Chapter 44
By far the most useful outcome from working her ass off training was learning that the 'hunch' she always had could be focused on and intensified. This then allowed her to accurately narrow down the location of one infuriating inu-hanyou.
Sure, the added bonus of being able to fry any hostile youkai in a pinch also had its benefits. Maybe now she can finally stop being dead weight.
Huffing with annoyance, Kagome stomped her way through the underbrush, made thicker from fallen leaves. The colours in the forest was spectacular; she'll make a point of consciously appreciating it later. Right now, she was focused on heading towards where the slight tug in her abdomen led her.
Inuyasha had been acting weird lately and Kagome couldn't shake the feeling that something was off.
At first, she'd chalked it up to a headache or him having one of those days where you wanted to hide from people–she certainly had those too–but Inuyasha refusing to hang out multiple consecutive times was ridiculous.
Contrary to what he'd like to portray, Inuyasha liked company—well, with the caveat that said company liked him too. She could tell how he seemed to relax into himself the rare times they were able to enjoy activities as a group. The villagers were difficult to break in, but lately they seemed to at least be less prickly when she dragged the hanyou to communal celebrations. And a pragmatic few started to actually seek him out for construction help and other tasks.
Admittedly, it was more difficult recently to make time for leisure, what with the harvests and everyone busy preparing for winter. And her training with Kikyou with Kaede didn't help either, being the time sink that it was.
Which is why she's determined to figure out what was going on with Inuyasha once and for all. Just what is going on between those two fluffy doggy ears?
She was getting pretty close now to the grove of beech that loosed circled one of their favourite clearings to hang out. And she was pretty confident her friend was lounging on one of the tallest ones.
"Inuyaaaashaaa, where aaare youuu?"
Birds chirped.
Kagome repeated herself several more times. Still nothing.
Growling in a manner much like her half-human companion, unbeknownst to her, Kagome picked up a decent sized fallen branch and lobbed it against a select trunk.
Though she tried to keep abuse against the arbor-kind to a minimum, sometimes Inuyasha drove her nuts. He wasn't as receptive to words as to physical persuasion.
Sure enough, the vibration up the tree, no matter how minute was felt by the person stowed up in its boughs.
"Oi!" Came an irritated response as a red clad figure landed nimbly at the edge of the clearing. "What's yer problem?"
Though it could be an immature approach, Kagome nonetheless stormed forward with her hands on her hips. It would bolster the overarching vibe of being pissed off and get her message across non-verbally.
"Nuh-uh, Dog-boy! What's yours?"
Kagome finished marching the rest of the way right into her friend's personal bubble.
"I haven't heard a peep from you in days and you don't even start was something civil like a 'hello'?" Taking one hand off her hip, she jabbed him in the chest with her finger. "So? Why have you been avoiding us—or me specifically?"
Inuyasha actually took a step back.
Her crowning assault wasn't really that aggressive, or at least she didn't think anything like a forceful poke would faze the hanyou.
Glancing up at Inuyasha quizzically, she found that his generous fringe cast most of his expression in shadow with the way he had angled his face.
Unconsciously, Kagome toned softened. "No, really Inuyasha, can you please tell me what's going on?"
An extra few moments was all it took for the boy to recover. And almost visibly, he shrugged on the brash persona he adopted like some sort of cloak.
It'd been a long time since she'd seen him use this defensive mechanism with her.
"Why do you gotta stick ya big nose in other people's business all the time, huh? Ya need to butt out, Kagome."
Ah, right. She'd almost forgotten how effective this was at pissing her off. Almost.
"Well, screw you, Inuyasha!" She snarled back, sounding just like a certain someone she'd picked up this tone of speech from. "I'm not leaving you alone until you tell me what's up with you lately."
"Fuck this." He snapped.
He stepped back from her in irritation, but not before her hands closed firmly around the long locks of silver hair framing his jaw. With a side lock in each hand, Kagome got right up in his face.
"Are you mad at me because I have miko powers now?"
The way his golden eyes widened like saucers would be comical if she wasn't so fricking pissed right now.
He was frozen in shock still, but his silence confirmed her suspicions.
It was pretty obvious really. Inuyasha started getting mopey and withdrawn as soon as they returned to the village. At first, Kagome thought that perhaps he was just upset that they hadn't had much time to spend together like before, but then it really got out of hand. Did he really think it wasn't noticeable the way avoided her and Kaede?
Granted, she still have yet to reveal she could sense his youki to an extent. It felt like a hidden card up her sleeve, what with him having so many more abilities superior to her measly human self.
"That's not..." He mumbled at last, dropping his gaze from hers.
Her guess had hit the nail right on the head, with the way Inuyasha deflated in front her.
"My butt it's not." She let go of his hair. Unable to stop herself, she gave both side locks a little smoothing pat before withdrawing. "What's that gotta do with anything though? Help me understand, hmm?"
"Now you can fry demons whenever you want, why you gotta have me around?"
It wasn't phrased quite like a question, but Kagome could hear the genuine inquiry anyway. She had spent too much effort getting to know him and interpreting his grumpy [exchanges] to do otherwise.
Indignation scorched up her throat regardless of her intention to carry out a civil conversation.
"Are you serious, Inuyasha." She yelled at him, watching with satisfaction how the doggy ears she liked so much fold back into his hair. "So you think I've just been using you all this time? And now that I have some control of my powers, I'm just gonna up and ditch you?"
Her fingers twitched at her side and Kagome balled them up to resist the urge to pull on his hair again.
Why is it that only this one particular boy can give her such extreme emotional whiplash?
He chanced a glance at her expression, then uncharacteristically looked away again. "Well, yeah. Isn't that the normal thing to do?"
"Argggh, no!" Kagome lets out a frustrated noise.
Seriously, is it ok to kick him?
"You know that's how it is, Kagome." He snapped back at her. "Humans don't associate with us unless there's something to gain."
"We're not having this conversation again." She reached out and snagged his chin firmly with one hand so she could glare up into his flashing eyes. "Inuyasha. I. Care. About. You. You're. My. Friend. Is that clear enough?"
The dominating gesture, along with the way a red flush crept up Inuyasha's face gave Kagome a thrill of [pride, triumph]. It ran through her, leaving her feeling oddly powerful but breathless at the same time.
Inuyasha blinked several times, long lashes brushing his cheeks several times before he shook off her hold, growling with no real bite.
"Hands off me, woman." He shoved his hands into his sleeves, crossing his arms tight. "Fine. I'll buy it for now. Stop talking sap."
Hiding a giggle behind her hand, Kagome took pity on her poor friend, knowing she'd gotten her point across.
"I'll stop if you stop avoiding us, okay?"
"Keh."
Before he could sneakily turn away, Kagome snagged one of his wrists, shaking lightly until he gave up and uncrossed his arms. Trapping his hand firmly in hers, lacing their fingers for good measure, she began dragging him away.
"Alright then. You can start now." She grinned up at him. "A flock of pheasants flew into the village this morning so we're in for a treat! Kaede and I managed to snag one all to ourselves. And I'm volunteering you to help us cook it."
"You're just making me do all the dirty work." He grumbled.
"Well, duh!"
"Keh."
They walked in silence for a while.
"Inuyasha?" She tugged on his hand. "We're good, right?"
His eyes lingered on her smiling face for a moment, then he sighed long-sufferingly.
"Yes, Kagome. We're cool."
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A/N: I couldn't get the picture of Kagome holding Inuyasha's chin like the male leads do to the female leads in classic shoujo anime, so I wrote it hahahaha.
We're coming up to pivotal part of the story, so I've prepped ahead of time to be able to have a regular updating schedule for the next few chapters including this one. Aiming for every 1-2 week updates, stayed tuned! Hope you enjoy :)
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.