Chapter 3: What blooms between them

"Who the fuck are you?"

"Polite as ever, huh?"

"Fuck you."

"Mouth!"

"Answer me!"

Kagome lets out a struggled sigh and even stomps her foot on the ground, but really, she couldn't be any happier. "Listen, I can release you from that seal – I want to! But I won't until you calm down and listen to what I have to say." She tells him calmly. Inuyasha works like this: if you yell, he yells; if you speak calmly, he yells either way, but at least he'd be less agitated. Internally.

"The fuck I will!", he yells.

See?

"Your loss." Kagome shrugs and sits down on the roots, her back to him, and picks a fiction book from her bag.

Anytime now…

Her concentration honors the book until past the first two lines. As always, she can never read or study while in the feudal era. There's so much to be done here, so much to look and explore and think

She thinks of her life four hours ago; of how she ran from him, how she panted, of how she ached for him. Even now, when she's a lot calmer to think straight, Kagome can't shake the feeling that even as he chased her with red eyes and homicide intentions, maddened by his despair, he still was holding himself back for her sake, because there is no way in this twisted world she can win him in a run, even if he's dying.

She thinks of her life nine hours ago; of how he looked under the sunset-orange light shining on him from behind while he stood watching her drawing on the damp sand; of how much warmth his eyes held at that time before the sun set and of how that warmth vanished when excruciating pain jolted through him right after the sun was set.

She thinks, she thinks, she thinks–

"Such a bitch, fine!" Inuyasha grumpily grants after a few minutes.

Oh! Sooner than she thought. Kagome turns around and beams at him. "Thank you!", she sings, unsure if it's because of his cooperation or for saving her from her thoughts.

He rudely ignores her. "Whatever – Start talking. Who are you?"

Kagome rocks her body on the balls of her feet, stuffing her hands in her jeans back pockets. "Well… you see…" To tell him everything now is not the best idea. It takes time and he might not believe her. Maybe she should start with the basics and save the complicated part for friendlier days. "I can't tell you everything right now because you won't understand, but I promise I will!" she adds quickly. "And… well… I am Kagome. Higurashi Kagome, and I'm from the, uh, future." Twice.

Inuyasha wrinkles his nose. "Sure."

"Do you smell any lies?"

"Look, I've seen people lie and betra–"

"I'm not her."

Inuyasha's eyes widen, but soon harden again. "What the hell, wench?", he growls.

Kagome climbs up the roots until she's standing less than thirty centimeters from him. "I've told you already I am not Kikyou. – Human or youkai, I don't care."

"Sure, but hanyou–"

"All the better!" She cuts him off, smiling. "I would never betray you." Kagome looks in his eyes deeply, so he can see she is truthful and that he can trust her. She knows he wouldn't, though. Not so soon. "Since the day you were sealed it's been fifty years.", she started.

If he is shocked by the news or not, he doesn't let it show. "Why am I awake now? Kikyou'd never free me."

"Agreed.", Kagome nods. "But it was me who woke you up – In my distress earlier I was crying over something and this made you gain back your consciousness."

An annoying smirk shows on his lips and Kagome has to force herself not to smile. "I doubt it – I don't even know your name."

Forget the smile. Kagome gaped. "I've just tol–"

"Don't remember.", he miko clenches her teeth and growls, but instead of threatening, he finds the attempt very endearing. 'How cute, she growls.', he mocks, making a mental note to annoy her on a daily basis.

"It's Kagome. KA-GO-ME!"

"Whatever..." He shrugs absently, too horrified with his too-fast acceptance about this girl tagging along.

"You ––! Ahh, so annoying! Maybe I'll just leave you here to starve and die!"

"You wouldn't!"

And Inuyasha is shocked when he realizes she really wouldn't. Her scent contradicts her words, indicating she's just saying it out of anger.

Who is this woman?

"Please…" Her voice barely a whisper. "Believe me… You woke up from your sleep because of my smell of disturbance, but… Not really because of me, I…" She chews on her lower lip. To tell or not to tell? "IamKikyou'sreincarnation.", she finally blurts out.

And he snorts. "Now you're forcing it."

Kagome steps back, shocked to say the least. "What?! – Can't you see I'm just like her?"

"Are you crazy? Have you met the bitch?" He rolls his eyes. "She'd never, in fifty or in a billion years, thank me."

Kagome's stress instantly melts away when those words sink in and her eyes sting again. Of all the things she said since she found him conscious her 'thank you' is what struck him the most? He can't remember her name, but her little 'thank you' he can?

"Inuyasha, I–"

"How the hell do you know my name?!"… She gives him the look. "What?"

"Are you serious? I know about your entire past," And future, might I add. "How long you've been sealed, I'm going to free you and you still worry about your name?"

"It's all that I have!"

Kagome grabs his face between her hands and brings it close. Her eyes fierce as an eagle's. "Not anymore!" she hisses. "You have me now – I will free you and be with you until I'm no longer needed! I promise..."

To look away is all he wants to do, but it's the same as showing her he was weak, which he isn't. Instead, he narrows his eyes and snarls on her face. "Take your stupid human hands off me, bitch."

Not happening. This way she has all his attention. "Kikyou died moments after sealing you, thinking you attacked her in the woods for the shikon, but it wasn't you."

"No shit!"

"Let me finish!", she scolds. "It was Naraku, a shape-shifter hanyou who wanted the shikon to turn into a youkai. And it wasn't her who shot those arrows at you, he did. – He set all this up to put you both against each other and to obtain the jewel." Gosh, she only hopes he's getting it right. "That's why I'm here: to help you find him and kill him.", she finishes in a sigh, as though telling him this was exhausting.

Inuyasha only looks at her while digesting what he just heard. Everything in him screams she's lying, but the fact is that she wasn't, because her scent can't get any more pure. But, seriously, "Why are you helping me? Telling me this, freeing me, willing to go on a journey – why are you doing this?", he demands.

The woman beams brightly to him and, taking something from the pocket of her strange and whorish hakama, puts it around his neck, tying it together on his nape. And right after, to his complete shock and horror, kisses his nose. "Because we're friends!", she smiles.

"I don't have friends.", comes the automatic answer, but the hair on his neck and arms stands on end.

"You have me. And soon will have others." He scoffs and she ignores it. "I'll release you now. Don't kill me, okay?"

Inuyasha opens his mouth to answer, but it seems the girl doesn't need one, and even looks eager to free him, because before he could say a syllable she wraps her fingers around the arrow.

But then he blinks and she's gone with a loud punching sound, arrow still through his heart. Inuyasha scans the clearing with his eyes and looks in time to see her hit the ground painfully. Surely she just broke some ribs; he could hear the crack. It's because of that that he gasps surprised out of his mind when he sees the girl raising from the ground to her hands and knees, coughing and choking when she sees Mistress Centipede there.

"What?" Kagome breathes. "Didn't I kill you earlier?"

The centipede tilted its head to the side, chuckling. "Me? Maybe one of my countless stupid siblings, but not me. You'd never be able to."

It's strange, Kagome thinks, that her reaction to the situation is to give a low, throaty laugh. This is not something to laugh at. She just broke something and she's tasting a little blood. Laughing is the last thing she should be doing. "Funny. The other one told me the same thing before I killed it." Maybe she's spent too much time with Inuyasha and the chance to face a weaker being is now thrilling.

The monster snickers darkly. "Shut the big talk, ya ain't even got arrows!", it mocks.

"And I won't need a bow, either." Kagome says calmly while standing, clutching her side. "You can attack first."

Kagome notices the demon's eyes steal a glance at Inuyasha for a split second and horror gets a hold of her. "NO!", she shrieks in complete despair as she stretches her arm as if it would be of any help. She's in pain, she wouldn't move fast enough, but in the end, it isn't necessary, for around Inuyasha a pinkish barrier is protecting him. Kagome's eyes travel from her outstretched hand to the barrier and back again, unsure if it is really her doing. Although she's tried before, Kagome seems to never be able to form a barrier that is not around herself.

"Go ahead," Kagome growls through her teeth, piercing the monster with her blazing blue eyes. "Touch him."

Inuyasha understands that the centipede is a weakling, but that skin-and-bones girl can't be much either. To fight without a weapon is suicide for her, he thinks as he watches the centipede hiss and bare its ugly teeth angrily at the woman. Her words have put him on edge, making him rack his brain for a possible reason as to why the hell she wants him alive, but he never finds one. A loud hiss snaps him out of his muses to the battle before him and his eyes go wide when he sees the centipede launching itself towards the girl, its intention being clear when the insect touches its target. The girl jerks a little but the centipede disappears in a puff of dust. Simply vanishes.

'What the fuck?!' Inuyasha opens his mouth several times to ask what happened, but then he notices the amount of ashes at her feet and it is answer enough.

He looks startled at her. "A miko? You're a miko?!", he yells at her and Kagome has to suppress the urge to facepalm herself. She's forgotten how clueless Inuyasha is in the beginning.

"As you can see." She limps back to him with certain difficulty. It seems that more than just her ribs are broken, but she'll look at it later. "So…", she begins when she's before him again. "Can I really trust you are not going to kill me?"

Inuyasha snarls. "I could ask the same thing, miko."

And, oh so childish… "I could never defeat you. – You are too strong for me.", she smiles. It's true, after all.

Inuyasha's eyes go wide for a moment or two before he averts them from hers and grumbles "I don't have reasons to kill you so get me outta here already."

She does.