Chapter 11
Having youkai blood meant excellent body temperature regulation, regardless of the weather.
Except when it didn't.
Inuyasha wiped his palms down the front of his hakama while cursing his malfunctioning body. This was a little fuckin' ridiculous. Especially because said demon body essentially meant his hands were sweaty almost the instant they lifted off his pants, rendering the action futile.
He growled again. As if that would somehow bully his pathetic self into shaping up.
It made no sense. He'd slayed demons many times his size, pounded them to the ground without breaking a sweat, so what the hell was his problem now?!
The clearly agitated hanyou launched up, easily balancing on his toes off a low branch. Exactly three and a half seconds later, he plunged back down, landing in a crouch.
Stupid Kagome. This was all her fricking fault.
They had a thing going, unspoken, yes, but he'd thought she understood. But no, the annoying girl saw the line and then merrily skipped across it. All the times they met was 'by accident'. He'd run into her doing dumb shit in the forest or she'd stumble upon places he just happened to frequent. That's all.
Just before she turned to head back into the village the last time, she'd casually tossed over her shoulder: 'You're good to meet us at noon by the crooked pine tree, right? Remember, Inuyasha!"
Bam. She'd gone and made plans. Now their meetings were real. Deliberate.
And it very obviously—though he sure as shit wasn't gonna admit it— stressed him out.
Another long string of expletives drifted through the breeze, to the backdrop of what otherwise, was a lovely late-spring day, just on the cusp of summer.
Inuyasha scuffed at the ground. Like it personally offended him.
You don't make plans with a hanyou. Seriously, what the fuck.
He honestly didn't remember the last time anyone had wanted to see him at a certain time and would be amiss if he didn't show.
This felt weird.
A shift in the wind brought a trace of two new scents.
He froze, ears alert. He heard them long before he saw them.
Then she crested the hill, a silhouette he'd grown familiar with and today she looked frankly ridiculous. Kagome had a huge, lumpy carry-cloth tied around her shoulders that seemed larger than her torso. But judging by her easy gait, the thing was probably pretty light.
Catching his eye, a bright smile lit up her face and she waved excitedly, even going so far as doing a little jump. Seriously.
Inuyasha rolled his eyes, crossing his stupid, sweaty palms across his chest, hidden away in his sleeves.
"Inuyasha! Hi!" She ran up to him like she often did. "I was worried you'd forget."
"Not everyone has mush for brains."
"Mr. Grumps already, I see."
"Keh."
Kagome solidly ignored him, instead turning around to wave at Kaede, who was still half way up the hill to hurry up.
"I'm soooo excited." Kagome gushed, fair vibrating with barely contained energy.
"No shit."
She stuck her tongue out at him but her smile did not dim one bit.
The kid however, looked substantially less enthused than Kagome did when she finally trudged up to them.
"Hi Inuyasha." Kaede muttered.
He smirked at her hesitant expression. "Nothin' to worry 'bout kid. I'll fish ya out if Kagome messes up."
"Hey!" Kagome smacked him on the shoulder. "I take personal offence to that! I'll have you know that I've taught swimming lessons for many years now, and am a perfectly good teacher."
"Keh." Inuyasha turned to offer his back to them. "You wanna spend all afternoon yappin' or what?"
A glimpse of Kaede's raised brow out of the corner of his eye alerted him to just how much he'd gotten into a habit of travelling with Kagome, that he didn't think twice about it anymore.
Said girl was twisting and tying up the hem of her kosode, exposing her calves, but also freeing her legs to secure around his back. His hands went automatically to their spots behind her thighs when she clambered up.
For once he was conscious of the fabric between his hands and her skin.
The kid said nothing, though still clearly taken back. He guessed this would be deemed unsuitable for a human male and female, let alone him being hanyou. But you know what? Fuck 'em. Humans and their petty rules.
Inuyasha swept Kaede off her feet, tucking her into the crook of one arm. She was small for a kid her age, and so would be fine to carry her that way.
"Inuyasha!" Kaede gasped, making a feeble wiggle in his hold.
"Don't move so much, kid. Or I'll drop ya."
Kagome peeked over his nest of silver hair from her perch on the opposite shoulder. "He won't, don't worry. He just likes to sound mean."
"You too, woman." He warned. "I'm serious."
Though his actions completely negated his threat as he gripped her leg more firmly, what with him only holding her with one hand this time around.
With no further fanfare, Inuyasha launched his human cargo, and the one human cargo's cargo, into the trees.
Kaede screamed reflexively for the first few jumps but after getting her bearings, began to giggle a little. Kagome, as per usual, was making a lot of noise above his sensitive ears. She was laughing happily right now, probably in response to Kaede's reaction.
Inuyasha blinked, caught off guard by the weird relief that softened his shoulders, brought on the sound of her laughter. At their last meeting, she wasn't altogether her normal self, a tinge of sadness souring her scent. And well, the time before that was an absolute shit show.
His only experience with teary human women to date was simple—the cause of their dismay being him. His sheer audacity to exist, claws and fangs and demonic features and all. So promptly removing himself had been the solution. With Kagome that was most definitely not the case. He couldn't just up and leave her ass to be eaten by some nasty in the forest.
In the end he'd resorted to going for a long run with her, something he would do too when feeling frustrated or emotional. And miraculously it'd helped her calm her too.
On one steeper descent than the usual, Kagome whooped loudly behind him, jolting him from his pondering. "See? This is pretty fun, hey Kaede?"
"You're fast, Inuyasha!" Came a muffled comment from under his armpit.
"Damn right."
In no time, he'd run them to the lake he had in mind. There were no obvious youkai lairs in the vicinity and tree line was retreated, making it difficult for anyone to sneak up undetected. It was the biggest reason why he chose the location— it was easily defensible. The other reason, was the clear turquoise water and a gently sloped pebble shoreline; he had a feeling it would appeal to the humans. And it did. Kagome spent a good five minutes squealing about how nice it looked and that she wished she had some word he didn't know.
Inuyasha settled back against one of the bigger rocks along the beach and tried to get comfortable. His ears swivelled, sifting through the noise to identify any early warning of youkai who might've decided to make an afternoon snack of the situation.
He opened one eye, glancing casually at the humans in the water. Kagome appeared to have listened to him for once, staying well within the shore and away from the point where the water deepened abruptly.
Warmth prickled his cheeks. Where in the world does the woman come up with her ideas? Today she'd somehow rigged up a garment of sorts, from what looks like a long swathe of cloth wound in multiple layers and directions such that it encased her torso, leaving her limbs free. Well he supposed it made sense to allow agility in the water, but still, it was a lot of exposed skin. The idiot.
He felt like a creeper. Well, he was kinda one already, but even laying eyes on her bare skin made him feel like he was doing something forbidden.
Keh.
Instead he averted his attention to Kaede, sporting the same get-up as Kagome. She was bobbing along fairly independently now, with just the short time they've been at it. The kid was a fast learner, and a determined little bugger, that's for sure.
They'd moved on to learning a new step it seemed. Kagome's enthusiastic encouragement, sprinkled with ample praise, leant itself well to Kaede's progress.
Someone like Kagome—with her willingness to take anything in stride and genuine openness to anyone—would be hard to come-by again. The realization of this came as quite a shock the other day, in the split second before his feet were to land on the well bottom, that there was a chance the girl on his back could just disappear. Even though his senses told him long in advanced that the dry well was no different, it was still possible. And when her weight remained solidly on his back, he'd felt glad. But then the smell of salt permeated the air, and Inuyasha felt like a selfish asshole instead.
Maybe though, he wouldn't be the only one to miss her if she went home.
Deeply uncomfortable with feelings, Inuyasha grunted and changed the cross of his arms. Beyond him, the splashing and peals of laughter continued as the humans swam in the lake while he lurked on the shore.
He'd always looked on, secretly watched from the sidelines. It was no different now, really. By definition, being hanyou means 'participating' was out of the question. Definitely learned that hard lesson when he was very young, the one time he made the mistake of trying to join a game of ball with some human children.
In a way though, it gave him an element of control. There were no variables. If he didn't like it, he would up and leave and no one would know a thing. It wasn't up to anyone to include him or not, they didn't have that power. He was the one—
A slosh of water exploded near his left knee, the droplets bouncing off the surrounding pebbles and spraying him good. Wetness landed on his nose and even dribbled into one ear.
His eyes follow the cackle of familiar laughter and a snort, catching the tail end of Kagome falling on her ass into the water, temporarily overcome by her mirth. Kaede hovered just at the edge of the beach, looking torn between amusement and slight trepidation at his reaction.
The bitterness of resentment crept into this chest, why she of all people, would dare make a fool of—
"Inuyasha!" Kagome had apparently recovered, popping back up from the water. "Stop brooding by yourself over there. The water's nice!"
He blinked. Then growled, because he was still. mad. damnit.
"Come on in! You're already wet anyways." She giggled, her grin on the evil side.
He shot up to his feet, then a few steps running start before catapulting into the air. He had a split-second, immensely satisfying glimpse of Kagome's wide eyes as realization dawned on her, and she began a futile attempt to wade back towards the shore where Kaede was.
Inuyasha curled into a tight ball, aiming to drop into the water where the colour changed, signalling the appreciable change in depth.
All of his weight and hanyou speed plunged into the lake, sending a sizeable wave to crash into the shore.
Resurfacing, he sloppily pulled back his hair to reveal a shit-eating grin. As anticipated, Kagome did not make it to shore and judging from the sodden hair plastered over her face… he got her good.
"INUYASHA!"
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A/N: Enjoy :) Lemme know where there's any grammar/spelling mistakes. This was very hastily edited.
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.