Author's Note: Another exciting chapter. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I wrote my first Inuyasha fanfiction thirteen years ago. And still, I own none of the Inuyasha series or its characters. So sad.
.
.
Chapter 7: In the Dead of Night.
.
.
Kagome
"This is the stupidest thing I've ever let you talk me into," Sango said, shooting a heated glare Kagome's way.
At least, Kagome thought Sango was glaring. She couldn't tell because it was pitch black inside the closet. Kagome had felt crammed last time she had been in the small room, and with Sango, it was ten times worse.
"Just trust me," Kagome muttered.
"Yeah, you've said 'just trust me' over a hundred times in the last hour, Kagome. But you won't tell me what I'm supposed to trust you with. And now we're stuck in the museum. All night."
Kagome rolled her eyes, even though Sango couldn't see her. "The point is to get stuck." She felt kind of bad, not telling Sango why they were hiding in the closet, but if she spilled, Sango probably wouldn't believe her… scratch that – Sango absolutely wouldn't believe her.
Kagome still couldn't quite wrap her head around it herself. It was like she had two memories in her head – one where she hadn't known Inuyasha existed, and the other where she'd known all along. And why did it take her touching the mirror again for all those memories to come back? Her knees shook when she remembered Kikyou appearing out of nowhere, forcing Inuyasha back into the mirror, and then commanding her minion to rip that weird marble out of her insides… She had obviously stumbled upon something dangerous… really dangerous.
But Kagome was never one to back down when she'd been wronged, and it pissed her off that Kikyou had erased her memories. Who was she to decide what Kagome could or could not remember? She felt violated, which made her angry. Plus, now she'd uncovered a three-hundred-year-old legend. She had about a million questions and she wanted answers, and she was determined to get those answers from the hanyou tonight.
Like, for instance, what was up with that kiss? Thinking of that kiss made her knees shake for a completely different reason, and the more she thought about it, the more irate she became. How dare some god-like hanyou stroll in and kiss her in such a way so that perfectly acceptable, normal kisses just weren't good enough anymore? She'd been fine with Hojou's kisses before, and Inuyasha had ruined that for her. She was determined to get him to fix it. She didn't know how she would make him do it, but she would.
"Check the time again?" Kagome asked, and Sango whipped out her phone and flipped it open.
"We've been in here for an hour and a half. Can we leave? This is not my idea of fun on a school night."
"It should be okay now, everyone should be gone," Kagome said. She reached out for the door handle, fumbling a bit in the dark, before grasping it in her hand and opening the door.
It was just as she remembered from a week ago as she and Sango made their way back into the cavern. Half the torches extinguished, casting extreme shadows everywhere she looked. She felt nervous again, although it wasn't the same panicked feeling as before. These nerves were subtle, they felt real. Will he be the same? She wondered as she led the way to the mirror. Part of her, the realist part, still scrambled to shake this whole thing off as just a crazy dream,
"So what now?" Sango asked, rubbing her arms against the chill. "This is creepy, what did you want me to see?"
Hesitantly, Kagome stepped forwards, closer to the mirror. "Inuyasha?" She called out softly. There was a quiver in her voice. "Inuyasha, are you there?"
"Kagome…" Sango said, shaking her head. "You've totally lost it. You're talking to a mirror. I think we need to-"
"It's about damn time you decided to show up," Inuyasha growled, appearing from the darkness of the glass and cutting Sango off. "What the fuck took you so long? Do you have any idea what it's like to be locked up in here?"
"What the hell!" Sango cried, but Kagome wasn't listening.
How could she have possibly forgotten about him? It was as if he took up every corner of her mind, every thought process. He wore the same clothes – or lack thereof, she thought – those same ears twitched atop his head as his eyes locked onto hers, heated and angry.
"Kagome, what the hell?!" Sango repeated, grabbing onto her arm, just as Inuyasha said: "Stop fucking staring at me, wench. What took you so damn long?"
"I forgot…" Kagome said, then cleared her throat and tried again. "I forgot about you. I forgot about everything. Why did I forget?" She absent-mindedly brushed Sango's hand from her shoulder.
The hanyou snarled, his lips pulled back from his teeth. "The witch made you forget, obviously. She probably threw something in that spell to keep you away from here also."
She nodded. "I felt sick with nerves any time I even thought about the museum."
"Makes sense," he grunted. "But still, what's it been, a week?"
"Five days."
His eyes shifted and narrowed, as if he were doing calculations in his head.
"Kagome," Sango took advantage of the silence. "What the hell is going on?" She pulled at Kagome's arm, forcing her to face her. Sango's eyes were wide, her mouth open, and she was shaking slightly. Kagome suddenly felt like a horrible friend, dragging her along without explaining anything.
"Sango, this is Inuyasha. Remember that story the guide told us?"
"This is him?" She asked, her voice raising an octave higher than it normally did. "This is the three-hundred-year-old youkai trapped in the mirror." It came out like a statement. "A youkai." She stared Kagome down. "Trapped in a mirror." She added when Kagome didn't reply. "By magic."
"I know it's hard to believe, but-"
"Hard to believe!" Sango barked out a sharp laugh. "This is impossible! This isn't happening! I'm dreaming."
"I thought that at first too, but I-"
"Oi, wench!" Inuyasha interrupted from the mirror. "You need to let me out again."
Kagome whipped back to face the hanyou. Explaining things to Sango would just have to wait.
"What if she comes back?" The thought of Kikyou sent a chill crawling up her spine.
"Keh. Kikyou won't be back for another two nights." His forearm rested up against the other side of the glass. Kagome could see the defined muscles wrapped around his ribs moving like liquid as he breathed. She tried to focus on something else. Like his ears. They were cute and not intimidating.
"How do you know she'll wait until then?"
"Because she comes every week, same time, same night, like clockwork." He growled.
Sango spoke up then. "That's not right, the guide told us the priestess comes every night. At midnight."
"By all means," Inuyasha snapped, "believe everything the guide says. It's only a three-hundred-year-old legend. She couldn't possibly have her facts wrong."
"Be nice," Kagome hissed.
He narrowed his eyes again, zeroing in on her. "Are you going to let me out or what?"
She'd been asking herself the same question. She'd have to kiss him again to release him, and while she yearned deep inside to feel those lips of his on her again, she was afraid of losing herself. And then there was Hojou to think about. Her life was quickly spinning out of the realm of normality. She was clinging to the idea of keeping a normal boyfriend with the last of her strength.
But it was hard, keeping Hojou in mind, when Inuyasha was so… otherworldly. And she remembered what it felt like to kiss him. She remembered the way her body had reacted. She remembered everything.
"How did I suddenly remember everything?" She asked then, folding her arms. "I got close to the mirror and suddenly felt fine, and I realize that was part of the spell to make me forget, but how did I remember?"
The hanyou fidgeted, his ears twitched. He looked away. Finally he shrugged. "I gave you your memories back." He glared at her through the glass. "When you touched the mirror I was able to make you remember."
"Why did you want me to remember?"
"Isn't it obvious?" He growled. Then ran a hand through his hair, continuing when she didn't reply. "You're the only one who can get me the fuck out of here. Everyone else I've shown myself to over the years has either run screaming, or Kikyou has kept them away. You're the first one in all these years to actually come back!"
Kagome's jaw dropped open.
Sango whistled low and long. "Kagome, I don't think this is such a good idea…."
"What will you do once you're out?" Kagome asked, ignoring Sango's doubts.
"Keh, I'll have to go into hiding, of course. That bitch will be after me once she realizes I'm gone."
"Well, where will you go?"
He frowned. "I'll manage." They stared at each other over the silence, on either side of the mirror. Why was the thought of him wandering around in a time that was three hundred years his future so depressing?
"You won't hurt me?" She asked.
"I won't hurt you." He said.
He could be lying. But he hadn't tried to kill her before. In fact, he'd been almost… protective of her. She recounted the way he'd kept her behind his back, the way he'd told Kikyou to leave her out of it. The way he'd pounded frantically against the mirror as Kikyou's minion had ripped into her flesh. She wanted to ask him about the marble, but really, this probably wasn't the time. If she was going to have any success at getting him out of the museum, they'd have to act fast, before the guards interfered.
Yes, Inuyasha could be lying, but Kagome was nothing if not trusting. She took a step forward. Sango's hand shot out and grabbed onto her arm.
"Kagome, don't!" She said, eyes wide.
Kagome smiled and placed her hand over her friends'. "Sango, he's been in there so long," she said. "And against his will. He tried to protect me before, and he did give me back my memories."
"That's probably not a good thing considering he's a youkai! Forgetting about all this would be better protection!"
"He needs my help," was all she said. She marched right up to the mirror and placed her hands on the glass.
Inuyasha knelt down, inches away from her. His face took her breath away. Full lips and smooth skin and long, gorgeous hair. And his eyes, if possible, were more beautiful and intense than she remembered. Just get this part over with quickly, she thought, trying to keep her boyfriend in mind, and closed her eyes, pressing her lips against the mirror.
It took a few seconds, but his lips were on hers again. As soon as she felt the soft pressure of him against her, she pulled back, but his hand was pushed into her hair then, and he pressed her to him, keeping the connection.
She melted. She couldn't help it. All rational thought had been doused. He opened up to her and demanded she respond as he stepped fully out of the mirror. And she did, wrapping her arms around his neck and crushing herself to his chest. This was it. This is what had been missing from Hojou's kisses. This is what she'd been yearning for, without even knowing it. He nipped at her lips, pulling and nibbling, his tongue making her forget who she was.
"Kagome!" Sango hissed, and suddenly, she came back to herself. Horrified at her lack of rational thought, she pulled away, fighting his strength as he tried to keep the kiss going. She pushed against his chest, and he growled, refusing to let her go. She reached up, tugging at his hair, but it only seemed to excite him. Moving her hand around, panicking, she felt something warm and fuzzy. It twitched when her fingertips grazed it. His ear! She grabbed onto it and yanked it back with all her might.
"Fuck!" he cried, dropping her into a panting, gasping heap on the floor and bringing his hand up to massage his wounded appendage. "What the hell?" He growled. "Bitch!"
Kagome shuffled back on the floor until she ran into Sango who helped her up. Her friend's gaze was glued to the hanyou, who had just magically come out of the mirror in front of her own eyes.
"I don't believe it," she whispered.
Still feeling breathless from the kiss, Kagome rolled her eyes. "Believe it," she muttered.
Inuyasha glared right at Kagome, still nursing his ear. "You didn't have to fucking tear it off," he growled.
"You wouldn't stop kissing me," Kagome accused.
He sniffed, crossing his arms. "Don't pretend you didn't like it wench, you were all over me."
"It's Kagome, remember? Not wench." She huffed. "And I was not all over you."
"You were kinda all over him," Sango agreed. She winced at Kagome's traitorous look. "It's not like I can blame you, I mean…." She let her words hang, her gaze raking over the half-naked hanyou standing in front of them.
Inuyasha shrugged. "Don't make a bigger deal out of it than it needs to be. It takes a kiss to get me out, and I have been stuck inside that damn mirror for centuries now. It doesn't matter at this point if an ugly-butt kisses me to set me free, I'd kiss a goat if it were a female at this point."
Kagome bristled. The nerve of him, kissing her like that and then comparing her to a goat. What was his problem? She was helping him. "Sorry for being such an ugly-butt," she sneered. "Next time why don't you just show yourself to someone pretty? And you wouldn't let me go this time, I tried to stop the kiss. I have a perfectly gorgeous boyfriend who I kiss every day, thank you very much."
His eyes locked onto hers then, and a grin spread across his face - slow, dangerous and sexy. "Ka-go-me," he said, pronouncing her name slowly, the way she'd first said it to him. "The way you kissed me says you don't have a boyfriend."
"I don't mean to break up this heart-warming chit-chat we have going on here, but we're standing in the middle of a museum at night time, we're locked in, and we've just pulled a freaking youkai out of a mirror –"
"Hanyou," both Kagome and Inuyasha corrected her at once.
Sango narrowed her eyes, looking back and forth between them. "Whatever. The point is, how the hell are we getting out of here? And if we do get out, what the hell do we do with him?"
The grin was back on Inuyasha's face again. "Don't worry about getting out of here, wench," he said. "Leave that to me."
.
.
Sorry lovely readers, I know this one took a bit longer to get out. Honestly I had most of this chapter written out, but I didn't like it, so I trashed it and started over. Hope you like this version!
Please remember to review, I'm serious about my writing and my stories, and if you have anything to comment about or anything to mention or anything to say, I would love to hear it.
~SugarRos
