The sun was setting now as it's almost evening and Miroku took a deep breath as he approached the entrance of the cave, a waterfall roaring continuously to his left while he walked up the flat stoned path. He brought the basket filled with fruit and other food items, the quilts from the old lady and some firewood strapped to his back. The sutras he placed against the wall held in place, the barrier glowing at his arrival.
"It doesn't matter if you think it's ridiculous. Just put the fucking barrier up and get lost. Stay away from me till morning. Whatever it is should hopefully wear off by then!" The monk recalled the last conversation he had with the half demon before he disappeared inside.
The monk thought it was excessive thinking back to the half demon's request.
But now he has a better insight into their odd situation. Miroku lifted his arms and did a hand sign to drop the barrier. It was then he realized some of the sutra he left on the inside of the entrance had been damaged, falling from the ceiling and walls ripped and torn. Seems Inuyasha had tried to get out but gave up from what the monk could deduce.
"Were you going to use these? Hmm it would hurt alot, Miroku. We know you don't want to hurt us."
The memory made the monk shiver, his skin becoming heated. Truthfully, he didn't even want to use them, especially if it meant hurting his travel companion. But Miroku reassured himself that he would be fine as he had seen the other man take blows more painful than this barrier could inflict, and could have even broken it. Sighing again, he stepped in so it could close up behind him, replacing some of the seals as well.
Walking into the cave, he came up to a split path. Without pausing his stride and using the flashlight Kagome had left behind, he took the left tunnel to walk around a wall of stone. He could hear rushing water as he turned the corner to enter a wide cavern. The cavern's opening was large and filled with small to large pools of water, some being filtered by the rushing water coming from the rock's wall. Even vines and soft grassy patches grew up around the wall from the little rays of sunshine peeking through holes in the walls and ceiling of the cave. Pointing the flashlight to the ceiling to illuminate the area, Miroku laid the quilts on dry moss then found another dry crater and set to work building a fire.
He knew Inuyasha was watching him, feeling the heat of his glare on his neck but the monk tried to ignore him for a little longer.
After getting the fire burning, Miroku got up to bring the basket closer only to come face to face with the furious half demon. Inuyasha seems to have lost his red kimono, only wearing the white inner obi slightly open. His bangs stuck to his forehead as sweat rolled down his face, his skin looked flushed under the yellow light of the fire. His eye colour now a deep maroon with red and orange swirling around in it. The orange wasn't the amber he knew and grew to love. Fully expecting the anger behind it, the monk levelled him with his own soft smile and calm eyes, it only made the other man angrier.
'1. Increased body temp.'
'2. Eye colour: red, pink, marron and other colours based on emotion'
'7. Mood Swings'
'8. Violent Tendencies'
"Didn't I fucking tell you to stay the fuck away from me? What the fuck are you doing here?", snarled Inuyasha, his voice warping as he spoke through clenched teeth. His breath came fast and very warm against his face as he huffed. His face flushed as sweat dripped down his face and chin, causing his bangs to stick to his forehead.
' flashes'
"I wanted to be here with you, Inuyasha." The other man calmly replied. For a few seconds Miroku saw the confusion on his face and the maroon dissipated to be replaced with red; red was for the desire he felt wanted to act on but they flashed back to maroon. Inuyasha grabbed the other man's collar and shoved him back against the wall behind him with a growl.
"Wha- Stop fuckingwith me, Miroku. I'm not one of those women you think you can flirt with."
Miroku huffed a chuckle as he surveyed him up and down appreciatively with a smirk," You think I can't see that, Inuyasha. If there's any consolation, I didn't flirt with anyone today."
"Ohh? And I'm supposed to believe that,monk? " the half demon droned, not believing his words.
"Yes, the only thing I wanted to do was get back here to you. You were all I thought about and I'm sorry for taking so long." The monk wrapped his hands around the other man's wrist and gently rubbed his thumb against it as he locked eyes with him. His skin felt hot, feverish, even.
Inuyasha pulled his hands away from the other man's collar as if he had been burned and jumped back into the darkness. The maroon was gone now, replaced with the orange that Miroku slowly began to see as fear, doubt. It was the same one he saw in his eyes when he ran off and the same one he saw before he disappeared into the cave. Inuyasha's wide eyes looked at him with uncertainty, his hackles forever high and walls up. But the red was there, a rim around the iris and a little bit of hopefulness bled thinly into the middle.
"Quit messing with me, idiot," Inuyasha says, his eyes glowing in the darkness.
"I wanted to be here with you. If something happened to you, I'd rather be here than be surrounded by annoying needy villagers. Now, I know you're hungry and I like to eat with company," said Miroku with a sigh, going back to retrieving the basket. He took his seat on the laid out quilt and held out an apple in his hand to Inuyasha, "Please. Come sit and eat with me."
The monk watches the half demon battle with his emotions; distrust, doubt and confusion came first before a surrender as he slowly edged out to crawl out of the darkness to sit at the monk's side. It seems his honesty worked to at least get him to come closer, even though the other seemed a bit annoyed at him and refused to look at him. But Miroku could see the change when he blinked, the red rim still present, a bit thicker than before but his amber eyes shimmered as if almost back to normal.
"Keh…fine. But only so you'd stop whining," Inuyasha grumbled, his hand twitching at this side before taking the fruit from Miroku while being very careful not to touch him and still keep a sense of distance. With a sweet smile Miroku went into the basket and took out a small pot, four loaves of bread and two bowls.
"The villagers are very generous, had a lady said she'd make another quilt for when we leave. There's some other things but I couldn't bring them all here. Ah great, it's still warm", Miroku explains with a smile as he carefully poured the soup into the bowls and handed a bowl to Inuyasha.
"Greedy monk," Inuyasha grumbled, his jaw full of the apple he took a bite of as he took the bowl with his free hand.
"Hey now! Who am I to decline when something is being offered? Besides, we need the supplies for travel, no?" he laughed, taking the opportunity to lear at his friend's open shirt while he ate from the distance.
The half demon rolled his eyes smiling into his bowl of broth, "so did you find out what that dust was that witch threw at us?"
"Yeah, I did. It's a funny embarrassing story actually. I've never heard 10 women giggle so much in one place in my life…..It's a love potion," the monk said the last part quickly but he knew the other heard him when he paused eating.
"What?" Inuyasha said in shock as he finally turned his attention to the other.
Miroku now finished with his bowl of broth put it aside before he continued, not making eye contact, "The head nurse in the village made a record of it. Said they like to make note of events that affect the village so they could help their village or neighbouring ones from similar happenings in the future. So she thinks the witch wanted to use the side effects of the powder in their favour to make things difficult for us after their death. Any person affected by the dust that is rejected by the person they desire the most, either become violent or turn into some crazy monster."
Inuyasha stared at the monk like he had gone mad. He was talking to him like he was explaining the weather and not the strong possibility of him returning to find Inuyasha being a monster. And it felt like he would at first. While he painstakingly waited for Miroku's return he had another two apparitions pop up in his head. Inuyasha understood it was his emotions: Desire, Doubt and Rage. Rage had made him try to cut through the sutras even though he told the monk to stay away. But Doubt had stopped him, pushing him back inside to sulk in the darkness. Desire tried multiple times to egg on Rage but Doubt was stronger. It had always been the stronger emotion because it was an amalgamation of things: Fear, Sadness, Lack of Reassurance and his own loneliness.
"S-so what does it do? Makes you fall in love with someone?" he asks.
"It enhances your existing feelings, your desires. Making you act on emotions you would usually push away or ignore," Miroku purred while turning to the half demon to crawl towards him, "Kinda like how you 'attacked' me this morning." Inuyasha watched red lines seeped into the colour of his eyes like a spider's web, hearing his voice also take on the morphed pitched. He had first seen it when he pinned him to the tree, flashing for a few seconds before he saw him panic. It was what one of the apparitions, Desire, kept referring to but he couldn't believe that the monk considered wanting him.
"Miroku-" He tried to speak but was cut off by the other dragging his hands up his legs to run circles on his stomach and sides.
"It also makes the infected person become irritable or frustrated if they aren't in close proximity to their desired partner. So imagine- imagine ," he snapped, "how embarrassing it was for the chief's wife to repeatedly ask me, why I had a constant scowl on my face? Or why did I almost snap at an old lady asking to bless her house and all 15 of her grandchildren? 'What's the rush, monk? You got someone to go be with?' She wouldn't stop pestering me till I told her I'd really rather get back to the man I sealed away in a cave before he tried something stupid! Or worse."
Desire was singing as they watched the web bleed out and consume the dark violet of the monk's eyes as he ranted. Rage had long disappeared when Miroku said he wanted to be here, with him. The concept of it had still sounded foreign coming from anybody with regards to himself.
"But I hoped more than anything that you hadn't thought I had rejected you earlier and was really hoping you would come get me."
Inuyasha did think it was a bit odd. He had watched Miroku put up barriers before, some simple and others more complicated. He himself had been behind a few of them but this last one was too simple. Inuyasha took one look at the barriers and knew if he really tried he could break it, which thoroughly confused and frustrated him as why the hell the monk had been so sloppy.
Miroku had deliberately made the barrier weak. He wanted him to drag him back to the cave. He wanted -
"Fuck it already."