Chapter 9

She'd taken to this dangerous habit of wandering the outskirts of the forest bordering the village, citing that it was something she never got to see back home. Oh you bet he'd given her a big piece of his mind, you know, with her being a defenceless human, and the forest being infested with youkai. But she'd argued back that she'd been a 'scout' as a child, which apparently meant she was better equipped to navigate the wilderness—like hell she was. Plus, she'd added with a quirk of her lips, he was always around, so there was nothing to be worried about.

He'd straight up shut his mouth then. He did not want to confirm that whatsoever, but how the hell did she know he'd keep an eye on her from the tree tops whenever he scented her in the forest?

Today was no different, as Inuyasha perched up in the leaves and watched her crest the hill. Her unbound tresses tumbled around her shoulders, gleaming almost blue in the sunlight. With one hand, she'd hiked the hem of the faded kosode she wore up past her knees to give her freedom to climb, completely ignoring how scandalous that was. The idiot.

In the uncanny way she was always able to spot him, regardless of how hidden he'd thought he was, her grey eyes lit up upon catching his. She made a big, excited wave with one arm, jogging over to him.

He scratched the side of his head awkwardly. Yup, still not used to how genuinely happy she was to see him. Each and every time.

"Hi!" She exclaimed, stopping at the base of his tree.

He dropped down in a blur in front of her. These days, it hardly elicited anything more than a blink from the girl.

"Oh! Inuyasha," Her excitement was evident in the pitch of her voice, as she fished out the contents of her carry cloth. "I found these on the way here for us to share. I'm really getting the hang of this foraging thing!"

Kagome presented a large handful of fruits and a little bundle of leaves. Her eyes were sparkling, looking up at him with a proud little smile.

Something about that smile triggered a sudden and inexplicably potent warmth to flood his insides. It took several seconds for him to process it—as foreign of a feeling as it was—and named it as fondness. The dummy had ignored his silence as usual, looking back down to introduce to him what she'd brought.

Inuyasha found himself gazing at the top of her head, the raven waves at her crown, the pink tips of her human ears and somehow he blurted out. "Ya doin' good, Kagome."

Surprise made her whip her face back up to meet his eyes. Her own grey ones blinked once, twice, before her smile stretched even wider until she was downright beaming back at him.

The thought that anyone, that she would react this positively to his praise was staggering. Him, Inuyasha, a hanyou.

Yet, he knew how hard she'd been struggling the last few weeks to pick up tasks that would be useful for the village as a collective. And while he didn't think anything of fishing for her—it was barely any effort on his part—she still felt slightly beholden. He got that. She was proud and she wanted to contribute equally. If the roles were switched, Inuyasha knew he'd probably refuse help from anyone, hating pity above all things.

Kagome understood it wasn't pity that kept drawing him back to her right? He better not have to explain to her what it was instead though, because fuck if he knew.

"Awww, thanks Inuyasha." She bit her lower lip, a touch of bashfulness in her smile. "I hope they're not too tart for you, kinda like a green apple, I'd say."

Just like that, he felt heat bloom across his cheeks.

He whirled around quickly to hide his face and mumbled. "I'm gonna go get the fish then."

It took several minutes to thoroughly splash cold river water on his malfunctioning face before it felt marginally back to normal, because what fresh hell was that? And then, he set about looking for fish. He wanted to find some plump ones, ones that would have extra thick layers of fat lining the belly.

He had long deduced that Kagome must be some sort of merchant or lord's daughter in her land. And here, especially because she was feeling like she wasn't helping out enough, he knew she probably wasn't eating as much as she should. Hell, he was pretty damn sure even humans could hear the way her stomach growled all the damn time. And, maybe he was imagining shit, but he could swear her cheeks were more dipped in on the sides than when he'd first hauled her out of the dry well.

Muttering, he stalked back to where their small fire lay. It'd somehow become an unspoken agreement to keep going back to the same rocky bluff they'd cooked at the first day. Just like these unspoken outings on afternoons that Kagome was given time off from her tasks in the village and she would choose to spend them with him. Figure that.

The spot was decent, a good ways away from human settlement and higher up to offer a nice vantage point over the tributary winding below. As he alighted on the rock, Kagome looked up, grinning above the small fire she had going. Girl wasn't half bad, quick to learn. Good trait to have to survive.

He made quick work of spearing the already gutted fish on a pair of suitable sticks, securing them at the proper angle over the flames to cook evenly. Glancing over at Kagome, he found her hunched over a flat rock, grunting with frustration at her attempts to shred the bundle of leaves she'd brought.

"Why is this so stringy?" She huffed. "It's like impossible to rip. I don't want to bruise it…I want the fish to get the flavour, not the stupid rock."

"Oi." He wagged the fingers on one outstretched palm when she looked up at him. "Give it'ere."

She eyed him skeptically, before handing over a few leaves not yet mangled by her attempts.

"How big?"

In response she held up her pinched fingers to mime what dimensions she wanted.

He grinned at her, flashing a fang, then holding up the foliage between his claws, he made a show of ripping the herb into precise, neat sections.

Across from him, Kagome's eyes widened.

Shit, fuck! What the fuck did he just do!? What made him do that just now? Even as a kid he knew to hide his hands in his sleeve. Way to remind her that he was very much not human and brandish his claws like that. If she'd somehow forgotten he was dangerous, she sure as shit would remember now.

"Whoa." Her gaze travelled from his frozen hands to meet his eyes. And then, she mimicked his earlier motion with her hand, grinning cheekily. "You're like a walking, talking Swiss Army knife."

Dumbly, Inuyasha pressed the fine shreds of green material into her palm.

Still unable to quite process anything, he uttered. "D'fuck? Siss arm mee…"

She giggled, flapping one hand at him. "Never mind."

He stared, watching her scoot over to lay the cut herbs on the cooking fish, tucking some inside the slitted belly.

Did she see his claws? He was so certain this was the moment that would finally make her snap and run for the hills.

On the contrary, after humming her satisfaction, Kagome plopped back down beside him, legs drawing up so she could rest her chin on her knees.

"I only put it on one of the fish." She explained. "Wasn't sure if you like the taste or how you take your flavourings."

The answer was he usually had none, but she didn't need to know that.

He grunted, which earned him an amused look and a flash of a smile. She did that a lot in response to his incoherent noises.

They were silent for a while, listening to the chirp of birds punctuated by the sizzle and crackling of the fire. She handed him one of the small fruits before nibbling carefully on her own. They weren't half bad, maybe a little sour for his tastes but the juice was clean and refreshing.

"Say Inuyasha," She started up again after a few minutes, as she tossed the finished core into the base of the fire. "You… travel a lot around here right?"

"Yeah."

"Do you know of a lake anywhere? Close ish? I'm trying to find somewhere to teach Kaede how to swim." Kagome mused, eyes trained ahead of them at valley below. "People shouldn't swim in ponds 'cause you can get sick from all the bacteria growing in it. And the river is a bit much to start learning in… plus I think Kaede might get scared from the current."

"The kid asked you?"

"Nah. It's a good skill to have. I can teach her like I taught Souta…" She trailed off.

Picking up on the change in her scent, he glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. Her head was bowed, fingers picking at her fraying sleeves absently. He waited, for her to continue if she wanted to.

"Um, Souta's my baby brother. Kind of a little shit, actually." Her giggles sounded rather wet and forced, and it made him freeze up. Kagome took a deep breath, steadily exhaled, then continued. "Well he was really scared of the water when he was smaller, so he didn't actually learn till last summer. Finally got to use his 'faking tough' phase to my advantage. He's a pretty decent swimmer now."

"'s good." He mumbled in an attempt to be encouraging. He did not want her to start crying.

"So yeah, he's around Kaede's age, so I'm sure she'll pick it up fast too."

"Probably should ask the kid, so she doesn't freak out or somethin'"

"Yeah, good call." She smiled a little at him. "You'll keep an eye out for a lake then?"

He reached over to deftly flip the fish around. "Already know one. It's 'bout half a day's walk from here for you humans, but uh, I-I could take you two."

Her face brightened and her smile transformed to something truer. "Really? You'll do that for us?"

"Keh. It's like one jump for me."

"Yeah, yeah I know." She humoured. "So… do you have any siblings."

"An asshole half-brother. He stays out of my face, I stay out of his."

"Oh… so not on good terms then?" She said ruefully. "That's too bad. I hope he comes around."

"Fuck no!" He barked. "Did you not hear what I just said, woman?"

"Well, it's nice to have a sibling sometimes. Someone to back you up when you need it, you know."

"No."

No, he didn't know. Because no one backs up a hanyou.

Kagome sighed sadly, looking once more in his direction before going silent again, lost in thought. He sat tensely beside her, feeling his own agitation grow as the scent of salt leaked into the air between them.

Crap, was she actually gonna frickin' cry? Oh hells no.

"I'll watch the well for ya' too." He blurted suddenly.

"Eh?" She blinked at his rapid change of subject. Then as understanding dawned, her expression grew mildly uncertain, as if she thought he was mocking her. "Oh, you actually believe me? You don't think I just hit my head hard on something and forgot?"

The girl had tried explaining to him where her homeland was. He understood the part about some sort of portal through the dry well but the more foreign concepts went over his head. But he'd never posed any alternate explanations before. Maybe the humans then—always pretending like they knew everything.

"'course." He scoffed. "Stranger shit happens around 'ere."

The relieved smile she directed at him was dazzling.

"Thanks Inuyasha. That really means a lot to me."

"It's obvious. Ya too weird to be of this world."

"Wow… you were doing so good and then you had to ruin it!"

She smacked him lightly on the shoulder, before bouncing to her feet to check on the fish.

Her amused giggles chased away the vestiges of salt in her scent, and the echoes of the sound bounced around not unpleasantly around his head as he watched her fuss over their cooking food.

It's true though. Kagome wasn't like anyone else he'd met.

.

.

.

.

.

.

A/N: Here you go! InuKag and a slightly longer one at that 3 I love writing them.

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha. However, this plot, the exact sequence of words and any original characters described therein, I reserve all rights to.