Ugg, don't know how long its been since I've updated, but I have a feeling that its been a while. Sorry about that guys, but I'm in all advanced classes and, of course, the teachers find it fit to give us project upon project upon project and a bunch of tests to boost. Not much of an excuse, I know, but its been enough to suck the creative life out of me.
Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha & crew or "duck and run" by 3 doors down. I also don't claim Patrick and Kat.
Duck & Run
Kagome woke up shivering and coughing violently in the arm chair she had fallen asleep in. She began to panic because she couldn't stop the coughing that seemed to have been brought on by a peculiarly familiar and strong 'dream'. With the coughing becoming more insistent she was panicking even more because she couldn't breath and she stood up, trying to call out for some one.
Now she was gasping and gripping onto the arm of the chair for support every few moment a burst of even more violent coughing brought upon her. She saw Inuyasha and Miroku sprinting down the stairs towards her and Sango coming towards her and reaching out to her all in a haze. Her brain felt fuzzy and suffocated and she continued to cough violently. Air came less often to her thirsty lungs and she gripped her throat with one hand. Everything was moving in slow motion and she gasped violently as her eyes started to flicker violently in their sockets.
Instead of moving from side to side she felt her eyes starting to roll into the back of her head as the tightening in her throat almost became too much to bear. The last thing she saw was Inuyasha coming up and taking her into his arms, and hearing a strained voice, "Inu…yasha."
"What… What the hell was that?!?!" asked a panicking Inuyasha as he lowered himself into a chair with her in his lap. He looked down at her and wondered if the pause in coughing was a good or bad sign.
Sango rushed to her friends side at last, "Is she breathing? It sounded like she was having some sort of asthma attack!" She quickly looked down at the frail looking girl and pressed her ear against her chest and her hand close to the girls mouth and nose. When she felt the rise and fall of her chest and the slight, warm breeze against her hand she breathed out in relief.
Miroku knelt down beside them all and stared at the girl, "Do you know if she has asthma Inuyasha? Or maybe she was having a panic attack."
"I don't think she has asthma. I've never seen her even get short of breathe like that. I hope it was just a panic attack…" He was still watching the girl in his lap nervously and with a deep pitted worry in his golden eyes.
"It seems she is fine now. It's only 7 in the morning and we can't do anything more for her, so let's all just go back to sleep. I think it'd be wiser to stay by her side though so we can help her if she needs it." Miroku finished his statement and hoped that it would calm the hanyou down for a bit. Once he saw Inuyasha's curt nod he let out a breath of relief and offered Sango the couch as he headed for the floor.
Sango blushed a bit before she said quietly, "It's big enough for us both. But it's going to be head to foot if I have anything to say about it, and if you try anything you're going to lose your hand." For a moment she couldn't believe that she offered him this chance, but got over it soon and lay herself down on the couch and watched as Miroku smiled gratefully to her and lay down with his head next to her feet. She looked at his own next to her face and grimaced a bit and shook her head. She wasn't ready for her face to this close to his while she slept yet, so this would have to do.
While the other couple fell asleep Inuyasha watched Kagome closely, watching her small pale face relax a little bit more into sleep instead of unconsciousness. Within a few moments he felt himself falling asleep with his face crouched next to her mouth and nose so he could continue to feel her warm breath against his skin. This was the only way he could feel comfortable enough to fall asleep because he could still make sure she was alright and alive.
A few hours later Kagome woke up to see everyone that had spent the night surrounding her. But the one obvious thing she noticed first was how Inuyasha's cheek was directly in front of her face and his body was in what looked like a very uncomfortable position to be doing so. She didn't know why but she leaned forward slightly and pressed her lips softly against his cheek and lingered for a moment and then leaned back again and smiled. He must be exhausted because she was almost positive that usually he would have woken up.
Her stomach growled and for once she felt like actually listening to it and eating. Today wasn't an anorexic feeling day; it felt like a joyous day because she'd just woken up in the lap of her love. Wait a second… Her love? Since when had she thought of loving Inuyasha, let alone him being her love? She gave her head a good shake before gently sliding out of Inuyasha's grip and shoving the warm blanket that had been over her into his grip so maybe he wouldn't notice her missing.
Since she didn't want to wake the others she just opened up one of cupboards and took out the peanut butter and some bread. Peanut butter sounded really good to her starving stomach so she quickly made two peanut butter slices and began to eat them slowly as she stepped outside into the fresh late morning air and sat on the step of the porch. It all felt peaceful, but something horrible was pressing at the back of her mind.
For the next two hours she remained outside gazing off into the sky and at the beautiful country surroundings until she heard signs of life in the house. Her dark blue eyes closed and she tried to focus her hearing to find out who it would be. It was too heavy of a step to be Sango and too loud of a step to be the considerate Miroku. That only left one other person, and she blushed when she thought of what she had done earlier the morning to him while he slept.
The few moments she waited seemed like too many for Inuyasha to stay so calm at her disappearance, but the silence was broken soon as she heard him rushing to the door and throwing it open violently. He seemed to be looking everywhere outside but at the step just a few paces in front of him as he yelled out, "KAGOME!!! KAAA---GOOOO---MEEEE!??!"
A smile reached her lips as she leaned back and tilted her head back so she was looking at him upside down, "Yes, Inuyasha?"
She relished in the look of shock on his face as he looked back to check and see that the other couple was somehow still asleep before he closed the door behind him. He walked towards her with an angry look on his face, "Just what do you think you're doing, scaring me like that?!"
"Oh, I didn't mean to scare you, I just got bored waiting for you guys to wake up and came out here to enjoy the nature. It really is beautiful out here." For once she didn't feel like arguing. It was as if her mood was too good to be spoiled for once, especially with the beautiful day and surroundings.
"Feh. You need to be careful, with that mangy wolf and Naraku out to kidnap you." He plopped himself down beside her and looked out at the countryside, and couldn't help but internally agree with what Kagome had said about it being beautiful. Though the beauty he saw outside wasn't in the countryside, but was in the girl that sat out in it.
When she noticed him staring at her she blushed and wondered for a moment if he knew about the kiss she'd given him that morning. She shook her head to make herself believe that it was impossible that he had.
"You worried Miroku and Sango this morning. What happened, are you sick?" He wanted to hug her close and check her over to make sure she was feeling better. Even if she looked less pale than she had earlier, she still didn't look perfectly well.
"I don't know, I just had an odd dream and woke up coughing. I couldn't breath and so I sort of started to panic, which obviously didn't help much. But I'm better now! Thanks for asking." She smiled and saw him scowl and blush and she knew she was right in guessing he was worried for her also.
"Feh, whatever. Just don't do it again." He laid back and looked up at the stars and also at the girl sitting beside him, which he now had a better view of.
"What! That's ridiculous, it's not as if I can HELP having dreams about weird feudal era adventures." She smacked him playfully before jumping a bit when he sat bolt upright and grabbed her by the shoulders.
He held him back from shaking her and he looked into her eyes, "What? You had them too? I thought I was going crazy when I had mine!"
"Yah…" She eyed him suspiciously and noticed with a bit of self-consciousness that he still had his hands on her shoulders. They seemed to touch a lot and the feeling of his strong body against her made her mind fuzzy just thinking about it. How he'd been holding her earlier that morning and she'd dared to give him a light kiss with him not noticing. Or so she thought.
"---Maybe this has some strange connection to you coughing so much. Maybe somebody is messing with our brains and yours is the most vulnerable…" he continued to talk to her, without even realizing she was distracted and had a slightly glazed look about her eyes when he finally looked at her and asked her a question, "But you're feeling fine now, right?"
She realized that he was still talking to her and shook herself out of her fantasy about Inuyasha to look up at him, blushing, "Huh?"
He gave her a look like she was an idiot and held his hand to her forehead before he asked again, slowly and loudly this time, "But you're feeling better now, right?"
"Oh! Yes, absolutely! I'm great now! Actually, I'm hungry again." She rubbed her stomach and smiled at him. Surprisingly, he smiled back at her.
He looked at her and realized that she looked completely adorable, sitting there rubbing her stomach like a little panda. He hid his grin and replaced it with one of his ruffled faces and hauled her onto his shoulders, "Good, because I was going to force feed you anyways. You look like a starved puppy and probably weigh just as much as one."
"Come on Inuyasha! Put me down! Now!" After a few wiggles he still hadn't put her down and she put on the most menacing voice she could while trying not to laugh, "Put me down or else!"
"'Put me down or else!'" He mocked her in a high pitched, over-exaggerated tone as he spun around in a couple circles on the porch with her on his shoulders. He could hear her trying to hide her giggles which just made him spin more and off the porch.
"I do… n-not sound like that! Now st-stop spinning so fa-ast!" she was now letting out bursts of giggles because he was spinning around as if it came naturally to him.
"What are you gonna do about it, little girl?" He asked her jokingly as he continued to spin with her on his shoulders.
"I… I'll puke on you, that's what!"
"As if you have enough in that stomach of yours! What, are you going to puke up something the size of a gumball?"
"Hey! If I puke, I'll puke A LOT and ALL ON YOU!" she threatened, but both of them knew she'd never do anything like that on purpose. She thought he'd never stop spinning when she felt him start to wobble a bit, "Oh, ho ho! Somebody is about to go down! Wobble, wobble, wittle Inuwasha! Wobble, wobble!"
"I'm not going to fall…" He felt himself give a dangerous teeter to his left and then knew the fun was over as he felt himself come crashing down. Right before he hit the ground he was smart enough to get her off his shoulders and somehow place her down before he came crashing down on her, with both of his hands on either side of her shoulders, holding him within mere inches of her lips.
Both of them were panting and didn't notice the other until a minute after when they'd caught their breaths and could feel the others on their lips. Their eyes caught and both of them lay there staring into the others eyes, trying to pull away yet longing to draw closer.
"Sorry Kagome. But it was your fault, you caught me off balance!" He was blushing furiously, but still hadn't moved from where he was. Of course, he couldn't hold up a sincere apology for too long unless it meant a lot to his relationship with her. He also loved to see the flame in her eyes light up when she grew angered at him.
She glared at him and then spat out, "Well, you didn't have to practically SIT on---" She stopped midway through her sentence when a sudden weight was slammed against her body and pressed her far into the ground. She felt the air being knocked out of her, only to be caught by the hard yet soft thing that crashed against her lips.
Her eyes widened when she realized that Inuyasha was the object that was pressed so heavily against her. His whole body covered her small one and it was his lips that were pressed against her own. Both pairs of lips were stiff and awkward and they both stared into each other's eyes, one pair of dark blue ones stunned and angered, the other pair of golden ones completely surprised and slightly panicked.
Somehow Inuyasha pulled his head to the side so it was pressed against her neck instead, and both of them were panting heavily. Yet Inuyasha still remained pressed against her and he was beginning to become aware of exactly what body parts of hers were touching him. The blush spread and so did the embarrassment as he tried frantically to move off of her.
"What the hell was that?! That kind of hurt Inuyasha!" She hadn't disliked it or anything, but the sudden impact of his body on hers and his lips upon hers had caught her so off guard that she didn't know how to react properly. Surely, it was a mistake, that Inuyasha would press himself so against her.
He was panting and trying to control his emotions as well as his demon side. He still couldn't remove himself from her, and wondered for a moment if it was some kind of instinct on his demons half. He breathed into her neck and apologized, "So… Sorry Kagome. I don't know what's wrong with me. It's as if something just shoved me down into the ground with all its strength and its now holding me here… I promised to get off you as soon as I can!"
He felt completely downcast and couldn't believe that this was happening. And here he was thinking that he could at least build a friendship with this beautiful girl that he already felt so drawn to. Now he'd ruined everything and she would probably never speak to him again, let alone want to be his friend! And to top it all off, he finally got his proof that she thought he was disgusting.
After a few more draining seconds he extracted himself from her and sat a little ways away from her as she sat up and brushed herself off. He watched her cautiously out of the corner of his eye, wishing that what had just happened would completely be erased from her mind.
Kagome brushed herself off and slowly began to calm herself down, reassuring herself that it was Inuyasha and he sounded genuinely sorry. Something was fishy about the whole situation. Normally, Inuyasha didn't seem the type that would throw himself so violently at a girl. Flashes of her stepfather pressing himself against her like that came through her mind and she instantly knew her day was ruined.
She fought down the bile and smiled at him, hoping he at least sort of bought it, "Don't worry about it, I was just really taken off guard by it." She stood up and then offered him a hand to help him up. He took it slowly, not so he could have help getting up, but just to make sure she was really still offering help to him.
As they both stood there awkwardly for a few minutes considering what to do or say next Sango and Miroku appeared at the door. Kagome guessed that there must be something on one of their faces from the way Miroku and Sango were gaping at them. She scrubbed at her face self consciously and then went to stick her hands in her jeans pockets from habit when her hands slid past where the hole should have been.
"What ARE you wearing Kagome?" Sango was rushing towards her, concern written clearly on her face.
Now they all were staring at not only what she was wearing, but the bruises and cuts across her legs. Kagome tugged at the odd looking skirt she seemed to be wearing. Her eyes looked around at them in a panic as she tried to cover her legs.
Now Miroku was circling around her, rubbing his chin in an almost thoughtful stance, "It looks to me as a school uniform skirt. But that's not the color of any school uniforms that I know of."
Sango quickly slapped him hard, "Stop checking her out! What's really important is how she got the bruises on her legs! Are you alright Kagome?"
She felt the world closing in on her and knew she was about to have another anxiety attack. She could bear with Inuyasha knowing how bad of shape she was really in, but having others that didn't seem to care as much know was freaking her out. Luckily she saw Inuyasha step in front of her and say grumpily in her defense, "The stupid wench just got kidnapped, remember?"
"Right, don't know what I was thinking. Weird skirt Kags. Well, we've got to go now… Umm, hope you figure out why you're wearing something so weird?" Sango waved to the other two and started to walk off with Miroku trailing behind her.
After the other two were out of sight Kagome let out a sigh of relief and Inuyasha looked down at her, scowling slightly, "You know, you should at least tell me how you really got those bruises. If somebody gave those to you, I'll beat the shit out of them and you won't have to worry about them anymore."
An uneasy smile came to her face as she laid her hand on his shoulder, "Don't worry about it Inuyasha, it's nothing. Really. Thank you for backing me up, I don't think I could have replied."
"I know, you kind of froze up like an icicle. Hmm, that's really weird. Were you wearing that skirt this morning? I could have sworn you were in jeans." He commented to her, and then to himself he also commented that if she'd been wearing a skirt he would have CERTAINLY noticed more. She looked sexy in a skirt, but the only thing ruining the image were the bruises all along her slender legs.
"I… I don't remember to be honost. I don't even remember if I've ever even OWNED a skirt. This is really weird, but I'd rather not think about it. Umm.." She ducked her head before looking back up at him quickly, "Would you mind me staying the rest of today? I mean, I have to leave at about five to go pick up Souta, but I still would like to hang out with you more." She commented to herself that she would also like to avoid encountering her stepfather as long as possible.
"Feh, whatever. Want something to eat?" he looked at her for a moment and again noticed how skinny she was, "Yes, you do. Come on in."
He grabbed her hand and dragged her into his house where he sat her down on one of the chairs in his kitchen. He then commenced to making ramen for the both of them. When he finished he walked over to her and sat down next to her, handing her a bowl as he began to shovel down his own.
Halfway through his bowl he actually looked up to see that Kagome was only playing with her food, "Don't waste the ramen Kagome! Eat it while its hot!" He pushed her bowl closer to her so she'd have to take notice of it.
A small smile came to her face, but he could tell it was strained. He watched her take a very small bite and smile again at him. For a moment he went on to his eating before he looked up again to see her playing with her food once more. He rolled his eyes and shoved it into her view again, "Come on Kagome! Your ramen is getting cold, eat and wake up!"
Another small smile and a shrug came to her as she took another tentative bite, "Sorry." And then she sipped a little of the broth before he went back to eating his own again. A few more minutes later when he was nearly at the bottom of his bowl he looked up again to see she was staring off into space and twirling the noodles pointlessly around her fork.
He let out a frustrated sigh and picked up her bowl, waving it beneath her nose before setting it down in front of her again, "Mmmm, food. Didn't your mother ever teach you not to play with your food?"
Somehow he thought the words stung her and hit a certain nerve and he instantly felt guilty. Maybe she didn't feel well? He put the back of his hand up against her forehead again and asked, "Hey, you sure you're alright?"
She shoved his hand away and avoided his eye contact and gave a nervous smile, "Yah, yah… I'm just not that hungry right now. Too much pizza! And I already had some peanut butter bread this morning."
He let out a little unsatisfied 'hmph' before leaning back and finishing his bowl then slamming it on the table, "It's almost 5 o'clock now, you should eat again. You must not be feeling well."
She felt her stomach threatening to growl in her hunger but then had her mind force it to the back of her mind so she would forget about it. The beating she would likely get tonight kept her from eating, because she didn't want to end up puking when she was hit repetitively.
"I'm feeling just fine. But it's almost five o'clock? I need to go pick Souta up! I hope his friends parents aren't mad at me for being late!" She pretended to be really worried about being late so he hurried and they both got into his car.
She continued to pretend to be worried while he drove so that he wouldn't talk to her and cause her to have to answer any awkward questions that would further make him believe something was dreadfully wrong in her life. When he pulled up to the house that Souta had been staying at she leaned over and gave him an uncomfortable hug and she smiled at him, "Thanks for the ride Inuyasha. And thank you for letting me hang out with you all weekend! We should do it again sometime soon!"
The smile Kagome gave him this time was genuine and he could tell that she truly wished to hang out with him again. He smiled back at her, happy that he hadn't completely ruined their friendship, before he replied, "Definitely! Oh, and I think we're having band practice on Tuesday night. Just as a heads up so you can tell your parents."
She started to close her door before Inuyasha yelled out for her to wait. She looked back at him questioningly before he asked, "Hey, you two want a ride to your house also? I wouldn't mind!"
A flash of dread reached her eyes before she patted the top of the car, "No thanks! See you Inuyasha!" she quickly shut the door of the car so he couldn't reply to that and she made her way up the short walkway to the suburban household.
I sapped up this chapter for you all because you deserve it for waiting so long! Umm, 10 reviews maybe?
Pay Backs a Bitch: Yay for Yahoo!
SSJ04 Mewtwo: Hmm, no, not reincarnates. That'd be too cliché! I'm going for something more original! You'll understand soon!
BlackParade: Thank you for caring if I would die! Hehe, I kind of sapped up this chapter!
Topazchick08: Thank you! Sorry for the long wait!
Tinkies: Sorry about the wait!
LunaCeres: I think that I said in one of the earlier chapters that he was at one of his friends houses all weekends.. But if I didn't, I definitely included it in this one!
Twinkie: Sorry about the wait! Oh, yes, don't you think that if he remembered anything wouldn't it be that one word? It has such a major impact on him! Haha
Inuyasha1818: Thank you! Sorry for the wait!
To this world I'm unimportant Just because I have nothing to give. So you call this your free country, Tell me why it cost so much to live, Tell me why. This world can turn me down But I won't turn away, oh no I won't turn around. All my work and endless measures. Never seem to get me very far, Walk a mile just to move an inch Now even though I'm trying so damn hard I'm trying so hard. This world can turn me down but I Won't turn away, And I won't duck and run, cause I'm not built that way. When everything is gone there is Nothing there to fear. This world cannot bring me down, No cause I'm already here, oh no! I am already here, Down on my knees, I am already here, on no, I am Already here. I must have told you a thousand times, I am not running away. I won't duck and run I won't duck and run I won't duck and run No pass away. This world can turn me down but I Won't turn away And I won't duck and run, cause I'm not built that way. When everything is gone There is nothing there to fear. This world cannot bring me down No cause I'm already here. This world can turn me down. But I won't turn away, And I won't duck away Cause I'm not built that way. When everything is gone there Is nothing there to fear. This world cannot bring me down, No cause I'm already here.