeled around and stomped towards the forest surrounding them, intending to find a place to stew for a while in privacy. Inuyasha let her go, too angry himself at her stupidity to follow her.
-0-
Kagome stomped for a couple minutes before finding a tree to sit against with a huff of frustration. Just who did he think he was telling her what to do?! She wasn't some scared little girl that needed a big strong man to protect her every time she turned around. She had been weeks away from being a fully trained priestess. She wasn't helpless.
"Milady?"
Myoga the flea landed on Kagome's knee, surprising her.
"What is it?" She tried to ask politely, but failed miserably with how upset she was.
"It struck me as very odd that a priestess would take a demon as a mate." He looked at her expectantly, and it was clear to Kagome he was here out of loyalty to his master. Kagome let out a long sigh to try and clear her mind and answer Myoga without snapping.
"It wasn't a conscious decision.. I saved his life, and in doing so accidentally bound us together. I don't know much about it, unfortunately. Inuyasha wasn't very-"
"Help me." Kagome startled when a strange voice interrupted her. A young girl peered at her from behind a tree, wearing a tattered kimono. Her hair was dark and messy, her face streaked with dirt.
"Oh you poor thing." Kagome was on her feet in an instant, unable to resist the urge to help. Myoga narrowed his eyes as Kagome knelt down and cooed at the little girl with big crocodile tears sliding down her cheeks. Something wasn't right. Myoga wasn't as attuned to smell as his master was, but something bothered him. He heard the little girl mention something briefly about her mother needing help, lady Kagome taking the girl's hand and letting her lead her away.
"L-lady Kagome!" His master's mate ignored him and continued following the girl. Myoga felt sweat bead at his forehead at the thought of following her… potentially into danger… he was only a small flea. Better inform the master of this instead. Yes, a much safer plan!
"Master Inuyasha! Master!" What seemed like hours later, the tiny flea hopped towards the tree he had last seen Toga's son in, and found the half demon stewing quietly in a tree.
"Master! Quickly master!"
"What, Myoga?"
"It's lady Kagome master!" Inuyasha's ears instantly perked in his direction at her name, and his full attention snapped towards Myoga at the distress in his voice.
"Where's Kagome Myoga?!"
"There was a little girl in the forest master, Lady Kagome followed her but something most certainly wasn't right."
"Ain't no way a little girl was this far out." Inuyasha leaped to his feet, snatching Myoga up in his fist as he did so. "I'm guessing you just left her and ran to find me instead!" The flea gulped, "so cruel to a poor flea master!"
"Yeah yeah shut up!"
-0-
It had taken Kagome a lot longer than she would have liked to realize she walked right into a trap. The girl had been behaving oddly since Kagome had followed her, she kept insisting they were "almost there" no matter how long they had been walking. Her eyes were dark, blank, as if there was no life in them, yet she spoke and her body walked. Kagome could also sense her aura, even though there wasn't a hint of spiritual power in her, and the aura was almost gray, muted like it wasn't really supposed to be there. What did all this mean?
Seconds later the girl led her into a clearing with beings that at first appeared human, but with strange markings on their face and long, demonic fangs when they opened their mouths.
"Finally." One of them hissed as she was herded forward. "A weakness from that mongrel that has plagued the forest. He destroyed our nest and we've been looking for a weakness ever since. How fortunate the rumor floating around the forest was that the beast finally took a mate?" He smiled a predatory smile at her, one that showed off his full set of fangs, and Kagome felt a shiver down her spine. He waved his hand at the little girl and she collapsed on the grass, unmoving.
"Even more fortunate that she's a weak human who left her mate's sight. How fortunate indeed." Kagome wanted to roll her eyes. But restrained herself, forcing her face into one of fear. Whatever these demons were, and Kagome had a strong hunch at that, they obviously had no idea she was a priestess or what she could do. Best keep it that way.
"Y-you won't win! Inuyasha will kill you all!" She forced herself to stutter and even made a tear slide down her cheek. Of course, it did help she WAS scared, but at least she had a few tricks hidden up her sleeve.
The demon laughed at her boldness, gesturing with one hand towards her. "Bind her up and take her back to the nest, it won't take him long to track her down, let's be prepared for when he does."
She was bound with some sort of silky thread and hauled quickly through the forest by the human-like forms of two of the demons, which Kagome could now guess pretty confidently were the spider demons Myoga had told them about. They led her deeper into the forest until they came to long abandoned sacred grounds. Kagome winced at the amount of damage the spiders had caused, silently offering her prayers to the Kami as they led her into the remains of the temple. They carried her past dozens of spider demons, varying in age and maintaining a form between human and spider. The bodies closely resembled that of a man, but that head was pure spider with thick fangs. They leered at her with red eyes as the first demon that had spoken to her, evidently the leader, led them to an enormous silk ball that stretched across the remaining walls of the temple. They took her inside and Kagome couldn't suppress a shudder at the intensity of the foul aura that washed over her the second they stepped inside.
"Wonderful, isn't it?" The leader taunted her as he lowered himself into a large throne made of silk. Evidently only the leader and a few others were able to maintain a form mostly human. The lackeys shoved Kagome at his feet and she fell to her knees, her hands still bound in front of her. She sat quietly, preserving her strength for the fight that she knew was coming.
"You Bastards! KAGOME!"
"Well, that was certainly faster than I expected," the leader drawled, looking somewhat amused as Kagome's heart leapt in her chest at the sound of Inuyasha's voice. He had come for her after all! But, how had he found her so quickly? Had he tracked her scent to get here?!
Instantly, the various sounds of battle surrounded them outside the silk nest. Hisses and cries of surprise from the spiders, mixed in with the grunts and battle cries of Inuyasha as bodies thudded to the ground and bashed against the remains of the temple. The leader's face fell slightly as the noises began to slow.
"Kagome!"
"Inuyasha!" Kagome cried back, and a moment later the side of the silk nest was slashed open as Inuyasha's cry of "Iron Reaver Soul Stealer!" Filled the air.
"You bastard! Let Kagome go!" Inuyasha was furious, claws flexed and ready for battle. The spiders inside the nest began hissing at him, clicking their teeth together in effort to unnerve him.
"Mongrel, nice of you to finally-"
"Iron Reaver Soul Stealer!" The leader was interrupted by Inuyasha's attack, the half demon leaping forwards with claws raised. He was forced to leap from his throne to avoid the attack, his face in an angry scowl that he had been interrupted.
"Kagome run!" He landed next to her and hauled her to her feet, using his claws to slice the webbing that tied her hands together. Kagome didn't wait to be told twice, she ran through the webbing, dodging one of the hissing spiders and sprinting through the temple remains towards the trees.
"Wait for me milady!" Myoga hopped onto Kagome's shoulder, looking relieved to have escaped with her. Kagome made it to the tree line when a furious snarl halted her in her tracks. Inuyasha!
She hid behind a tree and peered at the silk ball, cupping a hand over her eyes to see through the setting sun. A red blur leaped from the sack, landing clumsily back on the ground covered in strands of the white silk.
"Inuyasha!" Kagome called to him, waving a hand to catch his attention.
"Run Kagome!" He took off towards her just as several of the spider head demons came bursting from the nest behind him.
"Run Milady! Hurry!" Myoga was jumping up and down in desperation on her shoulder, and Kagome hesitated for only a second before she started running again. Inuyasha quickly caught up with her due to his height, but something was off about him, his breathing was heavy and he seemed to be struggling slightly.
"Are you ok?" She managed to gasp out as they ran. Inuyasha shook his head and grabbed her arm to pull her faster.
"Mongrel!" A spider head demon swung from the branches and landed in front of them, hissing and clicking its jaws. Inuyasha jerked her to the side and immediately continued running.
"Ack!" Kagome stumbled to the ground when a spider demon snatched Inuyasha in the shoulder, yanking him from her.
"Inuyasha!" she cried, reaching towards him. "No!" The demon hissed and sank its teeth into Inuyasha's neck, blood immediately welling up.
"Get away from him!" Kagome's hand began to glow pink, sending a blast of spiritual energy shooting towards the demon. The spider screeched and let go of Inuyasha, immediately disintegrating into dust.
"D-damn it all to hell." Inuyasha groaned, still covered in bits of spider silk. Kagome hauled herself to her feet and ran to him, grabbing his bicep to try and pull him up.
"Are you ok? Can you walk?"
"You should be more worried about yourself at this rate." He grunted in reply.
"Don't say that!" Kagome hissed, "you're going to be just fine." Glancing around, she spotted a small, worn building not far from them.
"Over there, quickly." She hauled Inuyasha to his feet as best she could, one of his hands still clutching the bleeding wound on his neck. She barely needed to touch the door and it swung open, revealing a dusty storage shed.
"This'll have to do for now. Keep that wound pressed." she ordered, turning immediately into healer mode.
"Doesn't matter Kagome, I'm not going to make it. I've been poisoned." He plopped himself on the floor, leaning against the wall with his hand still clutching his bleeding neck.
"How can you say that? You're a demon you're going to be…" she trailed off when she turned to face him, some cloth for makeshift bandages in her hands, and found her husband sitting against the wall with black hair and human ears.
"...Fine." She finished, her knees suddenly feeling weak. "Inuyasha? Is that you?"
"No, it's a talking puppet. Of course it's me!"
"The poison turned you human?" Inuyasha rolled his eyes and opened his mouth, but Myoga, who apparently had moved to hide in Inuyasha's collar, stepped out and began to speak.
"I believe I can answer that milady." Kagome sank tiredly to her knees as Myoga continued.
"All half demons, master Inuyasha included, have a period of time, usually over a period of day or night, where they lose their demon powers and become mortal for a time. For master Inuyasha, that time must be tonight, when there is no moon." The tiny demon began shaking his fists in a distressed manner.
"Master! Why did you not confide in me that today was your night?!" Inuyasha scoffed, closing his eyes and leaning against the wall.
"What does it matter now? I ain't gonna make it long anyways."
"We aren't giving up without a fight!" Kagome was stern as she shuffled forwards, removing Inuyasha's hand and replacing it with a bandage. Myoga hopped forward, landing on Kagome's hand where it was pressed upon the wound.
"Let me, milady. If master Inuyasha has been poisoned, I may be able to assist." Kagome eased the pressure off slightly, just enough to let a little blood escape. Myoga immediately went to work, coughing as he did so.
"Indeed, my master has been poisoned, lay him down lady Kagome, and I might be able to suck the poison out." Inuyasha's skin was pale, beads of sweat decorating his temple as Kagome helped lay him down flat.
A hissing noise surrounded the hut, startling poor Kagome. Myoga placed himself near the wound at Inuyasha's neck. "Lady Kagome, would you be able to place a barrier around the hut to keep the spiders out? We need to keep master Inuyasha alive until sunrise."
"Luckily, barriers are the one thing I did do well at." Kagome smiled grimly, given the circumstances. She grasped Inuyasha's hand in her own and squeezed gently before sitting in a meditative pose. She cleared her mind, finding peace among the chaos, and began to chant, a shimmery pink barrier surrounded the hut, sending the spiders hissing into the woods in a fast retreat.
"Ugh, I think I got all the poison out, Milady." Kagome slid to her knees and gasped, Myoga was at least twice his normal size, a look of discomfort on his face. He rolled away from Inuyasha and next to Kagome, letting out a small burp.
"Yup, right here I think..." Kagome let him be with a small smile and moved to sit near Inuyasha's head. He was still sweaty with a fever while the poison was exiting his system, but his skin was less pale. Gently, she used the cloth she collected earlier to bandage the wound on his neck. It looked much better, bleeding less now that the poison was gone. When she finished, she carefully slid his head into her lap, using one hand to stroke his cheek gently.
"Ugh… Kagome?" His eyes fluttered open, revealing deep gray orbs.
"I'm here, Inuyasha. You're going to be ok." His eyes flickered to hers for a moment before he brought his hand up and gently traced her cheek.
"You smell kind of nice," he mumbled softly, his eyes already closing.
"I do?" she replied, but she was only talking to herself as his hand dropped and he breathed softly, indicating he was asleep.
She sat in silence for a while, unable to tell for how long or what time it was, until Myoga gave a groan and rolled onto his belly, eyes blinking open to peer at her.
"Milady… is master Inuyasha ok?" She nodded, reaching down to check his pulse for the thousandth time since they'd been stuck in here.
"Just sleeping it off now, I think." She answered quietly. "I haven't heard anything of the spider demons since the barrier went up, I think we're safe here until morning."
"That's good." Myoga hummed back.
"Myoga? Would I be able to ask you some questions? About this whole bond, I mean, I'm afraid I don't understand very much. Could you explain?"
"Of course, milady." The swollen flea struggled to his feet to bow to his master's mate. But Kagome only shook her head. "You can call me Kagome, you know." The flea only ignored her words.
"To my knowledge master Inuyasha has never taken a mate, so I admit I was surprised to hear of your union. Less surprised to see he knew very little about it." The old flea settled himself on his master's shoulder, able to speak to Kagome quietly this way to discourage any lingering spider demons.
"Demons form the bond upon uniting their demonic energies, binding the two forces into one. For demons, this is the most intimate act, the consummation of their bond. Even more so than a physical act, to be frank in human terms."
"So this is similar to a marriage then?"
"Very similar milady, only instead of exchanging rings, it's energy. As a human, more than likely you will experience less changes than master Inuyasha will."
"Changes?" She bit her lip.
"Yes, changes. He'll be a lot more protective, more possessive of you. It's in his nature, milady, he can't help it. He'll be stronger too, much stronger. Even without Tetsusaiga, he'll be a formidable force. Despite it being unintentional, you chose well."
"I already know that Myoga. He… well, I don't think he remembers, but he saved my life once. I could never let him die." She hesitated for a moment, staring down at Inuyasha's face, a little embarrassed to have revealed her deepest secret. "Will I go through changes too?"
"It's likely you'll go through some minor changes, like a shift in your scent. The connection between you will be stronger too. I wouldn't expect any major changes, seeing as you don't possess youki. Don't be alarmed milady, the changes are a gift."
"Do you understand much of human behavior, Myoga?" Kagome tucked a lock of hair behind her ear from where it had escaped the long braid she was wearing.
"A little, but not much I'm afraid." Kagome turned her head to peer at the wall, staring in silence for a minute before turning her eyes back to Inuyasha's unconscious form.
"Humans usually marry, or mate for life. But there's a courtship, a wooing period should we say, even during arranged marriages. The man woos his intended to earn her favor, and there's a period of time before the marriage is complete. But for us… there was no warning, no wooing for me or a chance to understand what was going on. I was essentially bound to a complete stranger with no traditional courtship. It's been a hard adjustment for me. But… I do care about him. I really do. I just… don't know what I'm doing, if that makes sense?"
"It does, lady Kagome, it does. But demons have their own courtship behavior, you know." Kagome was actually surprised by this, but after all she had been through with Inuyasha, she shouldn't have been.
"Gifts are often a common form of wooing," Myoga continued. "Though I'm sure the nature of gifts are different from humans. Gifts of food especially are popular among demons. Small trinkets as signs of loyalty and affection as well. Tell me lady Kagome, what do humans give?"
What Kagome didn't know was that Inuyasha was awake, had been awake and was listening to every word in an attempt to know more about her.
"Ah, well flowers are usually popular gifts." she blushed brightly, slightly embarrassed. "The children used to bring me flowers, it was always my favorite. Jewelry, pretty things like that were given as well, if you could afford them that is."
"Were you ever courted milady? If you don't mind my asking."
"No, I wasn't. You see, priestesses are expected to stay chaste to maintain their powers. And well, I am an orphan. I have no family, no name and no dowry even if I could have been married. I… always did kind of want to though, get married." she blushed again, fiddling with a piece of Inuyasha's dark locks.
While his master may have been an idiot when it came to humans and their behavior, Myoga was not, and quickly brought her attention to the door, where light was beginning to seep beneath it.
"Lady Kagome, look! Sunrise is upon us, surely master Inuyasha will awake at any time and we can make our escape."
"You're right Myoga, and thank the kami, this barrier was starting to get hard to maintain." She reached down and gently shook Inuyasha's good shoulder.
"Inuyasha, wake up." she shook him again, and his eyes slowly began to peek open, almost as if he hadn't been awake and listening to their conversation in the first place.
"Kagome?"
"I'm here," she responded. She helped him sit up, and as the light began to stream under the door in earnest, his features began to change. His hair faded into the brilliant white, his eyes changed from gray to molten gold.
"You're alright Inuyasha, thank goodness." Her eyes began to swell with tears, and those adorable ears of his flattened back against his skull as he spotted them.
"Aw Kagome, com'on don't cry!" She launched herself at him as the tears fell, balling against his chest as he brought his arms around her to hug her.
"It's ok Kagome, I'm alive ain't I?" He ran his claws along her braid, taking in every touch, every scent he thought he would never get again.
"And don't forget to let down the barrier, milady." Myoga pipped up before launching himself off Inuyasha's shoulder towards the door.
"Why that coward…" Inuyasha growled under his breath as Kagome sniffled and tried to get ahold of herself at least a little.
"Oh yeah, the barrier." She raised her hand, and it grew pink for a moment before fading away. The moment the pink barrier faded from sight, Kagome's eyes rolled back and she fainted in Inuyasha's arms.
"Kagome?! Kagome!"
If you like drinking games, enjoy a shot every time Myoga says "Milady". XD
