Forbidden Attraction

Chapter Five

I was used to this. This thrill, the exhilaration, the pure and exotic ecstasy. I wasn't prepared for it, though. I thought I was, but in all undeniable truth, no one can say that they've seen more excitement than this. Me, well, I just loved every minute, the smell of sweet sweat, the anticipation, the anxiousness for the final strike until your mind can succumb to heaven for the pleasure of feeling those 'right' moment spasms. And I repeat, those 'right' moment spasms.

I doubt anyone can correctly describe the feeling of sliding into home plate after your bat has smashed into the ball, sending your fellow three players out on the field home as well. Or the feeling of people that you know absolutely nothing about screaming your name at unimaginable pitches. It's incredible.

We were into play offs and we had two more teams to play until we made it to semi-finals. I couldn't wait; that's all that was on my mind when I grabbed my heavy load of gear, and without pulling my helmet off or tossing my cleats into the bag, I raced into the eccentric crowd. I searched the crowd, for who, I didn't really know, neither did I get a chance to think about it because two unmistakably male arms grabbed me up.

I braced my fists while kicking frantically and wildly. Whoever it was would drop me sooner or later. Hopefully, sooner rather than later. Then I would get a chance to smash the person's face in!

The moment my feet touched the ground my fist swung around and was clasped into the male's palm. He pulled off my helmet; it was probably a good idea anyway seeing as I could see him better while it was off.

I breathed.

I'd told this stupid idiot numerous of times to never sneak up on me and here he is laughing. He hasn't learned his lesson yet.

My mouth opened to tell him, once again, that if he snuck up on me one more time then I was going to seriously consider bashing his head in with my baseball bat.

His laughing mouth planted itself on my frowning one. As subtly as I could, I pulled away. My recent thoughts, from two weeks before, still had not escaped me, not fully anyway.

His curiosity on his face brought me back to present and my right arm tingled. Tingling made me feel guilty, like I was betraying someone.

I sighed. It wasn't until now that I noticed the dissipating crowd.

"Koga, it's time to go."

'Inuyasha's not here.'

I was vaguely aware of Koga's face bending into my view. Even his beautiful, eye-catching electric blue eyes couldn't completely rein my focus in tonight and I wanted him to let go, he was too close.

"Something the matter, Kags?"

'Something the matter, Sis?'

I cringed. I'm obsessed with him now. That's just great. Absolutely peachy.

I groaned and pulled away from Koga.

"Could we please just go home? It's late and I'm tired."

I turned my eyes to the dark where I knew his car would be.

"And you're sure you're okay?"

I had only half-way listened to his question so only part of me was planning on giving him an answer. Which means, in so many words, that I said nothing.

"Kagome?"

I must've jumped five feet in the air, well that's what it felt like, but truthfully, my head only turned towards him with a smile already planted on my face.

"Oh, no sorry, I'm fine, I promise. C'mon K, do you want my mom to like you even less?"

I moved towards the darkness until Koga gripped my arm a little tighter. I glared up at him conveying what I thought was a very clear message.

"We can stay here for a little bit right?"

Was it not clear? Was I too vague when I said I was tired? I don't get what's the issue with guys, but whatever it is, I think they could all use hearing aids. That bashing with the bat thing was still up for an offer.

"No. I want to go home."

I'm sure he heard what I said. I mean, he is a demon, and he's a demon with a human body, so I know he's not that incompetent. I know he's probably ten centuries old- exaggeration by the way- but even ninety-two year old humans don't have hearing problems like this ten century year old demon does.

"Look we can go in the snack shack-."

I snatched my arm away.

"Snack shack and do what?" I lowered my voice to a whisper just in case there were a few stragglers even though I could see no one around. "I told you I wasn't ready for that yet. And I'm not going to be until I'm married got that?"

My helmet clanged when it was released to the ground. It was then that I knew he was becoming impatient; he tended to do stupid things when he was impatient, quick to a temper. Knowledge of that quick temper had my hand reaching to slide my bat out of the top of the bag at the same moment he lunged for my arm again.

Don't get all panicky; Koga and I have been through this numerous of times. It's not like he can die…easily…

"What're you gonna do with that huh?"

I opened my mouth to repeat what I've already said millions of times. I would not be the victimized girlfriend.

"I think," My head whipped around faster than anyone could say stop in stop, drop and roll, "she's planning to hurt you with it wolf breath. She wanted you to take her home right?"

Oh, no, these two are going to start a fight, and then I'm going to be kicked off the team, and then my future in college softball will never be realized!

"Stay out of it mutt face."

When Inuyasha didn't answer I knew something was wrong. Usually when the two of them got into fights Inuyasha would be trying to bite Koga's face off as we speak. Instead he called out,

"Kagome, let's go."

I bent down to grab my helmet and adjusted my bag on my shoulders.

"What, you scared of a fight?"

"Bye Koga, call me when you're not acting like an idiot." I interrupted before Inuyasha could answer back with a retort.

"Are you going to really leave with mutt face right now?"

I chose not to answer him. He could clearly see me, I mean he couldn't be deaf, dumb and blind. Could he?

I backed into the darkened parking lot where I heard Inuyasha's voice coming from. I couldn't see him all that well, which was weird, so I followed his footsteps to what was assumed to be his car. His car beeped to life and he slid into the driver's seat. I tossed my bag in the back and slid into the passenger side.

"Why're you here?"

I couldn't stand the silence; he was being too weird.

"Yai called me and asked if I could pick you up since she couldn't. I tried to tell her I was occupied, but she threatened to kill me if I didn't come. Wouldn't be too hard to do on a night like this…"

A night like this….I felt like I should know what he was talking about, like I should understand what 'a night like this' meant without him saying it. I decided not to ask in case he decided to add it to my list of being neglectful.

I looked out the window.

"You sure can see the stars more than any other night."

My personal driver grunted.

"Maybe that should be something to look forward to."

Again with the hints, but I didn't get it. I sighed, it does look beautiful with no moon, but it's so dark. I sat straight up in my seat. Oh, no moon.

I reached up to turn on the lights.

I looked at him in just enough time to see his cascading midnight tresses pulled back into a ponytail at the nape of his neck; his violet eyes turned towards me in surprise as he automatically reached up to snap it back off with a subtle click as it pushed in and out again.

"Why do you do that Inuyasha? It's not something to hide from."

"There are too many demons out here that would take advantage of my weakness." He said in a voice that suggested he didn't want to have this conversation. Again.

"Being human is not a weakness."

"Well, fine then, if you want another explanation so badly, here goes; I don't like being human."

The car came to a stop in front of my shrine. I looked out the window, towards the long steps that I knew was going to be a pain in the tushy since he was human tonight.

"Your girlfriend is human," I opened the door, "Both of our moms are human," and since I had pushed the door button on my side it came on as well. I faced him to debate whether or not I should say the next one. Something in my heart told me he needed to hear it, "I'm human Inuyasha."

I didn't stay to watch how his face would change; I slammed the door closed before he could finish the K rolling off of his tongue. My feet had made it up five steps before I heard another door open and slam close. And here we go with the yelling, on his part anyway. I didn't turn around until we reached the top.

I didn't want the drama tonight, I was too tired, but did Inuyasha get that I was done talking? No, and do you know why? Because he's part of the male species.

"You hear me talking to you, right?"

"Yeah, and you know you're not supposed to park in front of these stairs, right?"

His hand touched my arm, but he didn't grab me. I stopped, and grudgingly listened.

"What?"

"We haven't spent that much time together so I don't want us to fight now."

My body pulled in on itself, cringing. There was that feeling again.

"I love the three of you:" My stupid heart started pumping even though he had said three, "you, Mom and Yai;" He hadn't mentioned Kikyo, "I have issues though, you've accepted me, but there are people out there who won't and never will."

I rolled my eyes to look him in the eye.

"I get it. They don't like it, but you can't do anything about it so why resent it? Embrace your human just like you've embraced your demon. Both of them make you, you, and I like you just the way you are. Human. Demon. Or half-demon."

The silence that followed was, needless to say, tense. That's not a common occurrence with us, but when it does happen it gets just a bit awkward. Awkwardness was not something I was willing to deal with. So, when his hand became blazing and his eyes became glazed over and his mouth parted slightly, I did something about it.

My breath hitched in my throat and then I brushed his hand off my arm, I could concentrate better.

"I-um…I mean do you…want to come inside for a minute? I'm sure mom has some warm food cooked for me. I can share some."

He looked at me and stood there as if he wanted to bolt as fast as he could. I smiled like I hadn't noticed a thing.

"I could tell you all about my awesome game tonight and what our reward is."

He grinned back, but like mine, it seemed forced.

"Well, since Yai is cooking and not you, sure."

I spun for the door, but still threw a retort over my shoulder.

"I can still cook better than you Yash, human, demon, or half."

The door opened before I could search for my keys. Sota stood in the doorway with a childlike grin plastered onto his face. My eyes rolled in their sockets. Anyone could tell when the little twerp was up to something.

"Hey Sota."

"Eh, kid, how'd you know we were outside?"

My little brother looked towards Inuyasha with a sparkle in his eye, a sparkle that caused my own to narrow.

"I obviously looked out the window and saw you two yelling at each other."

The door opened wider and Sota looked up at Mom who was grinning at Inuyasha as soon she'd laid eyes on him. I pouted. She never looked at me like that when I came home.

"Come inside you two. I know you want some privacy, but wouldn't it be better to have your lover's spat away from the cold?"

I cringed- I seem to be doing that a lot lately- and for the life of me I couldn't stop the blush that was racing across my face like a fire in dry woods. Sota didn't back me up like a little brother was supposed to. No, all he did was worsen the situation by laughing and pointing out the evidence of my likeness for Inuyasha. But, Inuyasha didn't react any differently, not that I could tell anyway, as he passed me I heard a sigh escape from his lips- the past reaction that would also come from me and a yell or two- and he continued to walk past me into the house, ruffling my brother's hair roughly as he went, and muttering a quick threat for him to shut-up or face the consequences.

My teeth ground against each other- maybe I was trying to chafe away my newly found feelings for him...it didn't work- I didn't hesitate to punch Sota in the arm for laughing, and yet I was the one scolded for knocking him to the ground.

My bag found its way onto the floor next to our staircase and then I went to join the others at the kitchen table where Mom was setting plates. A half of my portion was already gone, that explained Inuyasha's miracle plate. I sat down across from Sota, already beginning to dig into my own plate.

"I'm sorry you don't have more Inu, but I wasn't expecting you tonight."

My eyes flew to my mom's when Inuyasha's old baby nickname crossed the room in her cheerful tone of voice. Part of me reasoned that he would complain, but he didn't bat an eyelash.

"No, that's fine Yai. Kags promised me some of hers anyway, right Kags?"

A boyish grin tugged at his lips, pulling them apart to reveal what would've been fang and all if he'd been a half-demon tonight. I nodded.

"How nice of my little Gome."

Sota and I must have choked out our food at the same time because when I looked over at him he was wiping food from his chortling mouth. I wanted to thrash him.

"Mom, please don't call me that." I didn't yell, hm, maybe my exhaustion was getting to me.

"Why not Gome? I think its adowable," Sota cooed.

Oh, yeah, I was definitely going to kill him when I had the energy to do so. At least Inuyasha was smart enough to ignore us and focus his full attention to his plate. All Mom did was politely, and tightly, press her fingers to her lips as she left the room to try and constrain the guffaws I knew she wanted to yield to.

Now that she was gone, I could feel the cruel smile pulling my mouth at an odd angle and I knew that my voice would sound dangerously sweet to the ears of everyone else.

"Sota, if that mouth of yours isn't filled with food in the next two seconds I am going to destroy you when neither of those beautiful brown eyes of yours are submerged into the light of day. Got that Ta Ta?"

Sota face literally paled at the use of his old baby nickname. It sounded like ta-da except the'd' was replaced with the't'. It came from Sota's old passion of magic tricks. I used to hate his magic tricks when I was younger and he loved them, until I magically showed him how he would lose his finger if he attempted to put me in a box and cut me up again.

Inuyasha was trying desperately to hold his own.

Sota next step was to gulp and shove more of his food in the moist cave that was his mouth.

"Sota dear," my mom's voice called out, "come help me for a minute."

His eyes averted away from mine; he wasted no time grabbing his plate from the table and bolting for the door, mumbling that he was coming through his stuffed mouth.

I shook my head, and then my eyes wandered to Inuyasha.

"If you turn any redder your head's going to explode Yash. I mean there's no brain in there anyway, but you wouldn't want to damage that face right?"

He swallowed his food, letting a chuckle escape and turned to face me with the widest, and creepiest, smile on his face. It set all my senses on guard.

"I knew it."

He knew what my raised eyebrow meant, so when I opened my mouth he interrupted whatever was coming out next.

"You do think I'm cute."

"Wha-?"

He frowned at my increasing embarrassment that refused to hide itself from him.

"Maybe not cute, hm, handsome then?"

"I don-!"

"Beautiful?"

His bottom slid off his chair. If it weren't for him towering over me as he stood, I guarantee I could've made a sensible come back, but his leaning over and placing both his hands on my thighs left no room for that. Nope, all I accomplished was relentlessly blushing like an idiot. Maybe he would mistake it for anger? Hopefully.

"No? Not beautiful huh? What's another word?"

If possible his grin became wider, seductive even. My reaction was for my heart to pound incredibly faster.

"Sexy?"

I shook my head; my eyes closed helping to clear the fog that had entrapped me.

"Get out of here Yash! I'm trying to eat!"

My hands shoved against his chest effectively forcing him backwards. His chuckle was quieter, more boyish than normal.

I swiveled in my chair, forcing myself to focus on my food that had hardly been touched, but suddenly I wasn't hungry anymore. All I could do was stare at the stuff.

Damn he pissed me off! Whenever I calmed down I would gladly try and destroy him!

Since I was fuming to myself I had failed to notice that he, 'Big Bro', Yash, had gone completely silent. I turned again to find his head bent into the circle of his folded arms.

"Hey."

He didn't answer. I got up and leaned over him.

"Bro-."

My elongated stretch of his substitute name was cut short when he suddenly sat up and grabbed my hand. I stepped backwards to avoid the result of his head crashing into my nose.

"Watch it!"

His eyes traveled towards mine and again he looked away. The avoidance puzzled me, stopped my complaints of his carelessness short.

"Kags."

"Hm?"

When his mouth didn't move an inch after he had called me the old irritation claimed my mood again. I would rather have felt the irritation than experience what happened when he looked back up at me. Apparently, with the resolve to never look away. Violet eyes stared back at me with such an intensity that made me want to bolt the other way. I think I would've if his hand wasn't keeping me tethered where I was. And the silence... This was uncomfortable; I wasn't prepared for this; I-.

"I'm not-."

"Huh?" I jumped, realizing that I had been lost in my mind. And his eyes had sent me there. I resisted the urge to cringe once more.

"I'm not your brother."

I blinked. Not processing.

Was he? Was he telling me he didn't like me anymore? That we weren't as close as we were supposed to be anymore?

My face hadn't changed, not a bit. Maybe that was why he was staring at me as if he was waiting for me to say something. He stood-looking away therefore releasing me- when he realized I wasn't, a sigh escaped his lips.

"Don't call me your brother anymore, okay?"

He moved past my statued-state and out of the kitchen.

"Bye Kagome."

I spun around deciding to follow him, wherever he was going.

"Wait, Yash, where is this going? Why'd you say that?"

"Because it's true Kagome. As close as I am to your family and as much as I say I love you guys, you are not my family and I need to work on my own."

"What does that mean? That's stupid."

His hand, which had been reaching for the doorknob, retracted into a fist. I covered it with my own hand and pulled it so that he would face me head on. He didn't, his eyes didn't even glance toward mine.

"We're your family too. I can help."

I leaned down to try and catch his eyes, but he turned his head away.

"What happened before you came to pick me up Inuyasha?"

Suddenly, his head turned up at my question. His mouth opened.

"Inu dear, I don't mean to disturb you and Gome's chatter, but I'm afraid that if you don't move that pretty vehicle from where it is it might get towed."

We both turned from the sound of her voice to look back at each other.

He pursed his lips together. He unfisted his hand in mine. He turned it so that he was holding it instead. He brought his opposite hand to grab the other one. He stepped closer. He touched his lips to my forehead. He, he, he…

"Where's Inuyasha Gome?" Sota's voiced asked from somewhere behind me.

I turned without looking the loveable little twerp in the eye. I turned trying to forget another look. I turned to forget my burning forehead.

"Inu went home Ta Ta."

Next Chapter: Invading Forbbiden Territory