Kagome was torn, to say the least. Last night, she had to force herself to stop Inuyasha's contact when it was getting far too intimate. Bankoutsu would surely detect the sign of another man on her, but at least she had stopped him from touching her where none but Bankoutsu had ever explored.
Now she was in her small room, in hiding. She hadn't left, and no one had come for her, so she didn't have much to worry about. Truth be told, she liked it like this. Maybe she needed to just be alone for a while. One minute, she had no lovers; the next, it seemed she had two! However would she choose? No doubt her hotheaded stallion was searching for her at that very moment...Kagome was starting to feel guilty. He might think she was avoiding him, and it would hurt his feelings. He put on a macho facade, but Kagome knew better.
With a sigh, she crept out of her room, running right into Inuyasha's tall body. He smiled down at her; nothing lewd, just his normal smile. Kagome was expecting him to be gloating about what she'd let him do, but...
"I think there's something about me that repels you. Do I have an offensive smell?" He smelled like spring rain, honestly—peculiar in every sense but offensive to none.
"Of course not." Kagome whispered, as though Bankoutsu were there listening. "You bear the scent of springtime itself...strange as that may be...but you and I...Inuyasha, we can't be together. I'm very deeply fond of you, but...a-as I told you, I have a lover." She tried to explain, pointedly avoiding his indigo eyes. If she saw them, she knew her resolve would crumble to nothing.
"Did you have this lover before you last talked to me? When I asked you why you were still here?"
"N...no...I, um...we formally began our relationship not long after the conversation between you and me."
"Oh?" Now Inuyasha sounded amused. "My rose petal, I think you lie."
Of course he would—her nervous stammer would make anyone think so. "What?! Wait, why am I a rose petal?" She disregarded the possessive pronoun.
"You are petite and beautiful, and you come from beauty as well." He explained, touching a finger to her bottom lip with a smile. Kagome blushed.
"Oh. Why do you think I'm lying?!"
"Don't you find it rather odd that you did not even mention this "lover" until after you ran from me?"
"That's not odd at all." Kagome remarked coolly, crossing her arms, and Inuyasha took her chin in his hands.
"I think it is." He kissed her so gently, she melted right into his arms, quite literally. Without thinking, she put her arms around his neck and returned the kiss, completely negating what she had just said. Making a muffled shriek, she pushed him away from her, her jade eyes wild and a lump in her throat.
"Would you stop?!" She cried out, ignoring the confusion etched all over Inuyasha's face. "How can I think when you keep...doing that kind of thing?!"
"What is there to think about?" Inuyasha frowned, scratching his head. "You kissed me back."
"I..." Even though she was flustered, Kagome couldn't deny that, and she huffed, looking away from him. "That's not the point. Leave me alone, Inuyasha—I do have someone, and he wouldn't like you coming on to me so often."
"Hmm." Inuyasha looked at her thoughtfully, then ran a careful finger along her face, making her shudder. "Perhaps he wouldn't like it. But from what I can tell, you seem to like it."
"I said leave me alone..."
"How can I just "leave you alone" when you taunt me so with your supple nymph's body?" Inuyasha sighed, as though he were the one anguished instead of Kagome. "I long for even the slightest taste of you, Kagome...all of you." Kagome's face burning with embarrassment when his gaze moved pointedly down her body.
"The only man..." Kagome started to declare, the tremble in her voice making her statement that much less firm, "who will taste any part of me is Bankoutsu." She would have never expected a shy creature like Inuyasha to exude such uninhibited sexuality! It actually made her body temperature rise a few degrees.
"I see." Inuyasha grinned, licking her neck in that sensitive spot they both knew got her hot and bothered. Her knees gave out and she fell to the ground in quite the subservient kneel, staring helplessly up at him amused expression. Her eyes begged for him to take her, despite everything she'd just said, and Inuyasha chuckled. "Be that as it may, I won't just let you scurry away. You're my black and white doe."
"Why?" Kagome whispered, his poetic metaphors becoming more and more commonplace to her...and that scared her.
"You're quite the rare find...I'd be the biggest idiot in the history of this earth if I were to just let you run right into the arms of another hunter. Remember that." Kagome closed her eyes when he stroked her face, then they snapped back open when his touch went away. She sighed, fanning her heated face, and got back to her feet. This couldn't go on. She had to leave this place, Ainu or not—it was the only way to destroy this already twisted love triangle.
Kagome hurried down to the servant's door and called Bankoutsu's name. Like a streak of lightning, he was there in a flash, sniffing at her suspiciously.
"What the hell--"
"Save it, centaur." Kagome pulled on his ponytail like she knew he hated, and just as she knew he would, he grumbled.
"Where have you been woman? I've been scouring this place all over for you, and when you finally decide to call for me, you smell like another man!"
"I know that." Kagome huffed curtly, glaring at him, although both of them knew he was the only one who reserved the right to be mad. "That's why I called you, imbecile."
"Who do I need to thrash?" Bankoutsu punched his fist menacingly.
"I appreciate that sentiment," Kagome smirked at his querulousness, "but that's not what I'm talking about." She looked down at her feet when she spoke her next words. "I...want to leave."
"Leave?" Bankoutsu scratched his head, looking at her strangely. "What do you mean leave?"
"I mean just what I said. There's nothing here for us, Bankoutsu." Further surprising him, she took his hands in hers, her eyes pleading with his curious ones. "I want to return to Hokkaido." She said finally, and Bankoutsu's breath caught in his throat. Taking this as an opportunity, Kagome went on hurriedly, "I've been thinking on it awhile, and I think it's time for us to move on from what happened."
"Are you insane?" He whispered harshly, stinging Kagome to the quick. "We barely escaped that place with our lives, Kagome! Our people are hated there—why would you want to go back?"
"Does that matter? Our people are hated almost everywhere. What's the difference between being hated there and being hated here?"
"Life." He said simply, and Kagome sighed, dropping his hands, her disappointment obvious. Bankoutsu's tone softened a little when he said, "I'm sorry, Kagome. But even though we were kids, we weren't stupid enough not to know that our village was burned down for a reason. I don't want to go back to that place."
"But Bankoutsu, look at us! That's the exact reason we should go back! We're not kids anymore! We're old enough and strong enough to fight for ourselves, should the need arise! We owe it to everyone from the village to rebuild everything that was destroyed! If we stay in hiding like this, all we're doing is letting them win!" Kagome ranted emotionally, trying to make him understand. "Your mother, my mother—all of our parents would want us to do this, Bankoutsu."
"...Do you really think so?" He murmured.
"I know so." Kagome smiled, and he sighed heavily.
"We'll go to Hakodate." Bankoutsu finally grunted, crossing his arms. "No further." An even larger smile crossed Kagome's face and she leapt into his arms, embracing him gratefully.
"You're the best, Bankoutsu." She grinned.
"Yeah, yeah...but this trip better be worth it, or I'm leaving your ass right there in that provincial hell."
Inuyasha hadn't been so amused in the entirety of his life. He had followed Kagome and her companion, knowing what her intentions were from hearing her haranguing.
So...the vixen thinks herself clever, does she? He thought with a chuckle. Running away from me, scared of her own desire... From his position in midair, he reached out his hand, as though he were reaching to pluck her from where she sat, eating fish that Bankoutsu had caught for her. He was a good man, even in Inuyasha's opinion. Pity he has to lose that wonderful woman.
"You're pathetic." Inuyasha rolled his eyes, knowing just who was beside him.
"Kikyou, must you put a damper on my day just yet? I'm keeping surveillance, if you haven't noticed."
"I have noticed, and I reiterate: you are pathetic."
"Am I?" Inuyasha smiled lightly.
"You are."
"And why is that?"
"Here you are, a god—excuse me, a dethroned god--"
"Did you really have to go there, Kikyou?"
"--and you're spying on some human girl who obviously has no interest in you. I'd say that's pretty pathetic."
"She's not a girl, she's my woman, and she's very interested in me. She's just too good of a person to let down the centaur by running into my arms." Inuyasha said simply.
"Sounds like an excuse to me." Kikyou yawned. "Or did you deduce that, genius?"
"It's obvious. If you hadn't been picking and choosing scenes, you would know the whole story, busybody." Kikyou pursed her lips in slight annoyance.
"Mm. Since when is she "your woman"? All before, she was just "a woman". Now she's yours? From what I can see, she's still a maiden, yet to be taken by anyone, even the centaur."
"Of course she is." He said matter-of-factly. "That is because the fates are on my side. Her maidenhead shall be mine, and then so will she. Simple, yes?"
"Stupid, yes."
"You'll see." Inuyasha waved her off. "Why can't you be more optimistic about this? Shippou certainly is."
"It's not optimism when you're a psychotic, hot-headed dwarf."
"Where is he, anyway?"
"Do I look like his mother?"
"Well, you are his sister."
"That doesn't mean I know where he is at all times of the day." Kikyou glanced dully down at Kagome, who was admonishing Bankoutsu for not eating. The centaur merely yawned, seeming to be ignoring her. "She's really not all that pretty." Finally, Inuyasha turned around to look at her, looking entertained by her "casual" criticism of Kagome.
"Human women can't all be goddesses of the moon, Kikyou." She met his eyes and huffed, leaving. Inuyasha shook his head, turning back to Kagome.
He then had a peculiar thought.
I think Shippou was right.
I think she is jealous.
Black Ice: Wowzer, when's the last time we did a good rant?
Black Ice's Topic of the Day: Overreact Much?
Black Ice: Okay, so, here's the thing. We're watching the news lately, and it's like...well, read the title! Why the hell—okay, maybe I should start off about what I'm talking...about. "Sexting". Heard of it? It was made up, presumably, by news people who don't like it. "Sexting" is, apparently, having very silent phone sex...like, with words. Doesn't that blow your mind?
What's so mind-blowing about it, in fact, is the fact that this has been "going on" for quite some time now. I mean, how many monkeys do you need to put in a cell phone factory before they start texting nasty messages at each other? Let's be serious!
Apparently, you can get in trouble for "sexting". And I don't mean parents taking away your phone. I mean, jailtime trouble. Did you guys know that? That is so...stupid! It's not even the law's business what we're texting about! (By we, I mean "teenagers" as a whole. I don't "sext".) I mean, we're not plotting to kill anybody, are we? We're phone-fucking! What's next, are they gonna outlaw actual phone sex? Then what's after that? Will sex be a crime? Where does it end?!?!
(sighs) I think society has too little on their minds. Really. "Sexting"? Get a life, people.