"Now stay in here. Don't touch anything." Inuyasha warned, as Kagome went into his apartment. She rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, yeah. Like I'd want to. I'll probably go to sleep or something anyway."
"If you do, you better not sleep in my bed."
"I'll keep that in mind." Kagome snorted. "Now go, eat—stop giving me your stupid houserules." Inuyasha huffed and left. "Time to be nosy!" She grinned, closing the door after him. She started exploring the fancily-decorated apartment, but soon found that there was nothing to Inuyasha that she didn't already know.
Bored already, she finally came to a small room full of books. "Well, I know he's a total bookworm." She muttered, taking note of the many reference books lining the shelves. Kagome was about ready to leave and go to sleep—preferably in Inuyasha's bed, if only to annoy the hell out of him—when she came upon an open box beside the shelf. It piqued her interest, as it was full of small, leather-bound books much like the diary Inuyasha so frequently carried around. She sat beside the box and took out the bottommost book, reading the inscription on its spine: Book I, First Year, February-August.
"Huh. Wonder what that means." Encouraged by her curiosity, she opened the book and began to read.
February 3
Okay. I...I am unsure of what to write in this. The man who rescued me from my near-death a few weeks ago told me to record my daily life in this book. He tells me he is my brother, but I know of no family, except for the woman who made me what I am, and I can barely remember her.
My "brother", whose name is Sesshoumaru, watches me warily from across the room of this small cabin, as though I will go on a rampage. It is useless to defy him; I learned this from my time with him.
I don't remember anything at all from the time I woke. The only things I do remember are a blinding pain, an insatiable hunger, and the voice of a beautiful woman apologizing to me. From what I have been told by Sesshoumaru, these were all after-effects of my "rebirth". I hadn't understood, until he very impatiently explained all of it to me, as if I was supposed to already know these things.
According to Sesshoumaru, I am a previously human boy named Inuyasha—a bizarre name if there ever was one—who lived a normal life amongst other humans like me. Upon my fifteenth summer, I met a mysterious palefaced woman whose name escapes me. Being the moronic ningen I was, I let her intrigue me to the point of an emotion called "love". She turned out to be a kyuuketsuki, a creature virtually untouched by time who survives off of the consumption of blood. The woman transformed me into one of her kind.
This explains the hunger, naturally.
Sesshoumaru is also one of these creatures, and says that there are many more of them, hidden away in fear of persecution. It seems that ningen can do considerable harm when rallied together for a common purpose.
He says that I am a newborn, a kyuuketsuki created from the venom of another's bite. The woman had probably intended to kill me and drink my blood for sustenance, but accidentally missed that life-giving vein in my neck, injecting me with the mutating venom that made me what I am.
Kagome was enthralled by the contents of this journal, so much so that when the sudden voice of Shippou filled the room, she nearly jumped out of her skin.
"What are you doing?!" Shippou yelled, and the book went flying out of Kagome's hands.
"Oh—jeez, Shippou, you scared the piss out of me!" Kagome gasped, picking the book up from the floor.
"Tell me you weren't doing what I thought you were doing!" He snatched Inuyasha's diary from her hands and she pouted.
"Hey, I was reading that."
"I knew—damn it, Kagome, what are you, insane?! Inuyasha does not want anyone reading his journals!"
"Whoa, whoa—he never said anything about the plural. It was just the one! Besides, I didn't even know about these things."
"These "things" are off-limits to anybody by him." Shippou admonished curtly, crossing his arms and putting the journal back into its box with the others. "They're so personal, he wouldn't even want a nyoubou to read them, let alone you."
"Ouch much?" Kagome huffed. "I was just curious."
"Didn't anybody ever tell you that curiosity killed the cat?"
"Yeah—he did. What's the big deal, anyway? I mean, I told him about my dad."
"Oh, did you? Well, that's really good and all, but trust me, your history can't compare at all to his."
"I know! It's like a story or something!" Kagome laughed excitedly. "I wanna know who the woman was!"
"No!" Shippou said sharply, and Kagome blinked.
"You know, Shippou?"
"Yes, I know, but I'm not telling you. Inuyasha would kill me. Literally." He gulped. "You need to get out of here before he comes back."
"Oh, please." Kagome rolled her eyes. "Like he's a quickie fucker."
"And you would know." Shippou taunted, making the half-blood's face redden.
"Shut up! How do you know about that?!"
"Oh, come on. You honestly think Nanako would leave you, transformed and horny, with Inuyasha, who was obviously lusting after you, without some kind of plan in mind?"
"Ugh!" Kagome groaned. "My God, she's so devious! I should've known she had something in mind."
"Well, I mean, are you mad at her for setting you two up?"
"I don't know. I guess not...we did get a little closer, but I feel bad because it's my fault he and Gingitsune aren't friends anymore." Kagome mumbled guiltily.
"How is that your fault? From my understanding, Gingitsune ran into Houjou's arms."
"Only because Inuyasha lusted after me, and couldn't see that Gingitsune liked him."
"Again, I don't see how that's your fault. Sounds like no one's to blame, really, except Gingitsune, in my opinion. She should've just come clean to Inuyasha with her feelings before any of this crazy mess started up."
"I thought she was your cousin!"
"Yeah, but that doesn't mean I can't acknowledge when she's wrong." Shippou shook his head. "It's like this: I love Tsune-chan, but she's so damn proud. Then she likes to blame others for her problems when things go wrong because of all that pride. Then again, I guess that's a cat for you."
"Guess so." Kagome yawned, and left the small library. Shippou followed her as she went into Inuyasha's room.
"What are you doing?!"
"I'm about to go to sleep, Mom. Do you mind?" Kagome mumbled, crawling into Inuyasha's bed, but recoiling at the coldness. "Jeez, what the hell; does the guy sleep in ice cubes or something?!" Shippou shrugged.
"You really shouldn't be in here, either."
"You know, from the sounds of it, I just shouldn't be in his damn house, should I?" Kagome said sarcastically. "It's not like I'm gonna read his current diary! Jeez, Ship, have some faith in me!"
"Well, still. He did send me here for a reason—to make sure you don't go plundering through his house or stink up his bed." Kagome glared at him. "Hey, his words, not mine."
"Well, you're a sucky messenger. I already did "plunder" through his house, and I'm "stinking up his bed" as we speak, so if I were you, I'd go back and tell him to fuck off." She yawned, snuggling into Inuyasha's pillows and drifting off to sleep.
Inuyasha entered his home sometime after midnight, no longer hungry, but vexed beyond belief. There had to have been twelve women he encountered tonight, and he neither fucked nor killed any of them. Normally, he was minorly inconvenienced by a kill, but he would've at least fucked one of them.
There's no way what those two said is getting to me. He thought in disbelief, stripping off his blood-stained clothes and heading into his bathroom to shower away the shame and embarrassment he felt.
Inuyasha adjusted the water to its hottest and once he got used to the scalding heat, he absently washed himself with a bar of caustic soap.
I've never allowed a woman to affect my actions so drastically, let alone two. This could be catastrophic. And for some reason, I can't stop thinking about Sesshoumaru's deadline. I've got two months and a few days, by my calculations, and as long as that amount of time seems, it's really shorter than one would think. I've yet to find a woman suitable enough to satisfy my brother's impossibly high standards, except of course for Gingitsune, who was everything either of us could've wanted and more...and she's no longer available.
A persistent burning sensation halted his thoughts and he looked down to see his skin red from the caustic soap.
"Shit." He swore with a sigh, and quickly washed his hair with some lightly scented shampoo, then stepped out of the shower. Inuyasha wrapped his lower body in a towel and his hair in another, and left the bathroom, going into his bedroom. He didn't bother turning on the light, for his superior vision worked for him as well as if the room were fully illuminated. He was too caught up in his thoughts, concentrating on getting dry, to notice the figure so comfortable in his bed.
Damn. Now my skin hurts. Ah, well. Wonder if that nosy wench finally got back home...
He had an answer a few moments after he crawled into his bed naked, having long ago considered sleeping in clothes to be a hindrance. Kagome's eyes popped open as she felt a rather muscular organ resting soft against the seat of her jeans.
"Whoa! What the fuck?!" "WHAT THE HELL?!"
These simultaneous exclamations could barely be heard over each other, and Inuyasha scrambled away from Kagome, who actually fell off of the bed and onto the carpet.
"I'm gonna give you three seconds to explain just why the hell you were sleeping in my bed!"
"I told you I was gonna go to sleep! Damn!" Kagome scowled, rubbing her head. "And the damn bed's so freaking cold, I'm surprised anything sleeps in it!"
"Stop changing the subject! Didn't I explicitly command you not to sleep in my bed?"
"Command?" Kagome repeated, incredulous. "Oh, you know for damn sure I wasn't about to listen to that. Listen, dude, couldn't you just let me stay here for the rest of the night?"
"No." Inuyasha refused outright, crossing his arms. "And here are three reasons why. One: if I'm not mistaken, you have a home to go to. Two: that home's not even two yards away. And three: you are not my nyoubou. I cannot stress that enough."
"Yeah, but my dad's gotta be home by now, and either way, the door's gonna be locked!" Kagome whined.
"Well, now, I guess you'll learn not to leave your key in the house anymore, hmm?" Inuyasha grinned unpleasantly.
"Why are you being so mean?!" Kagome yelled.
"I've got a better question. When have I ever been nice?" She glared at him through the darkness.
"You know what? You're right. And obviously, you never have, or Gingitsune would still be your friend." She commented sourly, getting to her feet and heading for the door. Snarling under his breath, Inuyasha grabbed her by the back of her shirt and brought her face to face with him, anger etched all over his shadowy features, the darkness making him all the more menacing.
"Do not fucking mention her. Is that clear?" Kagome didn't want to show her fear, but he was like an articulate Cerberus or something. Silently, she nodded, and Inuyasha released her with a deep scowl. "You can stay here, but only for tonight. You need to get a goddamn spare made." Before Kagome could retort, he slammed his room door in her face.
"God. Somebody's cranky." She rolled her eyes, but her attempt to push away the chill riding down her spine was futile. Inuyasha had scared her, and she couldn't hide it. "Stupid asshole..." Kagome grumbled, crossing her arms, and her eyes drifted over to the door leading to his little library. "I know a way to get him back, though." With a devious smirk, she crept into the room and picked up the first journal, turning back to the page where she left off. Her human eyes were pretty weak, but the moonlight shining through the window would help her enough.
That stupid woman. I can't remember her, but I do recall that voice...I don't know why, but the information I was given about her reminds me of that voice...a little too much...
Black Ice: (whistles) Huh. Just when you thought something was blooming, something like this goes and happens.
Blood Rain: I agree. This was mostly written by yours truly, of course. So, uh...yeah.
Black Ice: OH, YEAH! I FORGOT TO MENTION: WE GOT NOMINATED! YIPPEE!
Blood Rain: I would do a yippee, too, but aside from that not really being my thing, I'm a bit soured on the whole IYFanguild bit. I am happy about it, though, so to our nominator, much love. (grins)
Black Ice: Come on, seconding! Seconds, seconds, seconds! (shakes hand as if about to roll dice) HA!