InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Chronicles ❯ Surprise ( Chapter 54 )

~~Chapter 54~~

~Surprise~

 

Kagome sighed and shut down the computer. “Thank goodness.” Glancing over at her clock, she was pleased to see that she'd finished all her exams with a little time to spare. With a happy little smile, Kagome got up and started packing things into her backpack. `InuYasha will come for me soon . . . might as well be ready when he gets here . . . .'

 

Her smile widened. `InuYasha . . . .'

 

How could the thought of his name alone be enough to set her entire being on edge? It was a beautiful feeling, a complete happiness that make her feel safe and warm, almost as much as she felt when he was there with her.

 

The window swung open a little wider as the hanyou climbed through with a muttered, “Keh!”

 

“What do you have against using the door?” she asked as she sat down on the edge of the bed and smiled at him.

 

InuYasha leaned against the wall next to the open window and snorted again. “If I come through the door,” he remarked, “then I have to play Twenty Questions with your entire family before I make it up here.”

 

“Miss me?”

 

“Keh! Sneaky wench, fishing for compliments again?”

 

She shrugged as she stood and headed for her dresser to pull out some clothes. “In that case, I don't know why I even bother . . . I might as well just stay here . . . .”

 

A vicious growl sounded directly behind her. She gasped as InuYasha spun her around and moved in closer to pin her against the dresser. “Not funny, wench.”

 

“What happened to your sense of humor?” she asked in a whisper. He was too close, too overwhelming. She swallowed hard as she stared at him.

 

“I never had one.”

 

“Sure you did.”

 

“Keh.”

 

“So you didn't miss me at all?”

 

“You talk too much.”

 

“So you've said . . . .”

 

“Hasn't changed.”

 

“InuYasha?”

 

“Make it fast,” he growled as he leaned closer, nuzzling her cheek.

 

“I can't breathe . . . .”

 

“Good . . . can't breathe means can't talk.”

 

“No, I mean it.”

 

He leaned away and eyed her suspiciously. “What's wrong?”

 

Kagome giggled suddenly. “Gotcha.”

 

“Sneaky wench!” he rumbled as Kagome ducked under his arm and darted over to shove more stuff into her bag. He stalked toward her, growling low. She backed away, lifting her hands before her in a gesture meant to keep him at bay.

 

“I thought you'd be anxious to go back,” she said, stalling for time as he continued to make his way toward her. “How's Shippou?”

 

“I am,” he answered. “Shippou's fine.”

 

She backed away a little more. “Well, let me finish packing, and we can go.”

 

“I've got a better idea.”

 

She blinked at the look in his eyes. He stared at her like he was hunting her, and for some reason, that look was making her knees feel like jelly. She backed up a little more, her calves brushing against the bedspread. She couldn't help the small shriek that escaped as he lunged at her and bore her down, pinning her against the mattress. “See? My idea was much better.”

 

He didn't give her a chance to answer as his lips covered hers. She sighed, giving up before she really fought him at all, and slipped her arms around his waist. He hissed suddenly and jerked back, rolling to the side as she sat up with a concerned frown. “InuYasha?”

 

“It's nothing,” he growled. He reached for her again. She ducked and pulled at his haori and undershirt.

 

“What happened?” she demanded as she stared at the torn flesh on his right side.

 

“Nothing,” he repeated. “It's fine. Just don't touch it, and I won't complain.”

 

“InuYasha!” she reprimanded as she scampered off the bed to dig through her backpack for the first aid kit. “I can't believe you can think about that when your side looks like someone used it to sharpen their claws on! Now tell me what happened!”

 

He heaved a frustrated sigh and leaned on his elbow. “Two serpent youkai came after me. One bit me, and his fangs scraped. It's fine, I told you. Besides, Kaede already cleaned it. Now stop fussing, will you?”

 

“I'm not fussing! I'm concerned. There's a huge difference.”

 

“Keh! You're fussing.” He jerked his shirts closed and folded his arms together, sitting back with a stubborn expression on his face.

 

“Let me see,” she said, trying to reach for his haori again.

 

He turned away. “Keh.”

 

“Keh!” she retorted as she reached again.

 

“Wench! You haven't seen me for three days and all you're concerned about is a tiny scratch?”

 

“Yep, now let me see!”

 

“No, thanks.”

 

“Quit pouting and let me look.”

 

“I don't pout!”

 

“What would you call it?”

 

“Keh!”

 

“InuYasha . . . .”

 

He shifted his eyes but didn't lift his chin to look at her. She narrowed her eyes at him for good measure. His ears flattened a little, and he snorted, letting his arms drop as she reached to pull his shirts open again. “How long ago did this happen?”

 

“The day you came here,” he replied, his tone sulky.

 

“And it's still not healed?”

 

“They were snakes, Kagome, snakes. Venom. Hella nasty bastards . . . .”

 

She sighed and shook her head. “What were they after?”

 

“Keh. They said I killed their brother.”

 

“Did you?”

 

“Of course I did.”

 

“InuYasha . . . we've got to talk about this bloodlust of yours.”

 

“Damn it, it was the same one that came after you when you were chasing me to Sesshoumaru's.”

 

She sat back. “Oh.”

 

“Don't worry. They won't be back.”

 

Kagome shook her head. “I'm not worried . . . I just . . . you're all constantly fighting, because of me, because of the jewel . . . I hate that.”

 

InuYasha waited until Kagome taped the bandages into place before shrugging his clothes back over his shoulders. “Is Shippou feeling any better?”

 

“That damn brat . . . he tried to attack the snake that bit me.”

 

Kagome's eyes widened in alarm. “Was he—?”

 

“No.”

 

She frowned as InuYasha folded his arms together again. There was something he wasn't telling her. He seemed almost guilty. “Did you thump him?”

 

“Keh. I should have. Damn kitsune nearly got himself killed.”

 

“What did you do?”

 

InuYasha flushed slightly. “Nothin'.”

 

“Then why are you blushing?” she countered softly.

 

“I'm not.”

 

“You are.”

 

“Am not.”

 

“Are.”

 

“Not.”

 

“Are!”

 

“Keh!”

 

She gasped and sat back as she stared at him with a small grin. “You did that youkai thing, didn't you? Tweaked his nose?”

 

InuYasha's flush darkened. “Keh.”

 

“And what did Shippou do?”

 

InuYasha sighed, apparently not at all pleased with the outcome of the disciplinary action. “Bawled.”

 

“Why doesn't that make you happier?”

 

He shot her a glower. “You think I want to make the kid cry? I don't, but he's got to learn. Miroku told him to stay with Kaede, and he didn't listen. He's worse than you, blubbering like a baby—”

 

“I don't blubber!”

 

“Wanna bet?”

 

“You're impossible.”

 

“Keh.”

 

Kagome rolled her eyes and headed for the door.

 

“Oi! Where you going now?”

 

She stopped and leaned back to stick her head back into her room. “To get the treats Mama bought for me to bring back.”

 

“You mean more than what you've already crammed in that bag?”

 

Kagome grinned. “Some of it is for you.”

 

He looked away as though it was of no interest to him at all. Kagome knew better. The way his ears twitched said as much.

 

Watching her go, InuYasha snorted in the quiet room. His mother's diary lay on the nightstand. InuYasha wondered if Kagome had read any more of it while she'd been here. Making a face, he stared at the book. His mother's words offered him a measure of comfort that was surprising. Still he had to wonder exactly why Izayoi had written it, in the first place. It seemed like nothing more than the story of his mother and father, and while it was interesting to hear, it didn't change anything, did it?

 

He frowned. He had hated to leave Kagome here alone, especially since Katosan was still around. But Shippou couldn't be left alone, either. In the end, Kagome was the one who had demanded that he stay behind so she could concentrate on her stupid exams and so Shippou wouldn't miss her as much.

 

InuYasha sighed and picked up the diary. He had intended to only be here long enough to get Kagome but since she was taking her time getting her things around, he might as well get some more of the diary out of the way.

 

`Your father told me that should anything happen to him, one of his most trusted men would watch out for us. Katosan was one of your father's most faithful generals as well as another inu-youkai. He was the one who came to stay with us, and, should anything come to pass, he is the one who has been entrusted with making certain you are taken to Sesshoumaru. He was the one who watched over you when you ventured into the village. Though he never seemed emotional, you always loved to be around him. I think, in many respects, you thought of him as a father figure . . . .'

 

InuYasha nearly choked as he dropped the diary and glared at the yellowed pages. `What? No . . . oh hell no . . . .'

 

There wasn't any way under the sun that InuYasha had thought of Katosan like that . . . `Mother had to be mistaken . . . .' Even as he thought that, he knew. The few times he'd sneaked out of the castle gates into the village in search of someone to play with, he remembered the vague shadow, the stealthy follower that he had smelled at the time but hadn't remarked on. Maybe he had been too young for it to make sense but, thinking back now . . . `Damn!'

 

Still, if that had been Katosan, why hadn't Myouga mentioned that when he'd told InuYasha why Katosan wanted him to regain Musashi? It didn't make sense . . . . Nothing made sense. Everything seemed to be spinning away into a convoluted mess that had no real truths. He stared at the diary again. This book had disappeared for over five hundred years. Who had it then?

 

He had thought that it was Norimitsu, but was it? He shook his head. He had to find the diary in the past. He had to know why someone wanted to keep it from him so badly when it contained nothing but stories of a mother and her son—him.

 

`Katosan is a hard youkai to understand. He says little, much like your father and your brother. That may be how youkai are. He has said that he would protect you at all costs, though. You are the heir to Musashi, as your father intended. Knowing that your brother can and will rule over the Western Lands, your father wanted you to have something, as well. He gave you Musashi, in a very odd sense, by having traded it to my father for me. But he also gave you his forest, and that, InuYasha, is something that not even my father could ever keep from you.'

 

“Okay, if you're ready . . . oh, sorry,” Kagome said as she bustled back into the room with an armful of things. “Never mind me,” she remarked. Trying to shove even more things into her backpack, InuYasha closed the diary and set it aside. She glanced over at him with a smile that faded as she stared at him. “What's wrong?”

 

He shook his head and sighed. “I have to find it.”

 

“Find what?”

 

“Mother's diary. I mean, I have to find it in the past.”

 

She sat down and pushed his bangs out of his face. “What's wrong?”

 

“Mother said that Katosan was our guardian, after my old man died.”

 

“What?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

Kagome digested that information with a concentrated frown. “But I don't understand . . . if Katosan was your guardian, then why would he do all this?”

 

InuYasha's eyes darkened as he stood up and grabbed her backpack. “I don't know, but I'm going to find out.”

 

 

:::8::8::8::8::8::8::8::8::8::8:::

 

 

“Oi! Move it, Kagome! We ain't got all day!” InuYasha grumbled as Kagome scrambled out of the well. She wrinkled her nose at his blustering but didn't comment. “Did you leave anything behind?” he grouched as he hefted the heavy bag over his shoulder.

 

“Well, now that you mention it . . .” she said as she dropped her bundle and turned back to the well.

 

He caught her arm and swung her around, propelling her forward before he retrieved the parcel and stomped after her.

 

She giggled and let her head fall back, lifting her face toward the sun as she reveled in the perfection of the afternoon. He rolled his eyes at her silly antics but smiled. “Come on, wench. Everyone's expecting us.”

 

“InuYasha?”

 

“What?”

 

She ran around to stand before him, the sunlight reflecting in her eyes as she stared at him. “I just wanted to say that I'm glad you came for me.”

 

“Keh. I told you I would.”

 

She shrugged. I know. I'm still glad though.”

 

He reached over and tweaked her nose. She blinked in surprise as her expression turned sad. “What did I do?”

 

He shook his head, a small grin turning up the corners of his lips. “Made me wait on you.” She opened her mouth to protest. “You can't argue with me, Kagome. You're just a pathetic human, remember?”

 

“Well, this pathetic human thinks that the far-superior hanyou dog-boy can just walk back to the village alone then.”

 

She stalked away. InuYasha dropped everything and ran after her. She shrieked as he tackled her. “See what I mean? Pathetic human,” he taunted as they rolled to a stop. He resisted the urge to grimace as the bandages pulled just a little. She rested atop his chest, and he locked his arms around her waist to keep her there. She squirmed. He groaned.

 

Kagome leaned up on her elbows. “I don't think I deserved that,” she pointed out.

 

“Keh.”

 

“How do you figure? You were early.”

 

“You gonna keep talking or are you gonna kiss me?”

 

She shifted her eyes to the side as she considered his question. He growled and dragged her down to meet his lips. Her mouth was like an instant balm on his senses. The taste of her, the scent of her, the feel of her, so alive, so warm, so acquiescent against him blocked out all other thoughts as he savored the feel of her against him. He lifted his hands to her face, cradling her gently as she teased his lips with hers. She slipped her hands into his, pinned between the two of them as the rush of emotion warred with the tactile feel, body against body, heart against heart.

 

He realized absently that it would be so easy to let himself be lost in her, and he wouldn't care. So long as she was with him, so long as she trusted him, so long as she believed in him, he would follow her anywhere. She drew him out, drove him to the boundaries of his control even as she tempered him, soothed him, held her sway over him with her gentle hands and her soft kisses. She sighed against him as her hands gripped his tighter, clinging to him as though she would die if she let go. Wherever she was, was where he belonged.

 

The scent of her washed over him, inebriated him, made his mind forget every single thing but the touch of her lips, the sweetness of her breath. She moaned into his mouth. He growled as he tasted her. She pressed into him, her desire a living thing, vibrant and rich, radiating purest heat from her soul, from her essence. She spoke to him with muted touches, lips brushing over his with nearly painful gentleness, her hands squeezing and releasing in his, pulsing with the beat of their hearts.

 

He rolled enough that she slid off his chest, leaned over her to trap her. The kiss deepened as he pulled his hand away. Stroking her cheek, tracing her ear, he sought to touch her very soul, needed to feel every whisper, every sensation, every breath she took into her body as though it were his own.

 

Kagome whimpered, her free hand wrapped around a fistful of his haori, pulling him against her as she arched her back to meet him. If she knew what she was doing, she gave no outward sign. With instinct borne of rampant emotion, she reacted to him on the basest of levels as he reveled in the wonder that was her. Her body quaked under his as the violent eruption of visceral heat shot through him, leaving him weak, leaving him breathless, leaving him exhilarated.

 

In the midst of things he didn't comprehend, Kagome made sense to him. Though he protected her against the beasts in the world that might seek to harm her, she alone cosseted his heart against the things that were so much worse. The fear of the things that he couldn't see, the things that came to him in fragments of dreams, of memories, Kagome knew, and she had the power to drive them away.

 

The insistent tug of her lips on his, the hesitant beauty behind her trembling hands as they sought his skin beneath the haori, beneath the undershirt drew a whine out of him, the consuming need to merge with her, to bind with her, to pledge his life to her, drove him forward, guided his hands, his kisses, as he dragged his lips from hers to sear her skin with his mouth as she softly trailed her fingernails up and down his spine.

 

“So this is the reason you did not heed my approach?”

 

Kagome gasped as InuYasha rolled to his feet, dragging Tetsusaiga from the scabbard as he turned to face the intruder. Kagome was slower to rise. InuYasha caught her hand, held her behind him. “Stay back,” he growled over his shoulder. She nodded. He turned his attention back to the youkai, cursing under his breath that he'd been too preoccupied to smell him when his scent was unmistakable, too familiar, and too fucking close.

 

“You should have stayed in hiding, Katosan.”

 

 

 

 

~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~ *~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~

 

A/N:

 

 

== == == == == == == == == ==

 

Blanket disclaimer for this fanfic (will apply to this and all other chapters in Chronicles): I do not claim any rights to InuYasha or the characters associated with the anime/manga. Those rights belong to Rumiko Takahashi, et al. I do offer my thanks to her for creating such vivid characters for me to terrorize.

 

~Sue~