Black Ice: AGH! (groans like Charlie Brown)
Blood Rain: Computer was having problems for a good fortnight, leaving us technologically crippled.
Black Ice: For Christ's sakes, I had to charge my iPod in the school library! SCHOOL! Where iPods are not a-llowed! God!
Blood Rain: She's traumatized. But she'll get over it. In the meantime, expect an onslaught of new stories sometime...I don't know if it'll be soon, but it'll be sometime. We keep thinking stuff that doesn't sync up how we want it to, but we think we'll get it sometime. Just not necessarily soon.
"Find anything yet?" Kagome asked the sulking vampire beside her, as they scoured Inuyasha's journals. He grunted in the negative, and she sighed. "Inuyasha, come on. You can't brood like this anymore. I mean...you couldn't do anything. She seemed to have made her choice already, you know?" Inuyasha remained in petulant silence. Again, Kagome sighed, and went back to reading.
October 5
My brother tells me I'm doing well in my practice of self-control. Of course, this doesn't surprise me. A good pupil learns well from a good teacher. He said that he would tell me something as somewhat of a reward for my efforts. At first, I didn't care much for information; I thought he might allow me some sustenance after having basically starved me for the last few months. Then he threw in that he would reveal to me the name of my creator. It's not as though I should've cared who she was, but hated her nonetheless for poisoning me with this disease of bloodlust. However, out of the sake of curiosity, I relented. Besides, perhaps if I knew her name, I could hunt the bitch down and murder her.
Sesshoumaru said but one word: Kanna.
Kagome had to squint at this word, since the kanji for it was written so shakily, she could barely make it out through the blotted ink.
Just this name sent a whirlwind of emotions and thoughts through me, accompanied by confusing memories that pulled at my heartstrings for some reason.
"Hey, Inuyasha, I got something." She cleared her throat, scooting over to Inuyasha's side. Reluctantly, he looked on with her.
Suddenly, I remembered all kinds of strange things: stolen kisses, passionate moments, a feeling of betrayal... I remembered the palefaced woman, morphing from a normal human to something akin to the abomination I now was. Was this woman "Kanna"? What was my relationship with her. Were we...in "love"?
If that was true, then why did she afflict me so? Had I done something to incense her? And if I did, what was it?
So many questions plagued my mind, and only one thing was said. My body aches as though I have been running for miles on end without an inkling of rest. I hope it's just my hunger taking its toll on me, and not the feelings invoked by this Kanna, whatever they may be.
The two looked at each other. "So you must have had a courtship with Kanna before you were transformed..." Kagome whispered, awed. "Is that why Houjou wasn't ordered to attack you?"
"Probably. I don't know; I can't exactly say I know Kanna, since she was a part of my human past. Hell, I barely remember my newborn past." He grunted. "I could ask Sesshoumaru, but more than likely, he'd start asking a lot of questions and I'd be in a fuck of a lot of trouble."
"Yeah, I guess. Guilt by association, right?"
"Nothing else."
"So let's see how this all links up. My mother and your brother, Sesshoumaru, know each other—hey, that rhymes—and you and your brother know my father's boss, Kanna. Houjou is a subordinate of Kanna, both of whom are trying to kill me. The only reason I was even born is because Kanna sent my father to kill my mother..." Kagome trailed off, her face scrunched in thought. "Wait. You said Kirara was psychic, right?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Is it possible for a vampire to be psychic?" Inuyasha actually thought about this for a moment.
"I don't know. Maybe."
"Do you know if Kanna was a devourer or not?"
"...No, not really."
"You're just chockful of information, aren't you, Inuyasha?" Kagome mumbled dryly, shaking her head. He chuckled a little, and startled her by laying his head on her lap. Before she could question this strange behavior, he asked, "Is that the only thing about her you could find?"
"Well, I don't see your lazy ass looking!"
"You know what I mean."
"Yeah, that's all...but your journals are highly interesting. They're like stories."
"Is that the reason you read them so attentively?"
"Well...it doesn't hurt to know your past, right?"
"...Hmm. You know, I agree. So tell me about yours."
"Huh?" Kagome blinked.
"You heard me. I'm absolutely dying to know about the life of a halfie." He drawled sarcastically, and Kagome idly scratched her neck.
"It's not like there's much to tell. My life's pretty boring."
"You mean your human life." Inuyasha pointed out, and she reluctantly nodded.
"Yeah...well, it's actually kinda hard being a halfling, even more so now that I'm aware that I'm not even supposed to be alive. My earliest memory is of myself at the age of three or so, when I had a nasty habit of biting my flesh. My fangs weren't what they are now, but they were sharp enough to draw blood. I used to deliberately get hurt just so I could smell my own blood—it was like a magnet to me. By the time every inch of me was marked up with either a wound or a bite mark, my mother had had enough. She then proceeded to wean me off of blood, but it wasn't easy. I couldn't attend school until I was about ten, because the smell of other people's blood attracted me too strongly. I was like that annoying neighbor cat that wouldn't leave everyone alone, you know?" Inuyasha nodded, mildly fascinated with this account.
"So I kicked my blood habit and settled for normal human food—fruits, vegetables, that kind of thing." He wrinkled his nose, disgusted.
"Sounds more like rabbit food to me." Kagome grinned.
"That's exactly what I thought, so I protested initially. Then my mother sat me down and explained to me just what was "wrong" with me. Just like you used to think, according to your journals, I believed it was a horrible curse. Craving blood on a perpetual basis—that's almost as bad as losing it on a perpetual basis." Inuyasha blinked, confused, until Kagome shook her head, chuckling, "It's a reference to menstruation."
"Oh. Oh! Ew!" Inuyasha gagged.
"Yeah, well, you don't have to hear anymore about it, because you still owe me a story."
"A what?" He quirked an eyebrow, bored again.
"Don't you remember? You still haven't told me why you dislike being called feminine!"
"Because I'm fucking not!" Inuyasha groaned, annoyed that they'd gotten back to this again. "I mean, damn! I don't call you a murderer, do I?!" Suddenly, Kagome went rigid, and turned her head, her eyes distant. Inuyasha stared at her, wondering what he'd said wrong. "I-I said I don't call you a murderer. That means you're not one. Remember?" His attempt at a joke was met with silence. "Okay, now what is it?" He huffed in exasperation. "You act like some serial killer or something! I mean, it's what we do, Kagome. It's just nature. We don't do it because we like it or anything; we just do it because we have to in order to survive."
"Says you." Kagome mumbled, her voice low with contempt—for whom, Inuyasha couldn't tell. "Another chunk of my gruesome past that I've neglected to mention is that on my earlier transformed days, I escaped my mother and went on a killing spree to satiate my bloodlust."
"Well...that's nothing special. We've all done it." Inuyasha justified, and Kagome locked her cold stare onto him.
"Is that so? Have you kept killing people even after you were full?"
"...Yeah."
"Fucking liar." Kagome snorted softly, a bittersweet smile darkening her face. "But I appreciate the attempt."
"Look. I won't sugarcoat this and say that's good or anything, because it's not. But it doesn't even matter anymore, because you've matured into something with some sense, instead of the newborn you used to be. Just like me." Kagome stayed silent, and Inuyasha sat up straight with a grunt, putting his journals back into the box.
"You're staying here tonight." He announced curtly, and this time, Kagome looked at him.
"Huh? Why?"
"Why do you think?" He retorted. "With Houjou on the loose, there's no way you'll be safe without me. Not only that, but I want to see how long you're going to be like this before you go back to being human."
"Is that all?" Kagome sighed dismally, not in the best mood after revealing one of her darkest secrets. She was starting to feel more and more like the abomination everyone said she was.
"If only." Inuyasha murmured, wrapping his arms around her waist and taking a deep whiff of her. For some strange reason, he actually appreciated how much she smelled like him. It gave him somewhat of a sense of possession, especially since the taint of human was at a minimum. "I feel like I might want you sometime, like in the middle of the night, and you won't be there for me." Kagome looked at him peculiarly.
"Is that so?"
"Yes, that's so. In fact, that's very much so." Inuyasha chuckled, mildly amused. "Do you not believe it?"
"That's not it." Her attention turned to the small window beyond his shoulder, her eyes somewhat blank. "It's just that it was weird, you know, because I feel the exact same way." Again did Inuyasha feel the chill associated with his new connection to Kagome. He simply could not get used to the way she attuned so flawlessly to his soul, and he wasn't sure he ever could in the span of an eternity.
Determined to shake that from his mind for the time being, he leaned in swiftly to kiss her, before his passion waned with the thought that he might have to be with only one person forever. Kagome received his kiss just as fiercely, and suddenly, it seemed as though both of them were trying to hide from their own selves inside each other. Inuyasha, overwhelmed with a wave of desire, pulled her onto his lap and she shivered, his arousal chasing away her dysphoria.
"You want me," Inuyasha's voice, though low, rung throughout the small room, his lust intensifying with the inexplicable warmth their frictionless bodies created.
"Of course I do." Kagome breathed, leaning into his body as his fingers maneuvered into her pants. She smiled slyly when he tactilely discovered her lack of panties.
"Oh, you are a naughty girl." He laughed, his tongue dipping into her sensitive ear just as his fingers entered her. Kagome's breath caught in her throat, and she was, for some reason, grateful that she didn't need oxygen as much as a normal human.
"Must you tease me like this?" Kagome whimpered, spreading her legs as far as her jeans would allow.
"Whatever do you mean?"
"Using your fingers...torturing me! This is so unfair, especially after l—" She trailed off with a moan as he hit and massaged her G-spot. "—l-last time."
"Life isn't fair, sweetheart. You get used to it." He whispered, blowing in her ear. Two words died on Kagome's lips just then, but she knew that if she'd said them, it would've ruined the entire moment, so she pushed them to the back of her mind and forgot them. However, she didn't have to say anything, for now a slight tension had arisen in the air, and the question was glaringly obvious: "Have you?"
Of course, he hadn't.
But that wouldn't stop him from pretending.
So he gave in to his primal desires. He fucked her harder than he'd ever done before, his claws digging into her back, as well as hers into his. Once both of them were exhausted, the sky beyond the small window had darkened, and they were too tired to note the fact that they were a bloody, sweating mass of flesh.
Inuyasha, his breathing shallow, stumbled off of Kagome's sleeping body and out of the room, hissing at the pain in his wounds. She didn't look it, but Kagome was strong as hell. Inuyasha went into the bathroom to take a quick shower, and as the hot water pelted him, his blood washed from his gashes onto the shower floor and down the drain, creating a sort of dizzying spiral of blood and water. He couldn't help but stare at it, his expression hard and worn, as he thought over the day's events.
Houjou was after Kagome, on orders from Kanna, a woman with an apparent connection to his hazy past. From what he could deduce, she had been the one to make him into the monster he was. Another reason he should hate her. But there was no going back; he couldn't miraculously turn back into a human, and to be honest, he wouldn't if he could. Humanity complicated things. Vampiricism was sweet and simple—or at least, it used to be, until that girl came into his life with her many problems. Now he couldn't see which way was up, cursed with these damnable feelings of protectiveness for her. It would be so easy to just let Houjou have his way and kill the halfling, but he knew he couldn't do that now.
"Damn." He sighed, too fatigued to punch something like he wanted to. When the swirl had faded, his concentration broke, and he turned off the water, shaking water off of him. Inuyasha stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around him, going back into the dark living room.
He wished he hadn't.
Menacing golden eyes pierced through the darkness, fixed in a tight stare directed at him. The foreboding figure held an unmoving mass in his hand, holding it up as if awaiting an explanation for its very presence.
"You have one minute to explain this creature."
Sesshoumaru always did have a way with words.
Black Ice: OOOH! Inuyasha in trouble!
Blood Rain: I would say "forgive the late update," but it wasn't our fault. So just review and be happy we even thought to give an explanation.
Black Ice: Oh, stop being so nasty to the people. They were just concerned about us, that's all!