InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Easy as 1, 2, 3... ❯ Every Rose has its Thorn ( Chapter 8 )

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha, much to the relief of our vet. Our cat is scary enough to deal with once a year.

.

.

Easy as 1, 2, 3…

Chapter Eight

.

.

.

"As effective as those tactics seem to be, Inuyasha, I don't think showing off your body to her every chance you get is the right way to go about this." Miroku advised. The two men were sitting outside by the pool the next afternoon, plotting. Or at least Miroku was. Inuyasha didn't see anything wrong with his original plans!

A very satisfied growling sound could be heard coming from Inuyasha. "But if you had only seen the look on her face when I did that, Miroku! I think my plan is working just fine."

Sigh. "Think about it my friend. Do you see your father walking around mooning your mother so she'll love him and stay with him? Of course not! He's thoughtful to her, brings her little gifts, gives her compliments, and takes her out to have romantic dinners. Those are the kinds of things women go for."

This gave Inuyasha a pause. "If that's true, then why do you go around asking women to bear your child and all that other crap?"

"It's a very effective ice breaker!"

"More like bone breaker."

Miroku gave a theatrical sigh. "Trust me Inuyasha, you just don't understand women the way I do."

"Thank God."

Ignoring this, the dark-haired man chose to instead carefully consider Inuyasha's love life -or lack of one rather. There had to be some way to fix it or all his skills with the opposite sex would be for naught! And you know Miroku, he couldn't bear the thought of that! To him, Inuyasha's problem was becoming personal.

"I think you should try something more subtle. Spend time with her, shower her with compliments, or give her a small gift. And of course the classic dinner by candlelight can never go wrong, even for someone as romantically impaired as you."

Inuyasha scoffed at all these suggestions, though mostly at the last one. "I don't get it. What's so romantic about people eating in the dark anyway?"

A stunned expression crossed Miroku's face, and he had to stop himself before he tried to strangle Inuyasha. "You really are hopeless, aren't you? Candlelight sets the mood, the romantic tone! And the darkness makes things more intimate and mysterious." Under his breath he added, "Besides, it would probably be better if she can't see you anyway. Your table manners are awful!"

"Oi, I heard that Miroku!"

"Hehe, forgot who I was talking to for a moment."

"Keh. Be glad I'm letting you live."

Miroku sweat dropped before deciding he would be better off ignoring that. "So, are you going to take any of my advice or what? I don't think I need to bother pointing out exactly how limited your experience with women is."

Inuyasha finally seemed to be considering what Miroku was saying, and seriously at that! Maybe it wouldn't hurt to try something new. After all, things like that worked for his father all the time, and he wasn't known for being a very gentle, romantic man. Maybe there was something to that stuff after all.

"Okay, fine! I guess I can try some of your ideas. I'll try the gift thing first."

Miroku smiled, looking lost in his thoughts. "Ahh, gifts. A small bribe never hurts."

Inuyasha scowled. "It isn't a bribe!"

"Believe what you like."

.

.

~*~*~*~*~*~

.

.

"This whole gift giving thing is a lot harder than I thought." Inuyasha muttered to himself. He had been thinking of ideas for over an hour now, and he still didn't have a good one! Miroku had suggested jewelry, but that seemed too much like a bribe to Inuyasha. He didn't want her to feel obligated to like him.

The pervert had then suggested lingerie, and was promptly pushed into the pool by the peeved hanyou. At least no one could accuse Inuyasha of being completely stupid where women were concerned. Even he knew better than that!

Still sitting by the pool, Inuyasha paused in mid thought when he heard a soft noise. With his excellent hearing, he could easily tell that the sound he heard was a footstep, and a light one at that. It sounded suspiciously like someone trying not to get caught.

Inuyasha smiled in amusment when Kagome's scent drifted in his direction. Did she really think she could get away that easily? He had expected an escape attempt, but not quite so soon. He could have a little fun with this!

Moving stealthily, Inuyasha stood and slowly crept towards his mother's garden where the sound had originated. It was a large area, with confusing paths and a huge variety of flowers. The ideal place to go if you didn't want people to find you. Unfortunately for Kagome, she forgot to take into account Inuyasha's exceptional senses.

'Out of hundreds of different scents, I could pick out Kagome's anywhere.' The hanyou thought smugly. 'Too bad for her she uses shampoo that smells like fruit instead of flowers.'

She had obviously picked a path she thought would lead her to the perimeter of the gardens, where the forest started. He had to hand it to her. The plan might have worked if he hadn't been outside at the time, although even if he had been in the house, he would have heard her leaving.

Meanwhile in the garden, Kagome was almost giddy with relief and nerves! If she could only make it to the woods, she'd finally be home free!

'I know I almost didn't mind staying at first, but after that little stunt he pulled yesterday, there is NO WAY I am sticking around! The pervert!' Kagome refused to admit to herself that the reason she didn't want to stay was because she'd liked what she had seen just a little too much for comfort.

Peering around the corner of a rose bush and not seeing anyone, Kagome breathed a relieved sigh and stepped out into the open. The forest was just ahead!

"Admiring my mother's garden?" An amused voice spoke behind her.

"AAGGHH!" Kagome jumped and turned around, pressing one hand to her heart. Inuyasha couldn't help himself and busted out laughing at the terrified look on her face, which earned him an evil glare as soon as she could muster one.

"You scared me to death! What were you doing following me anyway?"

Inuyasha snorted. "From your reaction alone I'm pretty sure you weren't taking a tour of the garden. Why the sudden hurry to leave?" His eyebrows rose in question, and he waited for her response.

Kagome's own eyebrows lowered in annoyance. "Do I really have to have a good reason?" When Inuyasha waited expectantly, she continued. "Fine, if you want one, I'll give you one. You're a disgusting jerk with no manners that kidnapped me and then mooned me!"

Understanding slowly dawned on Inuyasha's face, and he looked more amused than ever. "You're still upset over that? But I could have sworn you liked it. Or maybe THAT'S the problem, and that's why you want to leave so badly!"

Kagome suddenly looked very flustered, and she refused to look at him. Instead, she moved around him to walk back towards the house without bothering to respond. Inuyasha frowned, not wanting her to leave quite yet.

"Where are you going?" Inuyasha suddenly blurted, and could have kicked himself for sounding so desperate.

"Back to my room and locking the door!Maybe I should stay in there the rest of the month! Then I won't have to deal with a jerk like you anymore!"

Inuyasha growled. "Why do you have to keep calling me a jerk? You won't even give me a chance to prove you wrong!"

"I don't WANT you to prove me wrong!" Kagome yelled. Suddenly realizing how much she gave away, Kagome stiffened and started to walk away again without looking back.

Inuyasha watched her leave with a very thoughtful look on his face. 'So that's the problem. She's afraid she might start to like me if I prove to her that I'm not really the huge jerk she thinks I am.'

Moving his gaze from where Kagome had disappeared in to a bush beside him, a slow smile spread across his face. He finally knew the perfect gift to give her! Hurriedly grabbing what he needed, Inuyasha took off running, planning to beat Kagome back to the house.

.

.

~*~*~*~*~*~

.

.

Sango eyed Miroku warily after they had both happened to see Inuyasha run by like a mad man. It didn't take a genius to guess what he was up to, and Sango couldn't help but worry. "Do you really think YOU giving Inuyasha advice was such a good idea? He's not exactly the romantic type, and I'm pretty sure your advice is far from foolproof."

"Don't worry about it Sango." He assured her as his arm snaked around her shoulders, before traveling a bit lower. "He got advice from the master of love. What could possibly go wrong?"

*CRACK!*

"Hands off, pervert!"

Miroku sighed, putting both his hands over his chest. "Sango, your hostility towards me, the man who loves you so much, just breaks my heart! Can't we work things out?"

"I'll break more than your heart if you touch me there one more time!"

The perverted bodyguard perked up at that. "What if I touch you somewhere else then?"

Miroku never saw that last hit coming before he blacked out completely. I guess it's true what they say, love and pain really do go together!

.

.

~*~*~*~*~*~

.

.

"Inuyasha is a jerk, Inuyasha is a jerk, Inuyasha is a jerk." Kagome chanted, trying to calm herself down with a comforting mantra as she climbed the stairs. She wouldn't have been trying so hard if she knew where the 'jerk' was right at that moment.

Pulling open her bedroom door with a sigh, Kagome nearly tripped and fell on her face when she was greeted with the unwelcome sight of the LAST person she felt like seeing! How the heck did he manage to beat her back?

With fierce frown in his direction after she managed to recover her footing, Kagome pointedly left the door open and faced him with her hands on her hips. "What do YOU want?"

Inuyasha didn't answer right away, and instead began to fidget nervously. He had both his hands behind his back, looking suspiciously embarrassed and grumpy. Poor guy! This was the hardest thing he'd ever tried to do in his life! It had sounded like a great idea when he first thought of it, but now he wanted to run and hide somewhere!

"I was…um…Keh! Why should I tell you, it's none of your business what I do!"

He knew that was the worst thing he could probably have said right then, but he couldn't seem to stop himself from becoming defensive when he got embarrassed! Inuyasha cringed and waited to see exactly how she would respond.

A dark look stole over Kagome's face. "It IS my business 'cause you're in MY room!" She argued furiously.

When the hanyou stayed quiet, Kagome opened her mouth once again to let him have a piece of her mind but suddenly stopped and stared as if in shock.

Inuyasha's stubborn look faded into one of confusion as she gawked silently at him. "Uh, aren't you going to try to kick me out or yell at me or something?"

Kagome blinked, then shook herself out of her stupor and frowned. "Forget about that. Let me see your hands."

Inuyasha's eyes widened in surprise at the unexpected demand. "Why?"

"I want to see your hands." She instructed more slowly. "You know, the ones behind your back that are dripping blood on my floor."

With a dazed look, Inuyasha did as she asked and revealed what he was holding. Sure enough, the idiot had grabbed a bunch of roses with one hand and completely ignored it when the thorns had ripped the flesh of his palm and fingers in several places. It looked a lot like he'd been playing with an angry cat.

Kagome took the flowers, and almost started laughing at the sight of the mangled stems where he'd ripped them from the bush. She smiled dryly at him. "Thank you, I think."

Laying the flowers down on the bed, she then examined his hand and sighed. "Geez, don't demons feel any pain at all?"

This caused Inuyasha's face to turn bright red, though she couldn't figure out why. "Yeah, we do. I was just kind of…distracted."

Kagome rolled her eyes. "You really need to clean this up before it gets infected."

"Keh, demons are fast healers! It will be fine in a couple of hours." Despite his gruff tone, he could feel his heart beating like mad. Partly from her touch on his hand, but also because she was actually concerned for him! Hadn't she been mad at him just a moment ago? This really was too good to be true!

Giving him a look that clearly said 'men are stupid', Kagome tried again. "Baka, you should still clean it anyway! Where do you keep the medical supplies?"

The things her touch was doing to him! He needed to get away before he did something that would ruin the tiny bit of progress he'd finally made. Inuyasha pulled his hand out of her grasp and backed off quickly.

"I-I'll take care of it myself." He muttered.

Watching him hurry out of the room looking flustered, Kagome couldn't help but feel a little dejected. 'Why didn't he want my help? And why do I even WANT to help him in the first place? I was furious with him five seconds ago, and now I'm practically looking for an excuse just to hold his hand!' A sulky look appeared on her face. 'If that's the way he wants to be, fine! It's only because I felt sorry for him. Nothing else.'

But if that's the way she really felt, then why did she miss touching his hand so much? No man had ever affected her like that before! Was she losing her little battle already, when it had only just begun?

.

.

.

.

I know, not as er, 'interesting' as the last chapter, but more interesting stuff will happen later, lol! *Settles in to wait for reviews*