InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Bad Mojo ❯ The One You Hurt Most ( Chapter 2 )

A/N: Mer... I hate this chapter, I really do. I didn't mean to take so long in getting it out, I just did, for reasons that are one of the following:

A) I'm lazy.
B) My brain was eaten by brain eating mutant bunnies
C) I married a computer eating monster.

Answers: If you picked A, you're right! You get a prize! This chapter! If you picked B, then, ok, it's partially true, as there were bunnies involved. C, then, I just... really don't know what to say. Really.

Ammeh beta-ed it. Yay for her! -snugs- Without her, there would be plot-holes and odd language and odd-ness galore abounding since I have my own twisted sense of grammer that doesn't always involve the traditional one.

Disclaimer: Not mine. -insert something witty here entailing what I would do if I did own it-

~~~

InuYasha knew he would be pushing it if he went earlier than he was supposed to go and get Kagome back from her time. 4 hours, 13 Minutes and 35… 34… 33 seconds early, to be exact. Not that he was counting or anything. It wasn’t his fault the damn girl had to run off to home and ‘Skool’ every week to take those stupid tests or whatever the hell they were. She wasn’t supposed to go back, she was supposed to stay nice and safe where he could keep an eye on her. He had to make sure nothing tried to eat, possess, molest (Stupid Wolf), kidnap, or just generally harm Kagome, because really, he didn’t think he could take it if the girl got hurt badly.

….Not that he liked her or anything. No, he hated the fucking wench, what with her whining and her always ‘Sitting’ him and shit. She was such a nag and so what if she smelled good, that was hardly a redeeming quality. Kagome, to him, was a pain in the ass, sometimes literally (like that one time with the frickin’ beaver demon, something he really preferred to pretend never happened), and a helluva lot more trouble than she was worth. She was a shard detector, a blood hound (He really hated dog metaphors), and nothing else. Nothing.

Which really explained why he was currently pacing back and forth in front of the well, ignoring the half amused, half irritated gazes of his companions as well as their occasional commentary.

“He seems more irritable than usual, doesn’t he?” remarked Sango, eyes following the half-demon as he paced at the wells edge.

“Aww, he’s just being dumb ‘cause Kagome’s not here. Moron can’t stand it when she’s not around.” Shippou replied, not looking up from drawing, crayons clutched in his nimble clawed hands. The picture resembled something red with a rather large head and angry face.

“Ahh, yes. The absence of the fair Kagome does weigh heavily at one’s heart. But, take solace in that soon she shall return and once again will her beauty, her shapely figure, her succulent brea-“ Miroku cut off abruptly, stopping as Sango‘s fist came down on his head. Sango didn’t even have to say anything, glowering at the monk, before turning back to InuYasha.

Sango fought back a grimace as she watched InuYasha, who had grown stiff and increasingly angry at Miroku’s words. It was only a matter of time before the half-demon snap-

“Shut it, Monk! I don’t want to listen to your shit, so shut up before I hurt you.”

Shippou opened his mouth to make a reply, something that would no doubt be snarky and end up with the half-demon chasing the kit around in a fit of rage, but he was forestalled by Sango putting a finger to her lips and shushing him. He tipped his head to one side, obviously confused, before he looked at InuYasha again. The dog-eared boy stood at the well’s edge now, ears pinned flat to his skull and an odd look on his face. All three remained silent as he glanced back at them, gave a half-hearted ‘Keh’, and jumped through the time slip.

Casting her gaze towards Miroku, Sango noticed he looked unusually pleased with himself, despite the bump that was growing on his head. All because, as wonders never cease, his idea had worked. She almost felt bad in convincing InuYasha to go and get Kagome early, but he was being worse than usual. The already prickly half demon had been simply unbearable, which while not an… Uncommon occurrence, was none the less stressful. And annoying. And if Kagome had to suffer his attentions earlier than she expected, well, that was a sacrifice Sango was willing to make for a few moments respite from his surly countenance.

~~~

InuYasha emerged on the other side of the well, the scent of the modern world filling his nose. Gods, he hated it here. The scents of this time drove him nuts, made him want to sneeze. Not that InuYasha would ever admit to such a thing, a human weakness like sneezing. Some might say his sense of weakness was a spot warped if sneezing was perceived as a weakness, but think with whom it was in context with (coughaguycough).

Exiting the well house, InuYasha cast his gaze surreptitiously about the yard, searching for any sign that his arrival had somehow attracted notice. Seeing nothing, the half demon moved forward, intent on reaching the house, grabbing the girl, and returning to his own time. Upon reaching the house, he used the door, not bothering to knock. In a back part of his mind, he wondered if Kagome would be impressed by his use of the door, instead of usual route, via window.

Glancing around, the half-demon’s ears swiveled about, taking in the noise of the house and using to locate where its occupants were. Mrs. Higurashi was in a back room, the steady hum of some mash-een filling the air. He vaguely recalled Kagome calling it a washer and dryer. The old fart (bugger didn’t warrant capitalization) was snoring and the definite scent of sake hung in the air as well. And Kagome… She was playing vid-eee-oh games with her brother, though the occasional thump and a giggle told him the playing wasn‘t the only thing they were doing.

Moving quickly, the half demon stepped into the room to be greeted with an interesting sight. Kagome lay sprawled across her brother, hands digging into the younger boys sides, who tried (mostly in vain) to squirm away from his sister, his cries of ‘Stop!’ filling the room. Their game lay paused off to the side.

Blinking for a moment, the Half-demon watched, half in amusement, half in curiosity as the two siblings wrestled, before he grew impatient. Not a very long wait, to be sure. Stooping down near the still wrestling pair, the half-demon reached a clawed hand out to grasp the combatants’ shoulders. Blinking, the two pulled back from each other, casting curious gazes towards their interrupter. Upon seeing who it was, Kagome blushed and sat up quickly, knocking Souta’s arms out from under him so her younger sibling remained sprawled, her hand pushing his face into the ground.

“InuYasha! What’re you doing here?” Kagome exclaimed, still embarrassed at having been caught fighting with her sibling.

Being that InuYasha had all the tact of a sledge hammer wielded by a one armed three year old, the ensuing argument was no doubt unavoidable.

“What the hell do you think I’m here for, Wench? To bring you back of course.”

“What? But… I still have like…” She paused to glance at a clock on the wall. Souta gave a muffled grunt from beneath her. “4 hours! You promised that I had until 5 o’clock!” She protested.

InuYasha grunted, his ears laying flat against his head as he stared down at her. Souta gave another grunt, trying in vain to dislodge his sister’s weight from atop him.

“Well, damnit, I changed my mind. Come on!” He growled. As Kagome’s eyes narrowed in return, InuYasha found himself cursing in his head. He knew that look. Knew it all too well. It meant he was about to eat carpet.(1) Bracing himself for what he knew was coming, InuYasha barely managed to restrain a long suffering sigh.

“InuYasha! Sit!” And down he went with a crash, Souta watching with wide eyes as the half-demon was compelled to the ground. Grumbling under his breath, InuYasha awaited the moment when he would be allowed to move. He knew this had been a bad idea from the start, but of course, he had allowed himself to be goaded into going to get Kagome early. Which he had known from the start would end just. Like. This.

“God-damned-sonofabitch!” The half-demon snarled from the ground, the spell weakening enough for him to lift his head from the ground at last. Meeting Kagome’s eyes, he nearly wilted under the glare she leveled his way. Souta just grunted, having his face still mashed to the floor.

“I’m not coming back yet, InuYasha! You can’t make me, and if you try, I swear that if you do, I’ll sit you again.”

“Wench, you’re coming--”

“Sit!” Another crash ensued, and InuYasha groaned from his prone position on the floor. Damn, that hurt.

“Damnit! Knock it off!” InuYasha growled, finally lifting his head, ready to give Kagome a piece of his mind, only to find her walking away. Souta blinked at him for a moment, before getting up and scrambling after his sister. Blinking slightly as the two departed, leaving him still prostrate on the floor, InuYasha let his head fall with a grunt.

“Fine! You can carry all your shit back yourself!” He yelled after the girl, the effect only slightly muffled by the floor. Kagome only waved a hand over her shoulder as she disappeared into the kitchen. With his parting shot delivered (pathetic as it was), InuYasha finally climbed to his feet, looking disgustedly around him. Figuring it useless, the half-demon left the house, and hopped back down the well, fuming.

Four hours later, he was sitting in the Go-Shinboku, fuming and wondering why the hell he did this to himself. Oh sure, he knew part of it was lack of any social graces what so ever, being that most of his life was spent being hated and loathed for what he was. Another part of him felt it was a really fucked up masochistic desire for pain, that he actually enjoyed having his face mashed into the ground, that somehow he enjoyed the taste of dirt. InuYasha usually told that part of his mind to go fuck itself.

It was not long after that, that the scent of his troubles reached his nose. Kagome was back, it seemed. Starting to his feet, the pausing, the half demon glanced around. He didn’t want it to seem like he was… waiting or anything, and even if he was by himself, images must be maintained. Or so he told himself. Besides, he was mad at the damned wench, she could carry her own damned bag.

Five seconds later, he was on his feet and moving, heading towards Kaede’s village, to meet her there, he told himself. Touching down just on the outskirts, he folded his arms across his chest. The wind shifted to at his back, making him curse for a moment. Great, now he wouldn’t know when she was going to get there. Glancing at Miroku who stood nearby, the Half-demon gave a keh, before settling down to wait.

It wasn’t long before fast moving foot steps reached his ears, and an odd sight greeted his eyes. Kagome had her head down, staring at her feet, trying to run (though mostly failing), and her scent was… Terrified? Blinking, InuYasha was on his feet and taking a flying leap to land in front of the girl. Unfortunately for his timing, she had been throwing a glance over her shoulder at that time, and didn’t see her sudden obstacle.

For the second time in a as many minutes, down went Kagome, monstrous backpack atop her. Maybe it was time she got something more… travel sized, she mused in a detached part of her mind, not fogged by fear. Though perhaps she could use it in the battle against demons, drop it on their foot or something and get InuYasha to Windscar their ass in the ensuing distraction.

InuYasha blinked at the girl, staring at the sight of random limbs stuck out and twitching beneath the bag, before bending and grabbing the bag in one clawed hand and lifting it off of her in one fluid motion. He was worried, the girls scent was still saturated with fear, and what sounded suspiciously like a sob had worked its way out of her throat. Setting the bag off to the side, InuYasha started to bend down towards the girl, before landing on his butt as said female launched herself at him to tangle her arms around his neck and bury her face in his neck.

“Oh, InuYasha! I was so scared! I thought I was going to die!” Kagome sobbed, clutching InuYasha’s Haori in her hands. Blinking, the half-demon awkwardly wrapped his arms around her, looking down worriedly.

“What the hell has got you so scared, wench?” InuYasha finally asked.

“It was… Was this… Creepy old lady in the woods! She--” Kagome started, before being cut off by InuYasha.

“Was she a demon or something?”

“What? No, I don’t think so… She--”

“What?! You’re terrified of an old bat? That’s your problem?” InuYasha growled, eyes narrowing.

“But--” She tried to return.

“Damnit Wench! I thought it was something important!” While perhaps he was over reacting, but InuYasha had never reacted well to the scent of fear. Namely Kagome’s fear. And to learn that her fear was entirely unfounded was both relieving and maddening. Thus his current hostility.

Releasing Kagome from his grasp, he pushed the girl away, lightly, so as not to harm her but simply remove her from his person. At Kagome’s indignant intake of breath, the Half demon stood and turned away, muttering under his breath.

“God damned wench…. Scaring me… Frickin’ over reacting… Screw this, I ain’t gonna come running next time she’s in trouble… Damnit…”

Leaving the still shaken girl to her own devices, InuYasha’s rapidly receding back was the only thing seen as the half-demon entered the tree line, leaving the village and damned annoying wenches behind.

“…What was that all about, Miroku?”

“….I’m not quite sure, Shippou.”

It wasn’t that he was completely unconcerned for the girl. It was more that he had more important things to worry about then Kagome freaking out over nothing. The more logical part of his mind that he tended to ignore (a lot) kept pointing out that Kagome was generally a level headed female, and didn’t tend to be frightened to the level which her fear had escalated that often. When she was, generally speaking there was some justifiable reason behind it, IE, random demons or Naraku were in some way trying to cause her body harm or steal the jewel.

He was still checking it out. He wasn’t that big of an ass (debatable).

Following the girls scent, InuYasha moved through the forest silently, senses at maximum, searching for anything out of place. Following Kagome’s fear scent, he came to a spot in a small clearing where a scuff in the dirt and the sudden instigation of that overpowering fear scent let him know that this was the place where Kagome had no doubt encountered the woman who seemed to scare her so.

Casting about, the Half-demon crouched, nose to the ground and butt in the air in what was no doubt a humorous image-- providing he actually gave a crap-- as he cast about for a scent, but coming up short and confused. The only person he could smell was Kagome. And himself, and the Monk and Sango and the goddamned-pain-in-the-ass Runt. The latter scents were days old, only hanging around due to the lack of rain that had fallen in the area recently. No old creepy lady, no young creepy lady, no strangers. Sure, the scents of the villagers were scattered in every so often as well, but it was rare that they ventured into the forest beyond the need to hunt. But InuYasha had long ago memorized and cataloged their scents in his head, putting them in a file nicely labeled ‘Stupid Harmless Annoying Humans.’

Standing from his position on the ground, he stood there for a moment, looking about him, searching but continually coming up short on explanations. Glancing around him, InuYasha turned in a full circle to come back to staring at the scuff thoughtfully. Damnit, why wasn’t there a scent.

So distracted was InuYasha, that he nearly crapped himself when someone spoke behind him.

“Hello, young sir.” Came a gravelly voice behind him.

InuYasha’s reaction might have been comical if it hadn’t been to yell “HOLY SHIT!”, then turn with claws bared and striking out at whoever the hell was there.

Perhaps InuYasha should have wondered how an old human woman managed to dodge his swipe, but he was more concerned with the fact of how the freaking hell did she sneak up on him. She didn‘t look that old, perhaps middle aged, rough around the edges, not old as Kagome had said, so it wasn‘t the woman she had seen.

“Now, now, is that any way to greet a stranger, young man?” The hag said.

InuYasha blinked, stepping backwards until he was a goodly distance away from her. His ears had perked towards her, nose wriggling in overdrive. He could scent her now, though he hadn’t been able to a few moments ago. She smelled of dirt and weather and fresh air, as well as sweat and the slightly rank scent of one who hadn’t seen or heard of a bath for a little while. InuYasha sometimes disliked humans for thinking that they didn’t need to bathe at least like… once a week. Or something. He liked Kagome’s insistence on bathing almost daily sometimes, as it influenced the others into bathing more often as well and saved his nose the trouble of them being somewhat ripe.

But now was not the time for such introspection.

“Who the hell are you, hag?” InuYasha demanded, displaying his usual manners towards strangers. The woman simply blinked at him slightly, tilting her head to one side, before speaking again.

“Well, youngling,” InuYasha snorted. Him, at least 200 years old, being called a youngling by a human. The woman continued on undaunted. “I didn’t mean to startle you or anything.” Ha. He hadn’t been startled. He did not startle. He had merely been… reacting like he did to most everything. With Violence.

“Keh.” InuYasha replied, ready to ignore the woman and go back to looking for whatever the hell had scared Kagome so bad.

“Nice to meet you, ahh… What is your name, young man?” Again InuYasha snorted, glaring at the woman. Her brown eyes merely met his, didn’t blink and InuYasha had to fight the urge to look away.

“What the hell does my name matter, hag?” He bit out finally, his tone carrying a bit of a growl.

“Well, you’re a rude youngling, now aren’t you?” InuYasha merely snorted at her.

“Whatever, Hag.” He grumbled.

“None the less, I do mean to ask you a favor. Could you perhaps spare a bit of food, or perhaps take me to a place where I can get some?” She finally asked, the shrewd brown eyes watching him disconcertingly. InuYasha merely blinked at her for a moment a bit blankly, before snorting, and turning away, getting ready to turn away and continue looking.

“Hell no, hag. Get your own damn food, I’m busy.” He growled, before actually turning away. He wanted to range about a bit, see if he scented anyone or anything. The woman in front of him he deemed unimportant, as she was obviously too young to be the one who had frightened Kagome.

“Well, that was uncalled for, I should say.” The woman said, and InuYasha turned towards her, the sharp scent of ozone entering the air. Blinking as the woman seemed to grow a bit larger, InuYasha crouched warily, ready to attack very soon. If she was just getting ready to yell at him for his manners, ok then, he wouldn’t attack. Kagome would have his ass for attacking an older human ‘unprovoked’ or whatever the hell she would call it. But if she did anything, anything, to get physical with him, he would send her packing with his fist.

“Now, you need to learn some manners, InuYasha.” The old woman said, her eyes glowing with what InuYasha could only call glee.

“Screw you, bitch.” InuYasha replied, before mentally backtracking the conversation. ‘…learn some manners, InuYasha.’ she had said. How the…

“How the hell do you know my name, hag!” InuYasha was snarling now, the rumble in his chest getting louder as he crouched. Normally this scared the hell out of humans, but this one didn‘t seem entirely too phased. He didn’t attack, there was a chance the woman knew his name from stories or something. How many more dog-eared half demons could there be with white hair and red robes, after all?

“That’s not the important thing, InuYasha. What is important is that you learn some manners, and soon, what with calling women such names.” She smiled now, the scent of ozone growing sharper in the air.

“What the hell are--” InuYasha began, but the woman cut him off.

“Now, what shall we do with you, Hmm? Perhaps take away your voice? Or maybe turn you into a beast? Poison you, maybe?” She started, gleefully tapping off on her fingers like she was counting. InuYasha snarled more, getting ready to turn away. Screw this, the woman was a crazy, he was getting out of here. Giving a grunt, he walked away.

Or he would have at least, if the woman hadn’t held up a hand and said ‘Stop!’ Which he did, completely not of his own volition.

“What the hell!?” InuYasha demanded, but was cut off when the woman made a gesture.

“No, I know what we shall do… You, InuYasha, will become the thing you have hurt the most.” The woman nodded, and the scent of ozone sharpened even more, stinging his nose with its strength. The woman gestured again, right hand sliding partway up her sleeve, only to remove a skinny stick, which she brandished grandly.

“Now, hold still InuYasha. Until you can finally learn to be polite, this will be your lot in life, to be that which you have hurt the most!”

The next few seconds confused InuYasha. He couldn’t move, couldn’t yell, speak, no matter how much he struggled. A pressure was growing in his chest, as if someone had wrapped a steel band about him, which was gradually tightening, steadily. And then there was a bang which would have made him lay back his ears if he could move them, it was dark, rushing wind, the sensation of falling, before stopping abruptly, as if someone had tied a rope to him.

Disoriented, InuYasha took stock of his current situation. His senses were dulled, though not as bad as they would be when he was human, it was dark, dark where even he couldn’t see. His body felt… weird. And why the hell could he taste fish?

~~~

End A/N: Yay. Done for now. Shouldn't be that much longer 'till I update again, as I have absolutely NO life. Yay for being boring!

(1)Me, being the immature pervert that I am, giggled like a mad woman when I typed that. Just so’s…. y’all know, of course. -is such a dork-