Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha.
A/N: Prompt – Stop Sign, submitted by Lady Chrysanthe in a review. I know it's grievously late. Truth is, I got so caught up in another story that I completely sidelined this one. It was pretty inconsiderate of me, and I'm sorry, because the long hiatus has only made this story harder for me than it would otherwise have been. I promise to deliver regular updates now. At least one every 7-10 days.
Something doesn't ring true.
For once, Kagome, her ancient nemesis, and oddly, Mrs. Higurashi were thinking the same thing. Silence pervaded the meal Mrs. Higurashi had so carefully prepared for her prospective son-in-law. Not silence, no. Perhaps it would be more accurately described as a medley of silences.
Kagome radiated hostility and a touch-me-not air. Her brain still couldn't connect the dots between the vanquished spider hanyou of Feudal Japan, and the eerily amiable young man who resembled him in every way but one.
Naraku preferred to fill his time between bites contemplating his potential bride. She would make a highly reluctant bride, that much was clear by her homicidally terrified reaction to him. It was a slight relief to the man that her fear had ebbed away, but he wondered if the suspicion and fury rooted in her gaze were worthwhile compensation. And why wasn't she interrogating him about his presence?
The Higurashi matriarch, on the other hand, not having the benefit of knowledge, wondered why her daughter was making such a fuss. Kagome resented the regular stream of omiai they set up for her, but this time her daughter was going out of her way to make herself disagreeable. Yet, something was coiled in a tense spring under the girl's seeming misbehaviour. Mrs. Higurashi wondered what it could mean, because Kagome never got that battle-ready aura about her unless some fantastical mischief was afoot. They'd had a few stray spirits attempting to cause mischief about the shrine before, but this young man was normal as normal could be...or he was adept at seeming it, she realised with a sudden flash of intuition.
Abruptly, the contemplative undercurrent of the room's occupants switched to determination: This will need looking into.
Post-lunch, Naraku made his goodbyes and prepared to drive off. To no one's surprise, Kagome offered to see him to his car. "It' only polite," she justified rather needlessly. Al three of them knew that her only intention was to snoop.
Or declare said intention, Naraku realised with faint exasperation and more than a little amusement, some minutes later.
"Silly move, isn't it? Your honesty always was your downfall," he warned.
"It was not!"
"Your mouth, my sweet – and oh, what a sweet mouth" – he braved through a deadly glare – "always did get you in trouble. And your friends aren't around to save you any longer."
Kagome gritted her teeth. I refuse to get into a catfight with this monster. That he could mention her friends so casually was unforgiveable, but a philosophical part of her nudged her away from the outrage. The half-demon had committed crime after crime; this was perhaps the mildest of them all.
And she was determined to know. Know what, her inner cynic asked. The former warrior priestess smiled in response. A slow, slow smile that curved along her face without quite reaching her eyes.
Naraku and her inner cynic shut up.
"You may consider us engaged, Furusawa-san. You see, I'm going to find out everything about you," she announced breezily.
The irrepressible man blinked, then smiled himself. A lot like a cat and not enough like a spider, a discomfited Kagome decided. "Then," he drawled, "I need not assume that I will be presented with a stop sign every time I take some liberties…," swift as a bird, he pecked a kiss on her hand, "do I?"
Kagome froze – in fear or disgust or both – and fled inside to plot her first murder ever, reborn demons and their dark intentions and her nagging need to discover and thwart said intentions be damned.
Now we're getting somewhere. I apologise for the shoddy quality of this one, but I'd still like to hear what you think!