InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Purity ❯ Legend of the Shikon no Tama ( Chapter 15 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

InuYasha rolled over onto his back and sighed then flinched. He had known that these self-defense lessons were a bad idea. Damn Kagura, anyway. She thought it would be good, that it would help to get Kagome to remember him. How stupid he was for thinking that Kagura might be right. No, the only thing these lessons were accomplishing was dealing him a good deal of soreness since he had to let Kagome toss him around while she learned to defend herself, not to mention other undesirable side effects when she would end up straddling him, as she had mere minutes ago . . . He groaned. He really, really ought to deal a world of hurt on the house of Sesshoumaru. That bastard brother of his was probably laughing his ass off at InuYasha's expense . . .

The only thing he was thankful for was that, for the duration of the lessons, Kagome always wore sweatpants or jogging pants. He knew from past experiences what it was like, to see, to touch, to have those bare thighs of hers stretched over him. As if her scent wasn't enough of an opponent for him, when she wore that damn school uniform of hers, there hadn't been a thing to mask or mute that, not from him.

With a soft groan, InuYasha sat up. If he didn't redirect his thoughts really quickly, he'd probably leap at her when she came back, and how would he explain that? He shook his head slowly. `Damned if I do, and damned if I don't. I swear I'll fucking die.'

For three weeks now he'd been letting Kagome chuck him around, and other than that first night when she had said that she thought she knew him from a past life, she didn't seem to remember him at all. He was starting to wonder if she ever would . . .

He growled low in his throat. She didn't need to learn to defend herself, damn it. She knew how to defend herself. More to the point, he was her protector, her defender. It was a task he had taken on long ago. It was a task he hadn't ever wanted to give up. Yet he wanted to be near her. Near enough to see her, to hear her sigh, to see her smile . . . `Kagome.'

Kagome stepped out of the house with two water bottles. She threw one to him. He caught it easily and made quick work of draining half of it.

In the cool shade of Goshinboku, Kagome flopped down beside him as they enjoyed the break in their training. InuYasha spared her a sidelong glance but flushed when he intercepted her own stare. Her eyes could make him feel a thousand emotions, could bring him to his knees, no questions asked.

He'd hidden his feelings during their two year odyssey. In that time, in that place, telling her how he felt would have complicated things. It was best to leave it as it had been. Friends, but how many times did he show her his feelings? Why didn't she understand that whatever he did, it was always for her? She was his world. She just didn't know it.

He dared another glance at her. She was still gazing at him. "What?" he demanded. She stared at him like she wanted to ask him something but wasn't sure how to do it.

She smiled. Her eyes lit up and glittered in the spring sunshine. He'd given up his Sunday to come by and give Kagome a lesson. His alternative was to sit alone in his empty house and drive himself crazy, wondering what Kagome was doing. It had been a no-brainer.

"Souta told me before about this story you told his class once. My grandfather told us the story, too, but Souta said your version was much better."

InuYasha frowned. The story he'd told Souta's class? About the Shikon no Tama? Did Kagome want to hear it? More to the point, could he tell her the story without jogging her memories too badly?

"I guess you could say that I've researched it really well," he commented, trying to hedge the subject and trying to avoid saying anything that might remind her.

Kagome's grin widened. "Can you tell it to me, too?"

He shifted uncomfortably. To be honest, he hadn't wanted to tell the story the first time. Kagura had insisted that it would be therapeutic. Then she had warned him that the names had all been lost over the years, which he had realized in reading the book the old man had given him. The story itself didn't bother him anymore. He'd made peace with all of that, but Kagome . . .

The recollection of the well filled with water, the consuming fear that she was lost to him; the faces of their friends, trying not to cry as they bore witness to his last moments in Sengoku Jidai. . . Closing his eyes against the memories, he cleared his throat and said, "It's a long story. We're supposed to be training."

Kagome looked away then suddenly brightened. She got up and grabbed his hands, dragging him to his feet. InuYasha grimaced as his shoes pinched his feet. So long as he lived, he would hate the damn things . . . "What are you doing?" he growled. "Where do you think you're dragging me off to?"

Kagome giggled at his surly tone but didn't stop walking and didn't let go of his hands. "We can go for a jog. That way we're still training. Now talk. I want to hear this fantastic story."

InuYasha sighed, trying to figure out where to begin. "It all started with a miko. She was given this special jewel to protect. It wasn't just any jewel. It was called the Shikon no Tama, and it was said to possess the soul of a great miko and the youkai she tried to destroy."

Kagome let go of his hands and broke into a jog. InuYasha sped up into a loping run to catch up with her. She glanced over her shoulder and her smirk widened when she noticed that he was closing in on her. He couldn't help but grin back. Something about Kagome's smile had always been and always would be infectious to him.

"What happened to this miko?" Kagome asked without breaking her stride and without a sign of fatigue. "She's not the one who broke the jewel, right?"

"No, no. She didn't break the jewel . . . That was a different . . . miko." InuYasha winced. Of course, if Kagome couldn't remember then she wouldn't recall Kikyou. Still . . . even though he had gotten to say his goodbyes to her at last, the dull ache was still there, and he imagined it always would remain. A sudden swell of anger shot forth, spurred on by the knowledge that things weren't supposed to be this way. Kagome wasn't supposed to have forgotten him. `Damn her! What has she done? And how can I ever undo it?'

"InuYasha?"

Her voice broke through his reverie, and he forced a smile after intercepting her concerned look. "She died," he said flatly. Emotions braced against the pain of the disclosure, his voice had taken a harder edge, a note of matter-of-fact. Trying to give Kagome the meat-and-bones of the story without the knowledge that she had been there . . . InuYasha wasn't sure if he could do it. "She was fooled into thinking that the one she loved betrayed her so she pinned him to a tree, and she died."

Kagome suddenly stopped jogging and whirled to face him. An odd sort of pain clouded her features, and InuYasha stepped back in retreat. "She was beautiful, this miko, wasn't she?"

InuYasha frowned at the look on Kagome's face. Was she remembering? And if she was, how much of it would she recall? But Kagome turned away, her eyes focusing on something that InuYasha couldn't see. Her voice settled into a quiet murmur, and InuYasha didn't dare speak for fear of breaking her trance. "That miko . . . killed the hanyou, but she loved him, too . . . and he loved her." Kagome frowned suddenly and swung around to face him once more. Her gaze slowly cleared, and she stared at him, challenged him, dared him to lie to her. "There was another miko, wasn't there? Only she came later . . ."

InuYasha felt his chest constrict under her close scrutiny. "There was," he admitted softly, hoping, wishing . . . did she remember? Did she? Could she?

Kagome's face clouded over as tears sprang to her eyes but didn't fall. "She loved him, too. She saved him . . , but he still loved the first miko."

InuYasha flinched at the sadness in her tone, the sorrow in her eyes. He had caused that. Of all the terrible things he'd ever done in his life, this one thing, this emotion in Kagome's eyes . . . was the worst. She'd come to him no more than a child, really, and in her struggles to reach her own maturity, she had changed him forever. Somehow, he had let her down in the worst way. How on earth would he ever tell her that he was sorry for that? How would he convince her that he didn't mean what she thought he had meant? How would he prove to her that he'd wander alone until the end of time, if only she would give him that special smile once more?

Kagome shook herself out of her reverie and stepped closer to InuYasha. She reached out and touched his arm, her brow furrowed as she stared at him with concern. "You look like you lost your best friend," she said softly, her tone light, as though she was trying to tease him.

He nearly groaned at how deadly accurate her observation really was. He wrinkled his nose and snorted. "Keh. I've never been one to have friends."

Kagome grinned. "I'm your friend." She suddenly flushed then looked away before hurrying on, "Well, I'm your student, too . . . I guess it isn't appropriate to say I'm your friend."

`Damn it,' he thought with a glower as he reigned in the perverse desire to shred something with his claws. `She still doesn't remember . . .'

"Anyway," Kagome hurried on, her tone falsely bright, her scent shifting as her nervousness intensified. He couldn't see her face fully but he could see the pink tinge in her cheeks. "Forget I said that."

He caught her hand and swung her around to face him, his eyes blazing with an intensity that he didn't try to hide from her. "You don't understand . . . I don't deserve a friend like you."

A deeper flush blossomed over Kagome's face. She opened her mouth to speak but snapped it closed again and swallowed hard instead. He leaned toward her slowly, his gaze falling to her lips. Her heart thundered in his ears . . . or was that his own? The only thought that made sense in his mind was that she was here, in his arms, and he desperately wanted to kiss her. Her pulse tattooed his fingertips, a wild creature, a phantom entity. Her blood singed through her veins, untamed, calling to him as he leaned in a little bit more. Mere breaths separating them, only the pounding of her heart in his ears to guide him. Desperation, a wanton yearning for something he'd reminded himself way too often that he couldn't have ebbed and flowed over him. He pulled her a little closer.

Then she closed her eyes and drew a deep breath. "Osuwari!" she shrieked.

InuYasha blinked in surprise and let go of her hand. It registered just after that he hadn't ended up in submission, and his temper soared. He reacted without thinking. "What the hell do you think you're doing, bitch?"

Kagome's flush paled and she suddenly sank down on the ground. "I . . . I don't know . . . I don't know why I said that . . ." Then it registered, what he had just called her, and she pinned him with a glare. "I'm not a . . . InuYasha!"

"Keh!" he snorted and turned away. He hadn't meant to call her that. He was afraid to look at her now. The Kagome he knew would have either ignored the name or would have osuwari-d him. Since the latter obviously wouldn't work anymore, he wasn't positive what to expect. This Kagome . . . He wasn't sure what she'd do.

He certainly wasn't expecting what she did do, though. Kagome threw her head back and laughed. The sound of her amusement echoed around them and soothed his nerves like nothing else in the world could. He couldn't help but laugh softly with her as he hunkered down on the ground next to her. "Why are you laughing?" he finally asked.

She shook her head and managed to get her giggling under control. Waving a hand before her face like she was overheated, she grinned unrepentantly at him. "I guess . . . I deserved it," she admitted with another soft giggle. "I don't know why I yelled that at you. You're certainly not a dog. I'm sorry."

InuYasha's smile faltered slightly. He knew why she yelled that. He just couldn't tell her. Oddly enough, he wasn't sure if he was more upset that she knew to use that word or because that word hadn't worked. What had she done with the rosary? If he described it to her, would she know what he was talking about? Or had that, like so many other things, been forgotten, as well?

After a rather depressed sigh, InuYasha stood up and offered Kagome his hand. She stared at it a moment before taking the help he offered. "You ready to go back?" he asked.

Kagome sighed. "I guess so. It's just peaceful out here, isn't it?"

He followed the direction of her gaze skyward and grinned. He knew what she meant. In the middle of the forest—his forest—were the last remaining traces of the time he knew so well. He supposed that when Sesshoumaru had attained the land, he had left it this way on purpose. That his brother would do something like that was something that thoroughly confused him, but it didn't stop him from being secretly grateful, either.

Kagome let her head fall back and closed her eyes. InuYasha looked away. The blatantly submissive signal had to be coincidental on her part. He only wished it wasn't, and he had to fight his instincts to accept her gesture. `Yeah, InuYasha. While you're at it, why don't you forget to breathe?'

The smile was back on her face when she dropped her chin again, though. Suddenly, she frowned and blinked quickly. "What?" he asked. She was staring at him in a completely unsettling way, almost as though he had somehow changed before her very eyes. The color drained from her face, her eyes widened, darkened, deepened. What had she seen?

She shook her head quickly and forced a laugh. It was too loud and too shrill to be natural. InuYasha's ears flattened against his head to block the sound. "Oh, nothing," she remarked a little too brightly, waving her hand in a noticeably nervous gesture. "It was stupid."

"`Stupid', how?" he echoed, painfully aware of another conversation they had before that had started out in much the same way.

She started walking away from him very quickly. "Forget it."

He raced to catch up with her. Whatever it was that was bothering her wasn't nothing, at all . . . He caught her arm again but the second he let go, she ran off again. "Kagome, I want an answer!"

Her pace didn't falter. "It's nothing! Look! Drop it!"

He stared after her, mouth hanging helplessly agape. With a frustrated growl, InuYasha watched her hasty retreat wondering what could have possibly spooked her so badly. She'd gotten over her shock that he had tried to kiss her. So what would cause her to go racing off? "Kagome!" he yelled, not caring that his voice had reached incredible volume and echoed off the trees surrounding him.

She didn't stop running.

Pent up frustration shot to the fore, and before InuYasha could stop himself, he swung at the nearest object, which happened to be a tree. After Sankon Tetsusou-ing the defenseless tree and ripping it to fire kindling, InuYasha was still not pacified. With a low growl, he shot forward, intent on catching up with Kagome and making her talk. Whatever it was that bothered her, there was no way he was going to let her off the hook without telling him . . .

`Admit it, InuYasha. Better than half of your irritation is that you want to kiss her—and you know that she wanted you to do it, too, even if she did try to osuwari you.'

"Keh!"

That voice in his head just laughed at him.