A/N: I know, I know, I update like crazy. So a liiiittle backstory as to why; about a month ago I started uploading a story I'd started writing for therapeutic reasons. Basically, writing helps me relax, it's been really good for me, so I got into a more comfortable, easy fall-back, which for me was Fanfiction, something I really dug when I was younger. I feel like Fanfiction for fictional characters is/are a great way to play around with plot points and characters that while, can require, don't often require a great deal of pre-development, so you're totally free to work on your writing in general, and just allow yourself to enjoy the process. It's kind of like playing with dolls, only with words (and let's not all pretend we didn't have some smutty barbies and dolls); this particular fandom is great because a lot of us have some unfulfilled desires when it came to the OG series, a lot of what-ifs, and definitely a hope that we would see more. I feel Yashahime (while delivering some levels of fan service) has revived that what-if-ism in a lot of us. There's so much more opportunity in the series; more of Kag's modern era, her relationship with Inu from a mature perspective, more Sango and Miroku, more backstory into the mechanics of the original plot. Aside that, I love reading smut and writing smut is for some reason super gratifying, silly and enjoyable. That didn't stop me from going full anxiety and deleting my entire first story, up to and including my profile description lol. Weirdly, although I felt a great relief that my friends and colleagues would never find out my unique secret hobby, I also felt sort of defeated. Like, why can't I just have the stupid thing? Why am I denying myself from... writing fan fiction smut? I'm pretty sure a lot of classics are just biblical fan fiction smut, so have at it. I immediately started writing this story, alongside another story of mine I didn't delete. Since this is running long, suffice to say this story is actually finished - which will explain the rapid updates for now - and I have another story well on the way, as well as some more story boards. So, there will be a lot more than just lengthy authors notes coming from this rando sock puppet account. And I hope you enjoy my sock puppet smut stories; That said, I'm about to leave for a week, so this will be my last update for a while for you all. That should give everyone time to finish this one stanza I'm dragging on; without further ado...
XOX
"Inuyasha, I'm afraid we're going to have to stop."
Pausing with a sudden jolt, Inuyasha appraised the monk with a scoff of protest.
"And why is that?"
From behind Miroku, Sango emerged, holding a tiny and exhausted Kirara in her arms. Back in her small feline form, the nekomata purred restlessly in a deep sleep. Inuyasha rolled his eyes and groaned, taking a deep trace of the air. He had gone a roundabout way to avoid the priestess's path and could now only smell her faintly travelling in the distance, heading in the opposite direction. The sun was beginning to fall below the earth and a cool wind picked up, replacing the warming rays in a gentle caution that night was to fall.
"I see." Inuyasha grumbled, setting Kagome down against his better desires. "Fine. We don't have any of our things with us, so it's going to be rough tonight; one of you should go get firewood while I find us some food from that stream before it's pitch black out here."
"Not a problem." Sango cheerily set Kirara down in a nest of soft grass, and turned to Kagome, holding out her arm. "Come with me, Kagome, and we'll get some kindling from the forest."
"Er, wait-" Inuyasha reached out to stop them, but Sango, whipping her hair up into a pony-tail, cautioned him back, swerving between him and Kagome.
"She'll be fine with me, Inuyasha." The demon slayer promised, finishing her hair tie and whipping back around to place an arm over her friend's shoulder. "We won't go too far. I just want company, I'll get the kindling, so she won't disrupt her wound. You and Koga will be better off fishing while Miroku gets some rocks for the firepit." With that they departed in the direction of the treeline.
Scowling in Koga's direction, Inuyasha wished that Sango had decided to take the damn bastard with her instead; he had wanted to talk with Kagome, to ask about the tears she had shed on their journey – at the time, he knew even mentioning it would have had the wolf yokai pestering the both of them, but most of all, him - but it looked like he was saddled with the company he craved the least. Rolling his eyes, he furiously started off toward the stream. The wolf demon followed behind with flagrant joy at the hanyou's distaste for him, all the while teasing him spitefully.
"Some plan you have here." Koga stood at the bank, peering into the water, but fixating on his enemy all too smugly. "What are you going to do when Kikyo runs into the rest of them? Didn't think about that?"
"I instructed a very specific path." Inuyasha seethed, trying his best to keep himself from exploding, "Why start with me, Koga? Shouldn't you be trying to spend time with Kagome? Or are you afraid that Kagome will reject you? If you're so in love with her, shouldn't you at least confirm she feels the same way back? You're a moron."
He snapped his fist into the water, piercing a shimmering silver fish as it passed with his claws and slapping it onto the shore. Koga thought about this for a moment, then leapt into the water to join Inuyasha, crouching in wait with his clawed hand poised to strike. As they waited and the silence between them grew, the two kept their noses locked on the area of the forest where Sango and Kagome's scents mingled, tinted by bark, dew, and wildflowers. Koga's arm jutted out and in a flash another fish had been procured, wriggling on the banks next to the first.
"I'm sure after being forced to spend so much time with you," Koga hissed, keeping his eyes trained on the waters swirling around his calves, "Kagome will be more than pleased. Besides, I already told her I intend to make her mine."
"Yeah, what did she have to say about that?"
"It's been too busy for her to respond." Flustered, Koga stood up straight, abandoning his duty to face Inuyasha and place his hands on his hips. "It's not as though we got attacked by a powerful demon or anything, a demon may I remind you, who you let nearly kill her!"
"Me? I tossed her to you, idiot!" Inuyasha too revolved on his heel in the water, raising his fist to Koga in warning. "You couldn't watch over her for one minute? What good even are you? You should be glad that I'm the one who protects Kagome."
"Kikyo." Koga corrected, smiling sharply with his fangs.
"Uh, you guys?"
The demons turned to view Miroku, having completed a circle of stones to contain their fire for the night, now standing at the bank watching them with a bemused look on his face. He pointed with an exasperated sigh, just as both of the fish that had been procured flopped awkwardly back into the water, sliding off of the shore and disappearing downstream.
As a select few words rang out in a nuclear cloud of spite from where Koga and Inuyasha continued to contest one another, shin deep as they were in river water, Sango and Kagome returned to the small clearing near the river, just inside the treeline so as to provide coverage. Dropping their full arms of kindling, which Kagome had collected despite Sango's protests, Kagome wiped her forehead and sank down to the ground. Sango sat down beside her, stretching her arms out above her head before turning to Kagome and offering a smile.
"This should be enough!" She patted the pile beside them and yawned, "And not a moment too soon. What a trying journey this has been. Although, I'm not surprised Inuyasha wants to go after the jewel before continuing on to the fountain."
Kagome folded her legs to pull her knees to her chin, hiding her reaction as she curled into herself.
Despite the comforting notion of Inuyasha allowing her to return home, that is, if she could, and the opportunity to do so finally arising, she couldn't get the past few days to stop replaying in her mind. The attack from Naraku, the spiritual power she hadn't known she'd had. Most of all, she thought over Inuyasha's words: Useless and distracting. It was her fault that the jewel Kikyo had guarded her whole life was broken and had fallen into the hands of someone who would likely only use it for evil. It was her fault that Inuyasha wouldn't get a single affect of the agreement the villagers had made and had to put his life at risk. She'd never felt so guilty; guilty enough that the promise of home only meant she would be returning to her time a coward, weak; useless. The word echoed, reminding her each time of its truth.
If only I didn't cry in front of him. It only confirmed what he already knows.
Lifting her head weakly, Kagome turned to Sango and attempted a smile.
"Sango, would you mind letting the guys know, I just need to relieve myself for a minute?" She rose to her feet and stretched, trying to make it look casual even as her heart beat heavily in her chest.
Sango nodded, waving at Kagome and reminding her, "Don't go too far! And, here, take these just in case." She passed Kagome a bow and quiver of arrows but prompted her as she passed the items along, "If you find you need to use them, you'd better call for me. I'll come right away."
"Sure, of course." Kagome grinned warmly at her friend and started into the trees, at first making it seem as though she only wanted to find a reasonably private spot. She was glad that Sango had passed her the bow on her own, she hadn't had to make up some sort of excuse for bringing it.
Arming herself and taking a glance back, she began to speed further into the woods.
If she had sensed Naraku's demonic aura before, perhaps she could again. It was worth looking around the perimeter of their clearing if it meant her mind would be put at ease temporarily, and she could shake off even some of the sinking feeling that had been weighing her down since Inuyasha barked at her that it was her fault the jewel was split. And it was. But I'll fix it, she thought with determination as she pressed forward, gripping the bow resolutely. I won't be weak. I won't be useless. I won't make this world even harder for Inuyasha and Kikyo, who have suffered so much for reasons beyond them. I won't be another reason.
Sango let her hair down, now finished with the chore of retrieving their wood for the night and settled in to wait for her friend to return. Before she could get too comfortable, a fog of bickering announced the arrival of Inuyasha and Koga. She heard them before she saw them:
"Would you lay off?" The half demon and the wolf yokai, each holding handfuls of fish by their tails, headed into the wooded area they had claimed, swinging the scaly creatures childishly at one another. As they arrived, Inuyasha slapped his handful of fish into the back of Koga's head, only to find a fish head slamming into his stomach in response.
"How about you both knock it off?" Miroku yawned, following behind the two like an overwhelmed parent. "You're going to reek of fish for days if you don't stop."
Inuyasha turned to retort, but stopped before he could follow up and glanced around wildly, then zeroed in on Sango. In front of her in a flash, he glowered down at her.
"Where's Kagome?"
Koga froze, fistfuls of fish swinging lamely as he waited for Sango's response. Over the smell of the fish, it was hard to tell, but he finally pinned Kagome's scent, travelling at a distance away from them, and quickly.
Just as Sango opened her mouth to explain Kagome's absence, the wolf demon tossed his fish to the ground in a reckless move that had the monk falling to his knees, quick to scoop up their catch, and bolted into the woods.
"Wait, Koga!" Sango cried, leaping to her feet, "She's just-"
"That lech!" Inuyasha huffed, high tailing it after Koga as he yelled at his retreating back, "Get back here, idiot, what do you think you're doing?"
As they disappeared, Sango and Miroku shook their heads and began to prepare the kindling, left alone to do the work of preparing the fire, the site, and their dinner. Miroku approached the pile Kagome and Sango had retrieved and, leaning down to busy himself with gathering some starter pieces, he muttered,
"Not a brain between the two of them."
"You could say that again." Sango shook her head and began to scale the fish that Koga had abandoned to flop on the forest floor.