InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Corrupted Thought ❯ A Tumbling Fall (Part One) ( Chapter 1 )

I would like to give my inspirational credit to the lovely author, Merith! ^_^ *applause* Yay Merith! *holds up inspirational sign pointing to Merith* *whispers* She doesn't know about me giving her credit… ^_~

Now… I know all of you are REALLY pissed at me for not updating my stories, and I KNOW that I haven't updated in months, but I really hit a writers block when semesters started to creep up. When I tried to cram a bunch of education into my brain, it inevitably ran out of room and began to take refuge in the other 80% of my brain; my fanfiction section. ^_^; So… I kind of forgot where I was going with the damn things… (excuse my French), so I've been jumping from fanfic idea to fanfic idea; eventually bubbling down to these. So… until I come up with a way to fluidly mesh the plot of my fanfictions, I'm afraid you'll have to develop a way to amuse yourself… ^_~

Blah blah blah…. *rants for a few minutes* What was I talking about? Ah… yes… my Inuyasha youkai fanfiction. PLOT: Yes, the plot is going to be about Inuyasha being cursed to his youkai form (ooh… scary…) and the Inuyasha gang having to keep him at bay until they can find the one who cursed him… who still remains anonymous considering the fact that they don't know who she is… (I'm so evil) and then how Kagome will react when… well… how about you read a bit of it and tell me how you feel? ^_^

This will be posted in three "parts". Each part will most likely be about 5-7 chapters long. We're in for quite a long ride, folks.

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha. Damn.

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Corrupted Minds

Chapter 1: A Tumbling Fall

By: Kaji-chan

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"Please, Inuyasha? I won't be gone that long! I promise!"

"No."

"But if you would only just-"

"No."

"Will you at least listen-"

"No."

"Inuyasha-"

"Hm… let me think about it… NO."

Kagome's lower lip stuck out in an annoyed motion of stubbornness, her arms crossed over her chest as she glared up at Inuyasha. "You're impossible to reason with!"

The inu hanyou copied her pouting face and crossed his arms over his chest, a triumphant smirk lingering on his lips. "You're impossible to reason with!" he mimicked, rolling his eyes and imitating her voice.

"I-Hey! I do not sound like that!" she hissed, her hands dropping to fist at her sides as she stood on her tip-toes in an attempt to create an intimidating picture.

Inuyasha honestly tried to keep his straight, strict demeanor as she stood up to him, but never-the-less, a poorly suppressed laugh escaped from his lips when she realized that even on her tip-toes she still wasn't eyelevel with him. She dropped from her tip-toes, pouting in defeat. The sight was too much, and he let out another laugh, but this time coming out more as a snort of humor as he tried to swallow his amusement. She leveled him with a glare for it. "What?" he spouted defensively, feigning an innocent look. Judging by her heightened glare, he wasn't as good at it as Miroku.

"Don't laugh at me!" she huffed, smacking his arm when his bemused snorts turned into full throated laughter. Her irritated expression showed that she was very much displeased with his failure to remain serious. "It's not fair that you're taller than me!" She pursed her lips. "Or that you have say over everything I do…"

Inuyasha smirked, exposing his fangs arrogantly. "The world's never fair."

"Only `cause you're in it," she muttered.

He chose to ignore her comment in favor of his lightened mood. "You don't have to go back to your time for some stupid class." Kagome's eyebrow twitched. Oops. Better back off of the mention her classes being stupid. "But what about Sango, Miroku and Shippou? You just got back. What do you need it for when you can stay here with us? It's like you don't want to be around us."

Kagome blinked at him, an uncertain expression seeping into her features as his words sunk in. There it was, her soft spot. Any time he mentioned the others, she was riding the guilt trip. He felt a bit guilty himself, having not meant it to come out that way, but it was true. It was like she was purposefully trying to get away from them all the time.

A guilty expression overtook her features as she mulled over it, her hand reaching up to rest below her lips in a vulnerable and hesitant position. Inuyasha watched her closely for a reaction. Actually… He cocked an eyebrow. She looked kind of cute when she got all tentative and shit.

She sighed softly, a culpable look settling into her brown eyes, her eyebrows drawing together. "I guess… it would be wrong to run off on them again… I mean… you're right… I just got back…"

Heh. Too easy. "See? You don't need some stupid class when we still have to collect all the shards and kill Naraku."

Her shoulders slumped in defeat. "Fine. You win, Inuyasha."

Inuyasha felt his own shoulders slump. That's it? No fight? He frowned. Well that's no fun. She was getting to be so yielding now-a-days. Whatever happened to her fiery self, the one that argued and stood up against everything he said? His frown deepened. What the hell's the point of arguing with her anymore if he always won?

"Should we go back then?" she offered, smiling a bit as she motioned back towards the village and away from the well.

Hell no. He glanced around for something of use, his eyes landing on her overstuffed backpack. A little shimmer caught his eye, just poking out of the slightly torn seems of the top of the yellow bag. "What's this?" he said, snatching the object from its protruding position in the backpack. He tuned over a little box in his hand, a little gold lock on it.

"Eh?" she whispered, looking up to see what it was. He was about to inspect it when suddenly she squeaked and dove for it. Huh? He held it up above his head, watching her jump up and down as she attempted to snatch it from his hand.

He peered up, holding it in both hands and attempting to open the box, moving it out of the young woman's reach. "No!" she squeaked, snatching for the box held just out of her reach. "You can't-" she jumped, making a desperate grab for the object he held, "-see it!"

"Huh? Why not?" he asked, his curiosity piqued.

"Be-" she jumped again, "-cause!"

He would have held her down with one hand and investigated with the other, but he needed both hands to open the lock. "Why don't you just tell me what it is?" he asked.

"I told you!" Jump. "I just can't!"

"Fine. I'll just open it and see for myself-"

"No you WON'T!" she yelled, grabbing his arm and somehow managing to pull it down low enough for her to snatch it from him. She hopped backwards, holding up the box in triumph. "Hah! I-"

He walked up and took it right out of her hands, shaking his head and securing the box tightly in his fist. "Sometimes you're so stupid, Kagome."

Her eyebrow twitched. Now this was more like the Kagome he knew.

Wearing a mischievous grin, he lightly pushed her shoulders, laughing again when she fell off balance and toppled over, her hands wind milling to no effect, and landing not-too-gracefully on her butt. Kagome glared up at the laughing hanyou, angrily grabbing a fistful of dirt and grass and throwing it up at him.

Inuyasha sidestepped the dirt, and squatted down to her eyelevel, still chuckling. "I really don't care about this stupid class you're going to, because you have more important things to do here."

"It's a dance and yoga class. And taking the class will help my balance and posture, as well as concentration!" she protested desperately, "My archery will be more precise! Please, it's just for a few-"

"Kagome." Inuyasha said sharply, cutting off her rebuttal, "I said no, and that means no." Folding his hands into his wide sleeves, he leaned forward to emphasize his decision, ignoring her furiously defiant expression. "You're staying here and that's that."

Kagome's lips thinned irately. "Why are you being like this?" she asked in a strained tone.

He paused thoughtfully, his humored smile not fading from his features as he turned amused, twinkling eyes toward her flaring, angry ones. "Because I can." he said, tapping his upper chest where an ancient rosary once rested, another smirk spreading across his features. "It's really your fault I have this freedom, you know. If you hadn't accidentally caught hold of it and slipped it off my neck…"

She glared at him. "That wasn't all my fault…"

"But enough about the class…" She opened her mouth to protest but he silenced it by covering her mouth with his finger. Her mouth instantly snapped shut, and he noticed her scent pique ever so slightly as she stiffened in surprise. Inuyasha wore a small smile on his lips, her eyes dilating ever-so-slightly and darting up and down his face nervously. He leaned forward a bit, and paused, Kagome drawing in a short gasp, her scent spiked with fear and excitement. Inuyasha held up the box in front of her nose. "Now what's this?"

Her eyes widened a bit before her expression completely flattened. He blinked. What? Was she expecting something else from him? "What? Don't tell me you're still mad about me telling you no…"

Her eyes narrowed in obvious irritation. "I-nu-ya-sha…" she hissed from between clenched teeth. With a frustrated shout, she lunged at him, catching him off guard and knocking him forcefully onto his back, holding down his shoulders with her hands as she put all her weight on them. Inuyasha blinked in shock at her sudden aggression, the smile fading as she glared down at him, her face shadowed from the light by her curtain of hair.

"Of all the conceited, self-centered, egotistical…" she ranted, pressing as hard as she could on his shoulders while she leaned forward and hissed angrily about his incapability to be remotely human. "…arrogant, condescending, supercilious, pretentious, self promoting things possible!"

Inuyasha blinked at her for two reasons. One, he had no idea why she was so pissed at him, and two, he had no idea how she had managed to flip him onto his back. Where the hell did this come from? "I know that Sango-chan and Shippou-chan miss me when I'm gone, but the last time I went home was two days ago for about three hours to get medical supplies! They'd be fine if I was gone for another two days! I haven't been to school for two and a half months, Inuyasha, MONTHS; and just because you aren't wearing that damned rosary anymore you think you have the right to tell me whether I can or can't-"

His arrogant smirk slowly spread across his lips as she ranted, realizing that she was paying less and less attention to him. Using her distraction, he kicked her legs out from under her with a quick sweep of his legs. Kagome squeaked as she lost the balance on her knees and fell forward onto his chest, her hands slipping out from under her to slide on either side of Inuyasha's head. Inuyasha reached up to snatch her hands and rolled over, pinning her effectively to the ground in one fluid movement. Smirking down at her flustered expression and locking her arms to either side of her, he whispered, "Don't be so disappointed, Kagome."

Kagome huffed, straining against his hold in a futile attempt to escape his grip on her forearms. "If only…"

"…the rosary was still around my neck?" Inuyasha cut in with a conquering grin. "I know… sucks, doesn't it?"

Eye's narrowing with effort, Kagome threw her weight to the side so that the slant of the hill gave her enough leverage to flip Inuyasha back onto his haughty ass. "Hah!" she triumphed as a disapproving growl rolled up Inuyasha's throat, "I don't need a rosary to-Kya!"

Kagome's victory speech was cut short when Inuyasha once again reversed their positions, accidentally pushing too hard and sending the both of them rolling unceremoniously down the hill in a tangle of limbs. The two of them grunted and winced as rocks and dirt hit their backs during their careening tumble down the slope. Finally rolling to a halted sprawl at the bottom of the hill, they rolled away from each other, both rubbing their heads in an attempt to force the dizziness out of their vision.

Inuyasha rolled to face Kagome, seeing her chest heaving as she gasped for the air that was deprived of her lungs when her back collided with a rock and knocked the wind out of her. He forced his vision into a focus, crawling over towards her. Inuyasha pulled himself over her, managing to pin down her legs with his knees and hold her hands above her head. "There…" he panted. "I… won…"

Kagome was slowly regaining her breath. "I don't… think so…" she rasped out, weakly attempting to push his weight off of her hands enough to roll him over, but found her energy wasted.

His vision had now cleared up, and he was regaining a steady breathing. "Heh. I guess I'm too much for you."

She swallowed, gasping again for air as her eyes focused better on him, as she wasn't able to regain he energy as quickly as him. "Don't… be so sure…" she said more clearly, glaring at him challengingly.

He returned her tense glare with a smirk. "You should know better than to wrestle with me, Kagome."

With a reluctant, yielding sigh, Kagome's flustered face slowly melted into a soft smile; her chest heaving with exhaustion. "No… I guess not…"

Inuyasha's smirk faltered as he looked down at her; how innocently her shiny, black hair splayed around her form and framed her flushed, smiling face, how her chest rose and fell with her light breathing, how their faces were only ten inches apart… The air between them suddenly seemed to heat, and he swallowed awkwardly. Inuyasha's grip on her hands slackened as they both found themselves in an uncomfortable situation. Kagome blushed slightly and turned away. Inuyasha couldn't help but notice when she unconsciously licked her lips out of nervous anxiety.

Kagome shifted uncomfortably under his stare, tugging lightly for her hands to be released, his hands letting go of hers and finally pulling her hands down towards her chest. Inuyasha still hadn't moved his hands from above her head, finding himself unable to move from their position; frozen to the spot.

"I… I guess you win," she whispered quietly in an attempt to break the unease, finding herself also unable to move away from him.

Inuyasha blinked slowly while he refocused his mind back to a safer run of thoughts, his lips turning up slightly as he replied, "Yeah…"

Kagome's eyes slowly trailed back to Inuyasha's, finding his boring back down into hers, a mirrored look of realization also residing in his eyes. This time, neither of them could pull away from the other. Inuyasha's eyes drifted down to Kagome's lips, finding himself unable to look away. An invisible magnetic force seemed to pull them to each other, finding their faces drawing closer. They were mere inches apart; Kagome could feel Inuyasha's warm breath on her lips…

"KAGOMEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!"

Inuyasha's head snapped up at the sound of the familiar, high-pitched voice that rang through the forest; the couple instantly breaking apart from each other as a creature burst out of the bushes. Inuyasha folded his hands into his haori in irritation, a scowl drawing onto his features as he fought away a faint blush. That damned runt…

A ball of fur bounced up from the ground and barreled into Kagome, burying itself into her shirt. "Hide meeeeee!" it squealed.

Inuyasha watched as Kagome sighed, closing her eyes in a resentful resignation. They had been so close… centimeters. There were few occasions when he had ever allowed himself to get so dangerously close to her like that. This was one of those times. Even though Inuyasha should have been scolding himself for being so foolish, he couldn't help but glare daggers at the kitsune child for his intrusion. "From what, Shippou-chan?" she asked, carefully concealing her emotion with a tight smile.

Inuyasha blinked at her expression. She was trying to hide it, but it was still there. That trace of anger. What was she mad about? Was she mad at him? Because he almost kissed her?

The fox turned up large, watery eyes to the young teenage miko and clutched fistfuls of her shirt in his miniscule hands. "Th-th-th-th-they're c-c-c-c-c-coming!!!!" he squealed, tugging on her uniform.

It was amazing that after so long, the kit still hadn't grown any bigger than when he first joined up with him and Kagome after the defeat of the Thunder Brothers. Perhaps it was because he was a full-blooded demon…

Kagome's displeasure flooded from her system as her head shot up towards the trees in concern for the kit, Inuyasha also reaching a hand to rest on the hilt of his sword. "What's coming, Shippou-chan?!"

Kagome, realizing she had left her bow and arrows behind at Kaede's hut, pressed her forefingers together to center her miko powers to her hands in case her aide was needed. She had only just recently learned how to use her powers through other objects aside from archery, but creating one single burst of purifying energy from her hands took up all her energy and usually rendered her unconscious. Feeling a warm pulsation at her fingertips, she turned towards the rustling bushes, Inuyasha running to stand protectively in front of her.

The tree line ripped apart, branches and leaves flying in all different directions as two figures burst into the clearing. Kagome's tense expression dropped to a flat, slightly irritated one; Inuyasha barely preventing himself from falling over. "Shippou-chan…" Kagome inquired quietly as the two figures stomped angrily towards the kitsune. "What did you do?"

Shippou squealed and dove behind her, whimpering as he squeaked out, "I d-d-d-didn't mean t-t-t-to! It was an a-a-a-acid-d-dent! I didn't know!"

Sango raised her enormous boomerang above her head, the sky suddenly receding to a dark and menacing color as she hovered above Shippou. "An accident?"

Inuyasha snorted, turning his head away slightly. "You're all crazy…"

Kagome sent him a mild glare. "Like are in any position to talk."

"What is that implying?" he asked, crossing his arms.

"As the Scots would say, Inuyasha, you're one sandwich short of a picnic."

Inuyasha glared at her. "What the Hell is that supposed to mean?!"

Kagome stood up, exposing the shaking fox child. With a surprised yelp, he crawled behind her legs in an attempt to shield himself. "Don't hurt meeee!"

Inuyasha leveled the kit with a blank stare. This kid was certainly pissing everyone off today. "What'd he do?"

Sango and Miroku either didn't hear him or chose to ignore him. Actually, unlike usual, he found that he didn't really care anyway. Shrugging, he stood, starting off towards the village.

"Where are you going?"

Inuyasha glanced over his shoulder at Kagome, who had also stood and jogged after him, leaving behind Shippou to fend for himself. The fox child squealed in horror at the sudden absence of his shield, darting away from the monk and exterminator as they advanced on him. "Hm?" he answered, looking at her.

"Well, I…" she started, unable to finish as she ducked behind a curtain of bangs in embarrassment. "Before Shippou… you know… did you…? Were we…? Um…"

Even though her broken speech would have been impossible for anyone else to understand, he knew exactly what she was talking about. He felt a lump rise uncomfortably in his throat and he turned away from her, swallowing. "I think the brat could use your help…" he cut in, abruptly steering their short conversation into safe territory.

Kagome turned to look at the wailing child barreling across the green towards her, two darkened figures hot on his trail. She blinked as they ran straight by her, watching them run away and out of sight over the dip of the hill, leaving behind a trail of dust and the occasional yelling and squeals of terror drifting from the direction of the village below. She stood there, listening to the fading voices of her traveling companions before turning to face Inuyasha. "Inuyasha… about…"

He wasn't there.

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Inuyasha's feet dangled from the tree branch, his back resting lazily against the trunk of the oak he resided in. It happened again. They were so close.

And it frightened him.

Which was saying a lot, considering that he was afraid of pretty much nothing. But thinking about how close their lips had been sent a jolt of fear through his body, forcing him to open his eyes to gaze at the horizon. He had almost kissed her.

Again.

He let his head loll back to smack against the bark of the trunk. He was getting so careless. He was getting too close to her.

He wanted to be close to her. He wanted to share those bittersweet moments with her. He wanted to be with her. But there was no escaping the fact that he couldn't.

He couldn't be with her. He couldn't hurt her.

Inuyasha sighed, but his body did not relax like he had intended it to. His claws dug into the branch, feeling the wood splinter underneath the pressure and dig into the soft underside of his nails, but he didn't care. He knew just as well as she did that they couldn't be together. Sure, they could still care for each other, they could still look after one another, and they could still confide in one another, though the cases were rare, but they couldn't be together in the way they both wanted to.

She knew and he knew what was keeping them apart. It was a combination of many things. The importance of destroying the Shikon no Tama, killing Naraku, and in the end, himself going to Hell with Kikyou as he had promised. He couldn't avoid them, and neither could she. They both understood.

But for some reason, the both of them didn't care.

They had promised each other, two years ago, when they realized that their shard hunting would soon be coming to an end, that they couldn't allow each other to get too close to the other. But then, they hadn't expected everything to drag out so long. But then, they hadn't expected Inuyasha's rosary to explode. But then, they weren't old enough to understand that growing up would also evoke more adult emotions. Or that their feelings for each other would grow stronger.

She was seventeen now. Soon to be eighteen. He was eighteen, soon to be nineteen. They were old enough to carry the burden of their relationship, and they were old enough to understand that it would case more pain and sadness than happiness.

So why were they acting like children and forgetting that?

He could see it in her eyes every time he looked at her. She was restraining herself. She was honoring his relationship with Kikyou. She wouldn't allow herself to succumb to her own desires. To her love for him. He knew it better than any other how much it was tearing her up inside.

Inuyasha closed his eyes, but his brows drew together rather than relaxing in thought. It was never her who pushed too far. It was always him. It was him who leaned forward to kiss her. It was him who leaned forward to kiss her two years ago. It was his fault.

He was continually telling her that they couldn't be together. That they couldn't let things out of hand. Yet Inuyasha was always the first one to go against it. He was constantly giving her false hopes of something they could never have.

It was his turn to feel guilty. He was always the one messing around and never being serious. Just a while ago he was teasing Kagome, playing with her. Yet he was the one who was always telling her they needed to be serious. He was such a hypocrite. Not that he would admit it if anyone accused him of it, though.

Inuyasha couldn't help a small chuckle. Here he was, brooding over their relationship like he did with Kikyou some fifty odd years ago. It would be more, now, wouldn't it, though? Somewhere around fifty-three years.

He sighed again. Everything seemed to drift away from him. His love for Kikyou was slowly transforming into what seemed like a faded longing for her forgiveness. His ambition to seek out and destroy Naraku was still as strong as it ever had been, but he was not as careless in his pursuit for the demon. The primarily drifting feature of his life seemed to be time.

Time… it was slowly slipping from him. He was beginning to notice that everything seemed to pass by so quickly. The past three years seemed to have swept right from underneath his own feet. The only time that ever seemed to recede back to normal was when he spent it with Kagome. Not just traveling with her, but actually spending it with her. Just her.

He like the occasional walks with her, just a bit separated from the group enough to where they could speak in private. Even though they never really talked. The occasional, subtle touches or nudges. He found himself smile when he spent time with her. He enjoyed those times. With her. Inuyasha's eyes opened to stare blankly forward. Unfortunately, those times with her were the ones that were bringing them dangerously too close. Too close to each other and too close to the end.

One of which he wanted but couldn't have, the other of which he didn't want but would inevitably happen. He did not wish it, but needed the end of their quest to come. Simply because the faster it did, the less pain they would go through, and the less time they would have to get closer.

Because they inevitably were.

And he was afraid.

Because he wanted more time.

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Okay. There's chapter one. Hopefully, I won't be a bum and I'll update soon. If I don't… then… um… *wanders off to ponder how she's going to juggle all of these fanfictions at once and keep up a 4.0 GPA*

Until next time!

Kaji-chan ^^