InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Everlong ❯ Artemis ( Chapter 3 )

Chapter 3 -Artemis

-The Tree Hugger-

A few days has passed since I arrived at the project, and I was fairly well adjusted now. I'd made fast friends with Sango, and she made it clear how glad she was to have another girl around. Judging from her three closest comrades, it was not hard to see why.

Shippou was adorable, and very eager to help, but he often seemed to be in the way more than he was useful. Still, he was kind and funny, bringing comic relief whenever seclusion brought about quarrels among the rest of us.

Miroku, Sango's on-again-off-again boyfriend, was a total pervert, but he was a pretty nice guy. Their relationship baffled me, and sometimes I was convinced it was based solely on their need to… relieve themselves, and being stuck in the woods did not leave them many options. It was hard to believe he was going to be a priest, with how many times his hands has "accidentally" found my backside already in just three days. In fact, the only time it seemed I was not subjected to "inadvertent" groping was when Inuyasha was around.

Ah, Inuyasha. I had to admit that that guy watched me like a hawk. Oftentimes I would feel someone's eyes on me, only to catch him look away guiltily, and I wondered what he was thinking. Maybe he felt I was intruding, that I was unwelcome and annoying. I did enter the scene rather abruptly after all. Honestly though, I hoped it was just because he found me nice to look at, because I found myself staring at him a lot for just that reason.

I felt like an open book around him, and the emotion was so foreign to me that I was a little frightened. I'd always had a temper, but my first conversation with my new superior had come out of nowhere. I'd never gotten so angry with anyone so quickly, or so flustered…

I never missed his wandering gaze, and the intensity of his amber eyes always sent alternating waves of heat and chills through me that I could barely conceal. I felt so raw and vulnerable in his presence, as if he could see right through me, and I was scared, so I usually lashed out defensively. Our conversations after our introduction has been slightly more cordial, but there was always a marked tension between us, as if one wrong word would send us raging to each other's throats.

I had woken up one morning to an ominously grey overcast sky. Rain was never good news, I gathered, because the pits we were drawing soil from would fill with water and pack the dirt down, or flood them with leaves and twigs from the forest floor, making it exceedingly difficult to discern what was where it naturally should be, and what was not. Currently, the entire camp was busy rigging tarps up over our work before the storm began.

Sango was stretching the edges of the blue plastic over the ends of the pit, while I carried flat pieces of grey slate over to hold it down. It had already started to sprinkle, and I found my eyes wandering frequently to Inuyasha, who was driving stakes through the corners of the tarp with Miroku. The dampness was making his shirt cling to him in interesting ways…

"Aw, don't stay angry at him, Kagome." Sango was speaking to me now, peering up at me from her crouching position.

"Hmm?" I blinked down at her, pushing my wet bangs out of my eyes.

"You're glaring at him again," Sango commented, jerking her head towards Inuyasha. "I know he was a prick to you but… well, it's just that… you know, Inuyasha made… a lot of sacrifices and… worked really hard to get where he is." I blushed slightly at her 'glaring' comment. I was doing something more akin to ogling, but I wasn't about to point that out.

I tilted my head slightly, listening attentively. This was the first time anyone had offered me any real information about Inuyasha. When I had first arrived, Sango had mentioned that there were "things I should know" about him, but she hadn't mentioned them after that, and I felt it would be rude of me to bring it up.

I could tell she was choosing her words carefully, painstakingly omitting various factors. Not that I expected to get 'in the know' so early on, not at all… especially since I myself was being less than truthful. Sango shrugged, pressing her hands tightly in place as I carefully fitted a stone on top of the tarp. "Because of his young age and… unusual appearance, breaking into this field has not been easy for Inuyasha, and it's been a constant struggle for respect from his peers. It's difficult for him to accept that he may not always be right, when he knows one mistake could seriously tarnish his status."

I nodded in understanding. Being a young woman in my own field was no piece of cake, either. I felt a growing sympathy for Inuyasha as Sango continued. "Don't be too insulted. He's just trying to show you who's the alpha male, but he's listening to you, too."

I laughed at that. Maybe he was listening, but it was hard to tell. Most of the time when we were talking, he'd cross his arms across his chest and stare off into space, as if looking me in the eye hurt him somehow. The only times I ever caught him looking at me were when he thought I didn't know he was, like… now!

I whipped my face around to look in his direction, my eyes landing on his own shocked amber pair. He looked away quickly, mumbling something under his breath to Miroku. Gah, talk about confusing behavior. "Oh really?" I remarked, still staring after him. "Could have fooled me."

I lifted the next piece of slate, but it was slick from the rain and slipped out of my hands, one of its jagged edges cutting into the inside of my arm as it fell. "Ow ow ow," I whined, watching as blood sprang to the surface of my wound and began to drip down my wrist.

"Oh whoa, Kagome, are you ok?" Sango was on her feet, taking my arm carefully and examining it. "That looks bad."

"No, it just stings a lot." I winced, taking back my arm. "The rain is just mixing with my blood and making it look like more."

Suddenly a large rough hand closed gently around my wrist and I turned to see Inuyasha. His expression was unreadable but his eyes held an obvious measure of concern. "Hi…" I began slowly, but he cut me off.

"We should get that patched up."

Sango seemed worried, and stepped between us instantly. "It's ok, Inuyasha. It was an accident, I'll take care of it."

Inuyasha shook his head, instructing me to hold my wrist higher so less blood would flow to it. "No, you stay here and finish up, I'll take Kagome to clean this up."

I smiled, liking this behavior. I thought he would snap at me for being clumsy, but there was no sign of him being mad or even annoyed.

"Ok…" Sango uttered, clearly surprised herself. I shrugged at her as Inuyasha led me away, holding out his hand so the rain could wash my blood from his skin before stuffing them both in his pockets.

***

-The Grave Robber-

~~~

It was my sophomore year in college, and it was a Thursday night, the only night of the week we had to ourselves. Every other evening one or both of us had either some commitment, or had to spend hours in the library doing homework. Both of us were so devoted to achieving our goals that sometimes it was hard to find time to just be with each other, but we made it work.

Kikyou rummaged through the fridge, selecting various vegetables and tossing them over her shoulder for me to catch and arrange them on the cutting board. We decided to make dinner ourselves that night, instead of going out like we usually did. I whipped out a knife, twirling it once before poising my wrist to slice up a carrot.

"Show-off," she teased, coming up behind me and sliding her slender arms around my waist. "I'll do that. You take out the trash."

I looked over my shoulder at her skeptically. "Are you sure?" Usually, because of her condition, Kikyou avoided dealing with anything sharp.

She nodded, releasing me and nudging me away from the counter with her hip. "Yup, I can manage."

I gave her one last testing glance before kissing her on the cheek and grabbing the trash, heading for the door of the small apartment we shared.

I was just about to reach for the doorknob when I head her hiss in pain, releasing the knife and letting it clatter to the floor. Fuck, already?!

I sighed, dropping the trash and turning back around, rubbing my forehead tiredly. "Are you alright? Did you cut yourself?"

She answered my question in affirmative by racing away, locking herself in the bathroom. Great, just fucking great, another Thursday night down the drain. I grabbed our coats and my car keys, calmly walking across the room to lean against the bathroom door. "You know," I said quietly. "I offered to do it for you. This is the last time I let you 'manage.' I'm fucking tired of this, Kikyou."

I moved away from the door and she came storming out, several layers of toilet paper wrapped around her hand. "Well, I'm sorry I'm not perfect, Inuyasha," she snapped, shrugging into the coat I was holding for her.

I threw on my own coat, rolling my eyes. "That's not what I said, but can you blame me for being irritated?"

"Can you blame me for wanting to make dinner for my boyfriend like a normal woman?" she yelled back, glaring daggers at me.

My shoulders slumped at that. I shouldn't have been so harsh - it wasn't her fault. "I'm sorry…" I mumbled. I reached out to catch her wrist to pull her into a hug, but my hand slipped away, causing me to glance down at it curiously. My fingertips were covered with a slimy yellowish filmy substance, and its strong smell reminded me of my dreaded high school biology class. "What's this?" I inquired as we exited the apartment, locking it behind us. "Is this some balm you put on it? It stinks." I wrinkled my nose, chasing after her as she fled down the stairwell.

"It's nothing," she called back coldly. "Take me to Kaede, now."

Wiping my hand on the front of my pants, I followed her to my car. This is what we do our nights alone. Not a candlelight dinner, not making love by the fire… no, none of that. Thursday nights at baba's. Fucking romantic.

~~~

I rifled through the cabinets in the first aid tent while Kagome rinsed her wound, a comfortable silence settling between us. I couldn't explain my actions now, but when I'd smelled the first metallic hint of her blood before I was on my feet. For some reason the thought of her hurt upset me… it upset me a lot.

I frowned, pulling out the supplies I would need, troubled by my thoughts. I was not surprised by Sango's reaction. I rarely showed even that level of concern for anyone, let alone someone I'd only known for a few days. I wondered if she would pick on me later about it, and I began to formulate excuses in my mind, when I head the faucet turn off, my attention drawn back to Kagome.

She smiled brilliantly at me, and I couldn't help but smile slightly back, bowing my head so my bangs could conceal the happiness I knew that smile of hers reflected in my eyes. "Thanks for doing this," she said softly, holding out her arm for me.

I poured a little disinfectant on a cotton ball and began to dress her wound. It really didn't look so bad now that the blood had been washed away. "Sure."

She didn't say anything for a while, but then a rush of nervous words tumbled out of her mouth. "I'm really sorry about this, I'm not usually this clumsy, I guess it was just the-"

"It's ok," I shrugged, tying the ends of the gauze and reaching for the athletic tape. "Accidents happen." I was just as surprised by my own words as she seemed to be. Instantly berating myself, I held the gauze in place with one hand and ripped a piece of tape with my teeth. What was wrong with being nice? It's not like I was a complete asshole. I secured the patch with the tape and nodded once in approval. "That should do it."

***

-The Tree Hugger-

I sat up in bed, unable to sleep with the bright, silvery light of the moon washing over me through the screened window next to my bed. It was my habit to stay up on clear nights, staring at the sky for hours. It had a very calming effect on me, and I somehow managed to find solace in the peace of the night.

I smiled slightly when I caught sight of my neatly bandaged arm. He had been so careful with me, displaying tenderness I didn't know he was capable of. I chided myself for assuming that he was so one-sided. I had seen more of people in my life than I would have liked, and it did not become me to be so uncharacteristically naïve.

I swung my feet over the edge of my cot, deciding to take a short walk. I knew I really should have been sleeping, I had another full day of work the following day, but I was restless. So, pulling on some jeans under the oversized shirt I slept in, and slipping on my sandals, I lifted the flap of my tent and stepped outside.

The air was crisp, but warm enough to go without a jacket, and the storm had left not a cloud behind in the sky. I turned my face up to take in the expanse of midnight blue studded with stars, and I began to walk.

Pretty soon I found myself in a clearing down by where we were digging. It was beautiful, with no trees obstructing my view of the sky. The tall grass, still wet from the earlier rain, licked at my ankles. I paused, glancing down from the sky to see that I was not the only one enjoying the night.

I approached Inuyasha timidly, advancing until I stood beside his reclined figure. He was lying on his back, his arms folded to pillow his head and his eyes lazily half open. I knew he saw me, but he said nothing. Finally, I spoke, but very softly. It seemed the night was so still that too much noise would scare it away, send it dashing into the woods like a frightened fawn. "Is there room for one more?"

He didn't even turn his head, just patted the ground beside him. Careful not to sit on the long silver hair laid out beneath him, I slouched down near his hip, hugging my legs against my chest and resting my chin on my knees. "So, what are you thinking about?"

He looked thoughtful, eventually settling on an answer. "I'm wishing."

"Wishing?"

"Wishing on stars."

"I didn't think you were that type."

He laughed, his eyes creasing at the corners. "What gave you that idea? I'm a guy who spends his days looking for a magic gem. If I'm not 'that type,' then who is?"

I smiled, and his eyes flickered over to mine to catch my expression before moving back to the sky as he continued. "When I was really young, I used to wish on stars all the time."

I tried not to look at him too intently, out of fear that I might scare him out of being so open with me.

"But it never seemed to work… so I decided to look for something real, something tangible, something I could hold in my hand."

"The Shikon no Tama."

He nodded slightly, and I allowed my thirsty eyes to follow the strong slant of his jaw, the his numerously pierced right ear and over his silver hair as it shimmered in the moonlight, finally settling on his fierce eyes, which were at the softest I had seen them yet. "You got it." He sighed, turning his face towards me, and I blushed, looking away quickly. "So," he said. "When did you first know you wanted to find the Shikon?"

"When my mom told me the story for the first time," I replied instantly. "I knew right away. I just… knew." Actually, that was the truth. For several years, finding the Shikon no Tama had been my dream, but dreams change… people change.

This seemed to interest him, and he perked up, looking at me curiously. "Did your mom tell you a lot of stories?"

I nodded enthusiastically, smiling at the thought. "So many, more than I will ever remember."

"My mom died giving birth to me," he said quietly. "And my dad was a cop who was killed on the job. I lived with my older brother who… is not much of a storyteller."

I stopped myself before I let out a coo of sympathy, and before I could run my hands soothingly though his incredibly soft looking hair.

"How about you tell me one."

I looked at him incredulously. Was this Inuyasha? The same asshole that barked orders at everyone all day? Who smiled little and laughed less? Who… treated my wounds so carefully? His face was unreadable, once again turned skyward.

"A story?"

"Yes."

"What about?"

He shrugged a little. "I don't care, anything."

For a moment, I felt like Wendy, telling a story to a very lost little boy. Smiling at that, I searched my surroundings for some inspiration, my attention drawn once more to the heavens. "Alright," I said finally. "I'll tell you the story of Artemis, since there seems to be an Artemis moon tonight." I licked my lips, trying to recall the details of the tale. "Artemis was a Greek goddess, the daughter of Zeus and Leto. She lived on Mt. Olympus and was a master archer. She had the best marksmanship in the land, and everyone knew it. See how the moon is just a sliver of a crescent tonight? It's called an Artemis moon because it looks like the shape of her great bow. She was also amazingly pure. She was so pure that she protected undefiled girls everywhere, and could purify evil within her range. She had no tolerance for perversion, and especially despised peeping toms."

"Keh," Inuyasha smirked. "It doesn't sound like she would have liked Miroku very much."

I laughed. "No, she wouldn't have. But he would have loved her. She was remarkably beautiful, and broke many hearts when she took an oath to remain a virgin forever." I pointed to a group of stars to our left. "See those stars there?" Inuyasha's eyes followed my fingers obediently. "That's Orion. See, there's his belt, and his shoulders, and his knees… and those constellations next to him, those are his hunting dogs, Canis Major and Canis Minor. Anyway, Orion was a great hunter, son of Poseidon, one of the most powerful gods, and Euryale, a lowly gorgon. Because Orion was not a full blooded god, he never quite fit in where he wanted to." Inuyasha seemed oddly effected by this, but I didn't give it much thought and continued. "He met Artemis and she was kind to him despite his being half-blooded, and he began to follow her. It was not long before he fell in love.

Although Artemis was sworn to celibacy, she could not help but fall in love with Orion as well. For a time, they were very happy together. However, one night, while Orion was out swimming, Apollo, the sun god, approached Artemis. He was jealous of how much time she was spending with Orion."

I paused, glancing down at Inuyasha as the end of the story came rushing back to me. He seemed completely engrossed in what I was saying, and I cursed myself for choosing such a depressing story to tell him. I considered changing the ending, but I had a feeling he would catch on, so I plowed through.

"Apollo pointed to something bobbing far out to sea, and insisted that Artemis could not hit it with her arrows. Never one to pass up on defending her honor, Artemis picked up her bow and took aim, loosing an arrow that hit her target with expert precision.

Smirking to himself, Apollo fled the scene, leaving Artemis to find Orion's dead body washed up on the shore, alone with the realization that she had caused his death. Her target had been Orion's head! Apollo had tricked Artemis, using her own pride to destroy her lover. If Apollo had not been jealous, if Artemis had not been so quick to bristle at the challenge, she would have lived happily ever after, side by side with Orion."

We were both silent for a while, the tension we had been free of so briefly, setting back in with a vengeance. "Wow," he breathed. "Sucks to be Orion."

I nodded, staring down at my feet. We were both thinking about our own lives, our own problems, our own losses, but tonight, in some weird way… we were connected by them. "Sucks to be Artemis, too."

^_^ Big thanks to my marvelous copy editor, The Angel Lilith, as well as VitaniFyreWolf and Himiko. *Muah* Suggestions, comments, and criticism are appreciated!