InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Birth Marks ❯ coming and going ( Chapter 24 )

Disclaimer: yeah…

 

Last time: The aforementioned rolled her eyes, “I'm glad you're not mad at me frying you guys, I was just a little… out of control… when I did that, sorry.” And with that, Kagome stood up and left. Inuyasha nodded gruffly at the two and followed, telling by her actions that she was still tired, even though she covered it very well.

 

This time: “are you sure? You're not that heavy,” Inuyasha was walking a half-step behind her. Kagome continued to walk, swaying slightly, to the front door. Inuyasha was trying, unsuccessfully, to convince her that she was still tired and would collapse soon if she didn't let him carry her.

 

Kagome shook her head, refusing to look weak as she exited the castle of her father (he still didn't believe her completely). The servants waved goodbye as they passed, “no again Inuyasha. bye Akina, I'll miss you! I don't want you to carry me because I can walk myself.”

 

“then why are you slouching? If you won't let me carry you,”

 

“oh, Elektra, I'll miss you so much! Take care of you and your brother for me!” Kagome interrupted, barely even listening anymore.

 

“… I'll force you to let me carry you!” Inuyasha practically growled out. Kagome saw the front gates and suddenly, quickly, sprinted out of them, startling Inuyasha into giving chase. Kagome ran until she was out of sight of the palace, then collapsed over a tree root, falling asleep faster than gravity on her body.

 

A few seconds later, Inuyasha came across, more like tripped over, the prone body, and sprawled over it. Inuyasha pushed himself up with his hands on either side of Kagome's shoulders. “not tired my ass,” he mumbled as he picked her up and difficulty positioned her on his back. Kagome only became slightly more conscious to hoist herself into a more comfortable position on his back. In all truth, she had the sleeping habits of her cousin (another hint for those who like puzzles) after he finished training.

 

Inuyasha did one final adjustment to where her hands were around his shoulders, and took off to check up on the pack and then to his brother's house, oh goody.

 

It was a good half an hour later when he made it to the others and the `safe zone'. Kagome had partially slept the whole time and was within range of where the others where supposed to be. He wasn't worried and still sneaked to the opposite side of the lake than the cabin. Taking a tentative sniff, Inuyasha confirmed that no one was in the immediate area and by the cabin. A mischievous grin spread on his face and whispered `stay' so she would gently lift into the air long enough for Inuyasha to shift her to his arms.

 

`now what did Kagome say? Oh, yeah: One for the money, Two for the show, Three to get ready, and Four to' “BONZAI!” and with that, gentle rocking went to another unnecessary flight.

 

Kagome woke up to Inuyasha's yell of bonzai and her flying to a previously known body of water, “ AHHH! INUYASHAAA!”

 

=splash =.

 

“they're back” Miroku sighed.

 

“I'll miss the quiet,” Sango replied, sipping some of her tea.

 

“Kagome!” Shippou left his drawing and ran outside to a drenched Kagome swimming to the close shore. She reached it and flopped onto her back still half in it. Kagome closed her eyes and took a couple deep breaths from her quick swimming lesson. (very hard to swim fully clothed) Shippou stopped by her head and started poking her to see if she was still alive.

 

“Souta tell mama that I'll get up in five more minutes,” she grumbled, brushing Shippou's poking off tiredly. She cracked her eyes open and inspected her arm lightly. She would need a dry bandage.

 

Shippou saw the bandage and the light pink on it and got worried. “Kagome-okaa-san! What happened to your arm?” he asked in almost panic, jumping closer to inspect it and carefully avoiding all the pink spots.

 

Kagome sat up, resting her arm on her knees so the water wouldn't soak it any more. “weapon training. the whip didn't like me very much,” she joked, winking at Shippou, “now, I need to get out of these wet clothes before I catch a cold or something.” She peeled off her haori and cream undershirt, revealing a pastel blue with the words `certified bitch' in English scrawl with a picture of a certificate under it. Inuyasha had asked several times what it said, but Kagome would just grin and say `me.'

 

She stood up, letting Shippou jump onto he shoulder, and walked back to the cabin to see if she could find at least a towel. It would be better if she could find temporary clothes that were dry. Kagome walked into the hut and straight to her backpack, which seemed mostly untouched while she was gone. “Hi Sango-chan, Miroku-kun, how have you been doing while we were gone?” she asked, not exactly paying attention to anything aside from digging in her pack and finding decent clothes.

 

“not bad, Kagome-chan, it was actually very quiet except for someone passing through every once in a while.” Sango watched her friend and little sister pull out what Kagome had once called jeans that were black and toss them to the side with a sky-blue shirt. Kagome then dug out the first aid kit and sighed, pulling out the gauze bandaging.

 

Miroku was the one to notice it, the wet bandage on her arm stained a light blood tint. “my, Kagome-sama, what happened to your arm? Did you get injured while you were gone?” he asked in concern, leaning forward slightly to get a better look.

 

Kagome rubbed the bandaging lightly before she began to unwrap it to inspect it before putting new bandages on it. “I learned the hard way to think before blocking,” she held her arm out to show the series of what looked like rips that were sewn back together on her forearm.

 

“Those look like hook tears, what happened?” Sango asked, taking a corner of a napkin that Kagome brought from her time to wipe off the small amount of blood that leaked from the wounds getting wet.

 

“Raizen, Reichou and Inuyasha decided that it would be a good idea for me to get familiar with the different weapons and hand-to-hand techniques that they had. This one came from a whip with barbs on the end, I tried to block it with the weapon that I was using, but it was ripped from my hands and the whip wrapped around my arm instead.” Kagome let Sango finish pat-drying the wound before she wrapped it in the new, dry, bandages. It looked like she didn't pop any stitches this time.

 

Kagome then turned to the back wall and lifted her shirt a little before pausing, “umm… all hentais out!” she gave Miroku the evil eye over her shoulder, stopping any lines that he could have said (ex: my, lady Kagome, I wouldn't dare to consider you in such a way!), and he slinked out like a stricken puppy. Sango and Kagome then made eye contact, Kagome giving the nod and Sango sat down by the door in a silent agreement (Miroku: what, its like you girls don't trust me or something!).

 

A minute later, Kagome came out in her blue sleeve T-shirt and black tapered-leg jeans. The T-shirt had a picture of an `angel kitten' with red eyes and horns that had `purr-fect angel' in gold on top and `or not' in dripping red on the back. (I want THAT SHIRT!) her wet clothes hung on her un-bandaged arm and she had a towel-turban on her head. Kagome smiled slightly at Miroku's facial expression and jumped on the thatched roof to spread her clothes to dry and to talk to Inuyasha.

 

Kagome finished spreading out her wet clothes on the roof and laid prostrate in the only bare spot and closed her eyes, “the sun feels good,” she said in a sleepy manner, taking her hair down from the turban and spreading it out to dry above her.

 

“Are you a cat or a dog?” came Inuyasha's voice from above her while Shippou climbed up the side of the hut to join the others and to lie on Kagome's stomach.

 

She laughed lightly, “I could ask you the same thing, I see you up in trees more than the ground! And here I thought before I met you that dogs couldn't climb trees!”

 

“Ha-ha,” Inuyasha said dryly, “look at yourself. I thought you were a dog-demon, but obviously you're not with how much you act like a cat.”

 

“Hanyou. Dog-hanyou thank you very much. Just remember that I do have living human family at home.” She corrected, “and one other hanyou-like family member,” she added under her breath.

 

“Yeah, hanyou. Nothing but weakness and put-downs and being by yourself,” Inuyasha mumbled to himself, but Kagome caught it on the breeze.

 

“Your not alone Inuyasha, you have Shiori, Jinenji, and… and me. Don't forget that. You have the best of both worlds never forget that two halves make a whole. If you want to think of it, together we are a full inu-youkai and a full human, not two individual hanyou. We complete each other, remember that,” Kagome whispered back, trying to soothe the male hanyou without moving to wake the kit on her stomach.

 

Inuyasha nodded silently, letting a comfortable silence envelope both of them. After a few minutes looking northward, Inuyasha spoke up, “as soon as your clothes are dry, we have to leave so we can get there on time. Judging on how dry they are already, we will be leaving in about half an hour.” Kagome nodded silently and stood up slowly, cradling Shippou so he wasn't jostled too much. She jumped from the roof and walked inside.

 

Miroku looked up and grinned, “ah, lady Kagome, I thought that you didn't like us anymore, but I'm glad to see that I was wrong.”

 

Kagome smiled back and sat down, “sorry, but I'm a little out of it. as soon as we get back from this `youkai ball,' I'm definitely going to spend more time with you guys. I've just been busy lately, you know that, and if you remember, this is still new to me, being a hanyou and all. when I go back to my house after all this, I'm probably going to sleep for at least a day!” she grinned, trying to cover a yawn with her hand.

 

“I thought hanyous were supposed to have more endurance than humans, and here you are, yawning,” Miroku joked around, earning a half-hearted glare in his general direction.

 

“A full week training nonstop, barely any sleep, and me still getting used to my powers,” Kagome ticked off on her hand, “and you'd be grumpy also! The three, no four, of them took turns on me the entire time. While one would train me, the others would be relaxing and watching me humiliate myself. And I, at most, got maybe three hours of sleep a night! Man, that sounded like high school!” she cried exasperated, leaning back against the wall in a dramatic sigh.

 

Miroku looked at her with a raised eyebrow, he had learned what `school' was, but not `high school,' but most likely it was just a higher level or something. “four? Who was the fourth person training you?” Miroku asked what seemed like the more profitable question.

 

“Jin, he's a wind demon that is heir to Raizen's throne until a war-demon is born. It was him, Raizen, Reichou, and Inuyasha who decided to torture me for the week.

 

“It wasn't torture, it was training!” Inuyasha yelled from the roof, Kagome just shook her head and mouthed `torture' while pretending to strangle herself. Miroku laughed softly and leaned against the opposite wall.

 

“I guess we'll be staying another couple of days here, right?” Sango spoke up from quietly chopping some carrots for the stew on her HiraiKotsu.

 

“No, you don't have to stay here if you don't want to. if you want, you can start heading toward Kaede's village and we can meet you there after the ball. By now you guys would probably like someone to talk to aside from each other. If the ball is going to be how long I think it's going to be, we might be at the village at about the same time if you guys walk,” Kagome thought, drawing on an invisible map in front of her face. “and then there's the inevitable youkai attacks to count on, but that would be unlikely unless you guys have jewel shards, do you?”

 

Miroku shook his head, “lady Kagome, do not worry about us. We are able to take care of ourselves just fine. Remember, we were individuals before we were a group,” he smiled gently and leaned forward to check on Sango's stew if it was ready or not.

 

“She's alpha-female, its her job to worry about her pack,” Inuyasha said as he pushed aside the door mat and tossed a blushing Kagome her clothes. “a storm's coming in, so they'll have to finish drying in here over the fire,” Inuyasha sat down in a corner by the door and glanced around to see what everyone was doing.

 

Kagome stood up and tried to hold Shippou and hang her clothes at the same time, but failed. Inuyasha sighed and took the kit, giving her both her hands free. He sat down and put the kit on his lap, letting Shippou borrow some of his body heat to stay warm. Despite that, Shippou's tail was still fluffed against the cold of the incoming storm.

 

“We're still going, right?” Kagome managed to mumble, her pinked cheeks still taking their effects.

 

“Yes, get that poncho-thing or whatever you call it to wear over your kimono. I don't need you getting sick as well as exhausted. We don't need you having to be bedridden after this.” Inuyasha didn't make eye contact, but looked out a window to the looming clouds approaching from the south.

 

Kagome mumbled a small `hai' and started re-packing her bag and searching for her fur-lined plastic poncho somewhere in the bottom. She `aha'ed and held up the stylized camouflaged article. After retrieving Shippou from Inuyasha's lap and snuggling up to him instead, she leaned back and waited to the inevitable sense-dulling patter of rain. Sometimes she even asked herself if she was a cat or not when the weather turned stormy. She sometimes liked it, sometimes not, but most of the time taking it for an omen of some type.

 

Inuyasha's hand crept around her waist, pulling her closer and allowing Kagome to rest her head on his shoulder. “it seems like you two have become closer in your absence, care to elaborate?” Miroku smirked, causing Kagome to try to pull away and blush.

 

Inuyasha just held on tighter and ignored the impudent human, “what of it, monk?” his securing hand discretely petting Shippou's head, soothing the pup and also securing that Kagome wouldn't pull away anytime soon.

 

Miroku just shrugged and set out the bowls for the stew so they could eat it before the humidity decided to make it a crunchy soup. He saw the supposedly subtle movements, but a hawk's eyes were sharp. Sango reached up and touched one of Kagome's pant legs, “have some stew before you leave. By the time you finish, your clothes will be dry enough to wear,” Sango assured, bowling some and handing it to the `secret' couple.

 

“A-arigato, Sango,” Kagome smiled, though she viewed the older girl as a sister, she never really felt completely comfortable around others, especially after what she went through with her step-father. True, she went out of her way to see the best in others, but she had some sort of reserve around the others. Shaking Shippou slightly to wake him up, Kagome smiled down at the kit and remembered how they met. True they were like mother and child now, but Shippou had inadvertently taught her a valuable lesson: never have your jewel shards out of immediate grabbing range. Otherwise said: don't put them in your backpack!

 

“Shippou-honey, lunch,” she sang lightly, much like her own mother would when she was younger. He looked up bleary-eyed and yawned, showing off his baby fangs. “hey now, I'm supposed to be the tired one here! And you're,” she tickled his belly so he rolled off her lap, “supposed to be the hyper and silly one.” Shippou looked up smiling and gave a small salute that Kagome had taught him at some point on the journey and grabbed his small bowl to get filled by Sango.

 

“When are you leaving Kagome-okaa-san?” Shippou asked around a mouthful of carrot bits.

 

Kagome gave him a stern look, “chew, swallow, then speak Shippou,” he looked sheepish and she waited for him to do so before speaking. “unfortunately, Inuyasha and I have to leave you again right after we're done eating. But, how about this: as soon as I get back from my time after we go to the ball, I'll spend an entire day with you!” she gestured grandly with her hands, ending with grabbing her bowl-full of stew.

 

“But can't I come with you please Kagome-okaa-san?” Shippou set his bowl down onto the floor and leaned forward to give her the puppy-eyes. Kagome gave a show of fruitlessly resisting `the look,' including peeping from behind he hand and then reacting to an invisible punch when she saw `it.'

 

But, this was a serious matter after all, so Kagome finally sighed and leaned into Shippou to look him in the eye, “I'm sorry Shippou, but I don't think Sesshomaru would be happy with bringing you with us. And from what I've heard, you'd be bored beyond belief. I'll probably be bored in fact!” she gave a wink and sat back up, taking a sip of her stew and meditated on a particularly big piece of celery.

 

“only a day playing with you is too short!” Shippou wailed, trying a new tactic.

 

“then how long would you like our play time, Shippou?” Kagome asked calmly while mentally checking off whine on her list of `how to get you way with your parents' methods.

 

Shippou made a gesture of thinking before holding his arms out in a hug gesture, “this long! Eternity!”

 

At that, Kagome laughed softly and pushed his hands together a little, “how about a shorter time, because you don't want to be selfish, do you?” Shippou shook his head solemnly, “then how about a week, does that sound fair to you?”

 

“a month!” Shippou virtually bounced at the idea of a complete month just him and Kagome, doing whatever they wanted without the stupid dog threatening to pound his head all the time.

 

Kagome shook her head, “a week, Shippou, no longer. Remember, we still have shards to collect and we want to do that before anyone decides to go on a `take over the world' spree with them, okay?” Kagome tapped him on his nose and grinned as he giggled.

 

Inuyasha grabbed his bowl and downed it in one gulp, regardless of Kagome reminding him on table manners every time he sat down to eat. Kagome just settled for a sigh and rolling her eyes. He was hopeless! “come on cat,” he drew out the word as long as he could, “we have to go soon before he sends that little imp after us… ouch!” Kagome had set down her chopsticks and had dug two of her fingers in his thigh and pinched hard, just enough to leave a nasty bruise and not break the skin.

 

“that's” pinch, “not” twist, “funny!” she hissed, sealing the `wound' with a little prick in the center like a bulls eye. But otherwise she finished her stew quickly, disliking that imp just as much as Inuyasha.

 

Kagome stood up, acquiring an extra growth around her knee on the way, “I don't want you to go!” Shippou's eyes were acting like faucets, “why can't you just stay here with me! Wah!” Inuyasha rolled his eyes and grabbed Shippou's tail, prying him off Kagome so she could change back into her traveling clothes.

 

He brought the sobbing kit up to eye level and stared at him until Shippou looked back, then giving him an almost invisible smile of reassurance, set him on the floor. “we're going and there's nothing you can do about it,” he posed, back to his gruff tone, “but how about you finish that drawing that you started earlier to pass the time.” Shippou looked up and hiccuped, his crying down to a drizzle.

 

“um, guys, you need to leave so I can get dressed, okay,” Kagome spoke up, her cheeks matching Inuyasha's haori. After a moment's hesitation, Inuyasha grabbed the back of Miroku's robes and dragged him out to the covered porch so Kagome could have some privacy. Shippou just turned around since he was `too young' to be a pervert and Kagome turned to the back wall anyway `just in case.'

 

The storm soon hit with a vengeance after they left, and Inuyasha looked like a drowned rat. Kagome slightly less so because she had the poncho on and was being carried. You'd think that running would keep you drier, but that's WRONG!

 

Without too much trouble (not counting a bluish oni after the shards that was quickly disposed of by a short-fused Kagome), they soon reached the western castle just to wait in the antechamber for a good half an hour for someone to acknowledge their presence. Jaken of all demons was the one to show up and tell them where they were to stay. Which just happened to be Inuyasha's old room (so overused).

 

“dinner will be at sunset, and don't get lost!” the toad squawked, leaving in a huff to find his master, or to avoid the ever-hyper Rin that was supposed to stay in her room until the ball, but never listened.

 

“this way Kagome, I guess that we'll have to fend for ourselves until dinner,” Inuyasha slumped, partially ignoring the gawking girl that was following behind closely so she wouldn't get lost.

 

“this, place, is, so, huge!” she looked up at the twenty foot ceiling that was painted like the twilight sky, it swirled in pinks and blues more beautiful than she could ever imagine.

 

Inuyasha couldn't help but smile slightly, you'd think that she'd never seen a high ceiling before. He stopped at the end of one hallway to open the shoji screen, but was nearly knocked over by a distracted Kagome. Inuyasha grabbed her shoulders to bring her back to earth and opened the door…

 

Okay, here's my pitiful and long-winded excuse for not updating: real life.

 

And one more thing, death threats don't make me update faster, dark. (and if you have any ideas or people's names (and short bios) for the ball, tell me in your review!)