The Bride Chapter 4

"I couldn't see what he did that was so special," Kagome's father said. "He just fed them." The family had just finished eating their dinner. Sota had left to bathe and her father was sitting in his chair visibly trying to make sense of their afternoon.

"Dear, I have a feeling this had nothing to do with our cows, strange things are definitely afoot." Kagome's mother scraped the leftover stew into a bowl.

"Here," she said to her daughter, "Inuyasha is waiting; take him his dinner."

Kagome carried the bowl to the back door and stepped outside.

"Are you hungry?" she called into the dark.
He landed in front of her, snatched the bowl from her hand, and started off to his hovel.

Before she could catch herself she had called out to him. "Wait!"

"Why should I?" Despite his retort, he stopped moving but didn't turn around, ears twitching, waiting for her to continue.

Now Kagome had been having odd feelings since this afternoon. She wasn't exactly sure what these feelings were but she knew they were somehow related to the half-demon as they only manifested when the Countess had shown him the extra attention. Kagome didn't understand why she had been compelled to call out to him. Perhaps it was due to the odd feelings, but if it were the odd feelings that caused her to stop him then it must have been her inability to name or explain these feelings that left her standing there in the doorway staring at the boy.

After about a minute, he turned around and eyed her with annoyance.
"Are you going to keep staring at me because it's ticking me off. If you got something to say, say it."

"Oh, I'm sorry, it must have slipped my mind."

Inuyasha responded with his typical "Keh." But as he walked away shaking his head, Kagome swore she heard him muttering about women. Both of her parents looking at her questioningly when she came back into the kitchen.

"Everything alright darling?" Her father asked.

"I must be tired," Kagome managed, "All the excitement from the visitors today."

"Don't worry too much, rest," her mother cautioned, "unfortunate things can happen when you're overtired."

Kagome heeded her mother's advice, scooped up her cat, and went to lie down. With Buyo securely in her arm, she pulled her blanket up over them both. When her head hit the pillow Kagome said a quick prayer to the Baku for pleasant dreams and she closed her eyes.
The Countess was staring at Inuyasha.

Kagome shook her head, what an odd thing for her to be thinking about. To clear her mind she got out of bed, undressed, and washed herself off. She splashed some water on her face, put on her nightgown, got back into bed, snuggled down into the sheets, pet the displaced cat, and closed her eyes. The Countess was still staring at Inuyasha!

Kagome hurried out of bed and into the kitchen. She got a cup from the counter and moved to the sink. After filling her cup with water she brought it to her lips and drank it. Again she filled the cup but this time she placed a cloth in it. When the cloth was completely submerged she wrung the water out then blotted her head. She seemed to be a little feverish, that explained it.

How was she feverish? She felt fine. Kagome never got sick. She dumped the water and placed the cup on the counter, marched to her room, shut the door (a little harder than she intended to), and got into her bed. After making sure she was comfortable and well covered, she shut her eyes. The Countess would not stop staring at Inuyasha!

Why? Why in the world would this woman, the woman who in all the history of Musashi was in all ways, skill, looks, raw power, deemed perfect, be interested in that half-demon? These thoughts alone kept Kagome restless and awake. There was simply no other way of explaining her intense stare, the way she spoke, or her willingness to be led by him - she was interested. Kagome squeezed her eyes tight, trying to block the memory of the Countess. But the memory wouldn't fade if anything she only saw it more vividly. Clearly, something had interested her about the half-demon. But what? He was just as rude to the Countess as he as to everyone else. There was nothing attractive about that attitude. Though the Countess did seem to find him amusing. He did have eyes golden like honey in the sunlight, but who cared about eyes? His silver hair was uncommon if you were into that sort of thing. He did have adorable ears and they seemed to have a mind of their own. And when compared to the Count's ears Inuyasha's were fairly interesting. When he smiled, truly smiled, his fangs would peek out. And those fangs set against his skin, she had to give credit where credit was due. But his appearance aside, he was wild, full of himself, angry, stubborn, and he was the opposite of understanding. How could anyone want that? The Countess's interest made no sense.

As a thought occurred to Kagome bolted from her bed and yelled, "Aura!"

Her mother knocked on the door to make sure she was okay, and Kagome apologized for being loud and startling her mother. Then she returned to her previous thought.

It had to be his aura. Inuyasha had a way of calming people down. Being near him brought a warmth that made one feel safe, like a warm hug. This line of thought made her laugh, it was silly to think about how being around him made her felt because the moment he opened his mouth his attitude ruined it.

But could it be anything else? Kagome thought long and hard. She had to admit that when the half-demon went into town the girls didn't run from him as they did from other demons. In fact, if she had to admit it, they actually kind of followed him. From a distance, sure, but they still followed him. He always ignored them, he wasn't exactly social or friendly for that matter. They certainly wouldn't follow him for his winning personality. If he had talked to them, they would have seen that the only thing comforting about him was his aura.

It was really very strange to her then, that a woman as beautiful and slender and feminine and graceful, a perfect creature, well dressed and mannered as the Countess should be hung up on Inuyasha's aura. The Count's aura was equally powerful. Kagome sighed. Why were people so curious? Solving this mystery had indeed taken her a while and now the hour was late. With her conundrum now resolved, Kagome grabbed Buyo, snuggled into her blankets, and once she let herself relax. She closed her eyes and let out a peaceful sigh.

Women don't look at men the way the Countess looked at Inuyasha because of their aura.

Kagome growled but she refused to open her eyes

Much to her dismay now the half-demon was staring back at the Countess. Kagome was standing there watching as the half-demon looked, for the first time, deep into the Countess's eyes as he was feeding the cows, his ears twitching.

Kagome flew out of bed and began pacing the length of her room. How could he? Oh, it was all right if he looked at her, but he wasn't just looking at her, he was looking at her. But why did Kagome care? Why did this bother her?

"She's much older than him," Kagome assured herself, starting to stomp about. That had to be it. She was looking out for the half-demon. The Countess was well over twenty and he was maybe seventeen, she was far too old for him. Since when did nobles come to farmhouses to investigate their livestock? Did she know she was coming to a farm? If she did she was dressed ridiculously for the occasion, no one feeds cows in a dancers' kimono. And who only wears a kimono once?

Kagome fell to her bed and hugged her pillow. The kimono was ridiculous before she went to the cowshed, all those colors accompanying the pattern, it was much too busy. And her makeup wasn't quite the right color, and her lips were a little too small, her eyes slightly too big, and her skin too powdered and… and… and…

Kagome began to cry out of frustration. She didn't care that the Countess was older, she cared that she was interested. Kagome realized she was jealous. Her jealousy was great, probably in the top five greatest cases in history.

Kagome had never really wanted for much in her life that she didn't get immediately, so this feeling was new to her. And her hostile thoughts towards the near-perfect Countess left her feeling guilty. And the guilt on top of the jealousy was an even more foreign feeling to her. She found it rather unpleasant.

This particular combination of unpleasant feelings made for a very long and distressing night.