InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Mating Season ❯ The Stranger ( Chapter 25 )
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
By: SplendentGoddess 
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Hentai / Drama / Adventure | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 03.15.2006 | Updated On: 07.17.2008 | Pages: 3 | Words: 3.1K | Visits: 13.4K | Status: Completed
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Hentai / Drama / Adventure | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 03.15.2006 | Updated On: 07.17.2008 | Pages: 3 | Words: 3.1K | Visits: 13.4K | Status: Completed
Blanket Disclaimer:
Inuyasha, and the characters therein, are the property of Rumiko Takahashi. I am in no way affiliated with Takahashi, or VIZ Productions.
========================
Chap ter 25 – The Stranger
It was well passed dawn before the stranger finally began to stir. They had concluded before hand, based upon his dress, and the katana he still gripped firmly, that he was a warrior of sorts. This was confirmed when while treating and dressing his wounds, Miroku found the remains of a broken Samurai mask. Now, the man was beginning to awaken, so they all sat around eagerly awaiting the answers they were anticipating from the questions they had prepared.
Opening his eyes, he was greeted first by the kind face of Kagome, who was in the process of wiping his brow of sweat.
“M’lady…” they all heard him mumble, just before he gently reached up, clasping loosely her wrist in his hand, as he sat up with her assistance.
Though Inuyasha growled low in his throat, it was at a level only Kagome and Shippo could hear, and he made no move otherwise to cease the friendly nature in which the man had touched his mate, considering as soon as he had finished sitting up, he released her hand of his own accord.
“Do you feel all right? Do you need something to drink?” Kagome asked.
“I think I could certainly use some sake, but water will suffice.” he managed to utter behind the mildest of chuckles.
That earned a mild chuckle from Miroku in return, who spoke up with “Might we ask your name, Sir?”
“My apologies Houshi-sama…” the man began, “I am called Hokori.”
“My name is Kagome,” Kagome said, as she handed Hokori a small cup of water, “And this is Miroku, Sango, Inuyasha, Shippo and Kirara.” she introduced in the order in which they were all sitting around him in their semi-circle.
His eyes widened as he stared at Inuyasha, and then his glance caught Shippo and Kirara.
“I remember you…” he said in nearly a whisper, addressing Inuyasha “…but not the little ones.” he added. Turning back to face the Buddhist monk and the Taijiya, he asked, more baffled than anything else really, “You travel with three youkai?”
Inuyasha began to growl low in the pit of his chest again, but Kagome smoothed things over with a gentle hand placed upon his shoulder, which the man missed as his focus was on Sango as she took the cue to answer his question.
“We do. We all share a mutual enemy, and have banded together in our efforts to defeat that enemy.” Seeing the man nod in something like mild understanding, Sango took a small breath and added, “We have become like family.” deciding to leave it at that. She did not feel it was necessary to reveal too much about their situation to this stranger, yet at the same time, she wished to make it perfectly clear that they did not consider the youkai beneath them, as servants, nor did the youkai feel that way regarding the humans of the group.
Inuyasha nodded his approval of Sango’s explanation, and promptly spoke up with his list of questions for the man.
“Who are you, where are you from, and where were you heading when the mushi-youkai attacked you?”
Hokori went on to explain that he was a surviving warrior from a recent battle in which most his comrades had fallen, and that he had been wandering the countryside in hopes of finding fellow countrymen that may have survived as well. After a brief pause in which to allow his companions to register that first bit of information, he continued…“I was heading west after leaving a trader village to the north, and was near the river when I suddenly heard the commotion behind me.” He added that when he’d turned around, he’d been greeted with quite an unholy sight, nearly a dozen or more lower insect-youkai, all heading in his general direction from the hills to the east. Then, they spotted him. “I fought off as many as I could, then I ran. Coming to the river, I took to the water. I followed the current south, but they followed me. I don’t think they were after me in the beginning, but simply thought that I would make a nice snack once they saw me.”
Inuyasha nodded at this information, then asked his next question. “Can you take us to this village, and the path that you followed?”
Kagome elaborated when the man’s eyes began to widen in mild apprehension. “We believe those youkai were connected to the youkai we seek, and if we can pick up their trail, it might give us a lead.”
Hokori looked thoughtful for a moment, and slowly nodding, he looked into Kagome’s eyes as he muttered… “I owe you all my life. I shall do whatever I can to assist you with your mission.”
“Then it’s settled.” Miroku chimed up. “We head out right after breakfast.”
Hokori nodded towards whom he believed to be the leader of their group.
“I’ll build up the fire.” Kagome mumbled more to herself, as Inuyasha and Shippo left the group to go catch some fish in the nearby river.
“I’ll gather more wood for you.” Sango added, when she noted the fairly small pile of sticks that remained.
“How did you ever manage to negotiate the cooperation of that youkai?” Hokori asked Miroku, gesturing in the direction in which Inuyasha had disappeared.
Miroku choked in mild surprise at the man’s question, but briefly considered the reality that their group was rather unusual. “Actually…” he answered slowly, gesturing towards Kagome, who was doing her best to ignore the harsh tone of man’s words, as she also understood how their group must seem to outsiders. “Inuyasha and Kagome-sama were the ones who first started traveling together. Shippo, myself, and Sango, all joined them on their quest later on, as we crossed paths and discovered that we shared the same foe.”
Kagome looked up from the fire to gaze towards Hokori with a brief nod and a small smile, before once again concentrating on arranging the firewood in such a way that it would soon be blazing. She was pulled from her deliberate distraction, however, when she heard his next question, addressed to her.
“Kagome-sama…” he began, his voice recognizably shaky with some sort of mixed confusion and uncertainty, “You are a miko, are you not?”
“Yes…I am a miko.” she answered, as she sat back from the fire to await Sango’s return with additional wood.
“Doesn’t such training forbid your interaction with youkai in a personal manner?” (He had no idea just how personal their interaction actually was.)
Earning herself quite a reminder of the closed-mindedness of most people in this era, she fought to keep her temper in check, as she answered coolly...
“Fortunately, I was spared from such narrow-minded thinking throughout my childhood.”
The man seemed mildly offended, but she didn’t care. “My sensei, Kaede-sama, a miko whose village rests further south from here, has come to understand that the level of good or evil in any specific being is determined solely by that individual’s heart and character, and not in the nature of their blood and body.”
Well spoken, thought the monk who sat by her side.
Unfortunately, the man seemed a little on the dense side, which wasn’t necessarily unexpected when you consider the life of a feudal era samurai, and how he had obviously been trained from a tender age to believe that all youkai were evil.
“But surely you must realize…” he damn near lectured, as if for her own good, “…that you are putting your spiritual purity at risk with such familiar conditions.”
Miroku lifted an eyebrow at that, and for Kagome’s sake, took it upon himself to respond with “How do you figure?” Hokori turned to acknowledge the monk as Miroku continued to explain “I too was not raised to fear and hate all youkai at sight, and as a result, have a dear old friend who lives back with my sensei, who happens to be a raccoon-dog.” Hokori raised his eyebrows in surprise at this revelation. “And as you can plainly see…” Miroku concluded, “…both Kagome-sama and myself have retained our spiritual abilities.”
“Indeed….” Hokori mumbled, as if truly pondering this revelation. “Still…” he continued in a small voice, nearly pleading with Miroku as he spoke, “You must protect her virtue. Most youkai would love nothing more than to take her purity, as it would destroy her.”
By that point, Kagome had stood up and was fixing her gaze down the path Inuyasha and Shippo had taken, willing them to return. At Hokori’s last words, she shook her head while rolling her eyes. She didn’t know whether to be offended, or simply laugh at the man’s stupidity. Still, she realized, it was a common consensus among the humans of the era she’d chosen to call home, so she supposed she’d better get used to the static her family was bound to receive from time to time.
Miroku dropped his jaw slightly at their guest’s bluntness, but he too found that his blatant inaccuracies were more amusing than anything else.
“I assure you,” Miroku finally decided upon, “that Kagome-sama is more than capable of protecting herself.”
“A miko who travels with, and hunts youkai, should have someone assigned to protect her.” Hokori stated in such a fashion as if to suggest that as payment for their saving his life, that he was offering himself in the role of said protector.
“I protect Kagome.” he suddenly heard stated rather clearly by the red-clad youkai that had suddenly returned to their group, carrying several fish, already gutted and prepared for cooking.
Kagome ran towards him eagerly and took the fish from his grasp. Before anything further could be said on the matter, Sango emerged from the other side of the forest, arms loaded with firewood. Sitting back down, Hokori stared in mild shock as Kagome and Inuyasha, together, skewered and cooked the fish, sitting rather closely to one another as they did so. His eyes widened further when Shippo crawled into Kagome’s lap to bask in the warmth of the fire while the fish were being cooked. Kirara had also crawled into Sango’s lap, but he could see how a lower neko-youkai like that could simply be considered a pet, whereas the more humanoid kitsune was obviously more intelligent, like a child. Just as he was managing to accept that the miko could care that much for the kitsune, being that he was a child, he saw what he considered the final straw when the adult youkai beside her reached down into her lap to “innocently” pat the kid on the head, his tainted claws mere inches from the miko’s virtue.
Bolting to his feet Hokori glared at Inuyasha, and demanded in a rather forceful tone “Youkai, you will not be so familiar with the miko. Not in my presence.” In a twisted sort of way, it was actually noble, the fool obviously having no idea…about anything really…but doing what his training had taught him to believe was right.
Bolting to his feet in turn, Inuyasha glared Hokori down in the same fashion, before rather boldly proclaiming… “I can be as “familiar” with my mate as I like!”
“Yo...your...m…ma...mate..???̶ 1;
“Was that wise?” Miroku whispered to Sango.
“Probably not.” Sango whispered back.
Kagome flashed them a shut up look, which reminded them both just how good her hearing was now.
“How dare you taint this miko with your youkai filth?!” the man demanded, not truly yelling, but speaking rather forcefully all the same.
“Does she look tainted to you?” Inuyasha asked back, sarcastically. “In case you were too weak from blood loss to notice, she purified quite a few of those bugs last night.” Pausing, he threw on a mask that meant to suggest he were contemplating something, before speaking again. “I’d say…” he began, his voice calmed through Kagome’s presence, “That if anything, my youkai blood has made her stronger.”
Flabbergasted, Hokori stepped back to take it all in. It was true, wasn’t it? She hadn’t lost her miko powers. But did that mean that everything he’d ever been taught about youkai was…a lie? Finally, managing to find his composure, he humbled his eyes, as he bowed towards the pair ever so slightly.
“My apologies…” they heard him mumble. “I am a product of my teachings, but perhaps you spoke truthfully, Kagome-sama, when you said that you were fortunate to have been spared such lessons.”
Kagome bowed softly in return.
“Inuyasha-sama,” Hokori spoke next. “Please forgive my foolishness. I meant no offence, but only sought to protect your miko from what I had perceived as a threat, as per my duty to the sword requires.”
Surprising most present, Inuyasha nodded his head slightly in return, and said “You wanted to protect Kagome from harm, I can’t fault you for that.” Glancing sideways at his mate, his smile saddened, as he said “Most would want to cause her harm.”
Nodding in understanding, Hokori accepted the fish Kagome handed him now that they were ready. Breakfast was rather silent, and afterwards, Hokori excused himself into the woods briefly. While the others all packed up and put out the fire, Kagome excused herself as well, heading towards the edge of the stream to clean up, in the opposite direction in which Hokori had gone.
Kneeling by the edge of the water, Kagome suddenly felt a familiar presence approach from behind. Turning her gaze casually, she saw the friend she thought of as a sister.
“Hey Sango…” she greeted casually.
“Kagome, are you all right?” Sango asked, concern present in her voice and scent alike.
“Who me?” Kagome asked with mild sarcasm. “I’m fine. Takes more than one narrow minded idiot to get me down.”
Sango nodded in what appeared to be understanding, before uttering her next sentence. “It would probably be wise…” she said hesitantly, “…when we reach the village, for you and Inuyasha to avoid too much physical contact.” she expressed quietly.
Kagome’s eyes widen in confusion, as she asked “What?! Why?!”
Sighing, Sango set herself down next to the younger woman. “He was ready to challenge Inuyasha back there, I’m just afraid for you. If others found out, and didn’t like it, they could group together-” She was cut off by her friend’s gesture of a raised hand.
“I know, I know…” she sighed. “Inuyasha confessed he’d had concerns about the villagers back home, but they all accepted us. I guess I just forget sometimes that most people in this era won’t.”
“We all know that Inuyasha loves you…” Sango continued, “But for his sake, and your own safety, you two should avoid revealing the nature of your relationship when in the company of strangers.”
Sighing, and deciding she didn’t like the idea at all, even if she did realize her friend’s concerns were grounded, she nodded finally, and murmured softly “I suppose you’re right.”
“Well,” Sango added, standing up, “I’d better get back, I’ll let you get cleaned up.”
“Thanks…” Kagome muttered, suddenly feeling rather dirty.
When Kagome returned she found Sango and Miroku talking casually amongst themselves, and Inuyasha and Hokori both up and in postures of alertness as they awaited Kagome’s return. Picking up her backpack, she slung it casually off one shoulder, the weight of the thing no longer too much for her to bear.
“Shall we?” she asked nonchalantly, with a fake smile. Hokori turned and lead the group, heading towards the river, which he then proceeded to follow upstream towards the point where he was joined by the youkai who had chased him. Inuyasha had placed himself in the second position, but when he noticed his mate dragging her feet, he slowed and allowed Sango and Miroku to pass him up, as he waited for Kagome to approach.
“What’s wrong?” he whispered as he wrapped an arm around her waist.
He was mildly shocked when she stiffened under his touch, though she didn’t push him away.
“Shippo, why don’t you go on up ahead and make sure Miroku doesn’t grope Sango.” she whispered
Though the kit wasn’t that naïve, he nevertheless happily bounced from her shoulder calling “Okay…” as he ran towards the others.
“Well?” Inuyasha asked, once they were alone.
“Sango thinks it would be wise to conceal the fact that we’re mated when we enter the village.”
Inuyasha was slightly confused, wondering when Sango and Kagome had had a moment to speak in private, but he nonetheless absorbed what it was she had said, and answered with “She’s right, it probably would be wise.” But hearing the hitch in his mate’s voice prompted him to add with a grin “But I ain’t all that wise.”
She glanced at him in understanding, that he was stating he wouldn’t conceal their relationship, unless it was what she truly wanted. She nodded slowly, and said “It’s probably for the best.” He knew she wasn’t ashamed of him; he knew it was out of concern for their safety, so reluctantly, he agreed.
Inuyasha, and the characters therein, are the property of Rumiko Takahashi. I am in no way affiliated with Takahashi, or VIZ Productions.
========================
Chap ter 25 – The Stranger
It was well passed dawn before the stranger finally began to stir. They had concluded before hand, based upon his dress, and the katana he still gripped firmly, that he was a warrior of sorts. This was confirmed when while treating and dressing his wounds, Miroku found the remains of a broken Samurai mask. Now, the man was beginning to awaken, so they all sat around eagerly awaiting the answers they were anticipating from the questions they had prepared.
Opening his eyes, he was greeted first by the kind face of Kagome, who was in the process of wiping his brow of sweat.
“M’lady…” they all heard him mumble, just before he gently reached up, clasping loosely her wrist in his hand, as he sat up with her assistance.
Though Inuyasha growled low in his throat, it was at a level only Kagome and Shippo could hear, and he made no move otherwise to cease the friendly nature in which the man had touched his mate, considering as soon as he had finished sitting up, he released her hand of his own accord.
“Do you feel all right? Do you need something to drink?” Kagome asked.
“I think I could certainly use some sake, but water will suffice.” he managed to utter behind the mildest of chuckles.
That earned a mild chuckle from Miroku in return, who spoke up with “Might we ask your name, Sir?”
“My apologies Houshi-sama…” the man began, “I am called Hokori.”
“My name is Kagome,” Kagome said, as she handed Hokori a small cup of water, “And this is Miroku, Sango, Inuyasha, Shippo and Kirara.” she introduced in the order in which they were all sitting around him in their semi-circle.
His eyes widened as he stared at Inuyasha, and then his glance caught Shippo and Kirara.
“I remember you…” he said in nearly a whisper, addressing Inuyasha “…but not the little ones.” he added. Turning back to face the Buddhist monk and the Taijiya, he asked, more baffled than anything else really, “You travel with three youkai?”
Inuyasha began to growl low in the pit of his chest again, but Kagome smoothed things over with a gentle hand placed upon his shoulder, which the man missed as his focus was on Sango as she took the cue to answer his question.
“We do. We all share a mutual enemy, and have banded together in our efforts to defeat that enemy.” Seeing the man nod in something like mild understanding, Sango took a small breath and added, “We have become like family.” deciding to leave it at that. She did not feel it was necessary to reveal too much about their situation to this stranger, yet at the same time, she wished to make it perfectly clear that they did not consider the youkai beneath them, as servants, nor did the youkai feel that way regarding the humans of the group.
Inuyasha nodded his approval of Sango’s explanation, and promptly spoke up with his list of questions for the man.
“Who are you, where are you from, and where were you heading when the mushi-youkai attacked you?”
Hokori went on to explain that he was a surviving warrior from a recent battle in which most his comrades had fallen, and that he had been wandering the countryside in hopes of finding fellow countrymen that may have survived as well. After a brief pause in which to allow his companions to register that first bit of information, he continued…“I was heading west after leaving a trader village to the north, and was near the river when I suddenly heard the commotion behind me.” He added that when he’d turned around, he’d been greeted with quite an unholy sight, nearly a dozen or more lower insect-youkai, all heading in his general direction from the hills to the east. Then, they spotted him. “I fought off as many as I could, then I ran. Coming to the river, I took to the water. I followed the current south, but they followed me. I don’t think they were after me in the beginning, but simply thought that I would make a nice snack once they saw me.”
Inuyasha nodded at this information, then asked his next question. “Can you take us to this village, and the path that you followed?”
Kagome elaborated when the man’s eyes began to widen in mild apprehension. “We believe those youkai were connected to the youkai we seek, and if we can pick up their trail, it might give us a lead.”
Hokori looked thoughtful for a moment, and slowly nodding, he looked into Kagome’s eyes as he muttered… “I owe you all my life. I shall do whatever I can to assist you with your mission.”
“Then it’s settled.” Miroku chimed up. “We head out right after breakfast.”
Hokori nodded towards whom he believed to be the leader of their group.
“I’ll build up the fire.” Kagome mumbled more to herself, as Inuyasha and Shippo left the group to go catch some fish in the nearby river.
“I’ll gather more wood for you.” Sango added, when she noted the fairly small pile of sticks that remained.
“How did you ever manage to negotiate the cooperation of that youkai?” Hokori asked Miroku, gesturing in the direction in which Inuyasha had disappeared.
Miroku choked in mild surprise at the man’s question, but briefly considered the reality that their group was rather unusual. “Actually…” he answered slowly, gesturing towards Kagome, who was doing her best to ignore the harsh tone of man’s words, as she also understood how their group must seem to outsiders. “Inuyasha and Kagome-sama were the ones who first started traveling together. Shippo, myself, and Sango, all joined them on their quest later on, as we crossed paths and discovered that we shared the same foe.”
Kagome looked up from the fire to gaze towards Hokori with a brief nod and a small smile, before once again concentrating on arranging the firewood in such a way that it would soon be blazing. She was pulled from her deliberate distraction, however, when she heard his next question, addressed to her.
“Kagome-sama…” he began, his voice recognizably shaky with some sort of mixed confusion and uncertainty, “You are a miko, are you not?”
“Yes…I am a miko.” she answered, as she sat back from the fire to await Sango’s return with additional wood.
“Doesn’t such training forbid your interaction with youkai in a personal manner?” (He had no idea just how personal their interaction actually was.)
Earning herself quite a reminder of the closed-mindedness of most people in this era, she fought to keep her temper in check, as she answered coolly...
“Fortunately, I was spared from such narrow-minded thinking throughout my childhood.”
The man seemed mildly offended, but she didn’t care. “My sensei, Kaede-sama, a miko whose village rests further south from here, has come to understand that the level of good or evil in any specific being is determined solely by that individual’s heart and character, and not in the nature of their blood and body.”
Well spoken, thought the monk who sat by her side.
Unfortunately, the man seemed a little on the dense side, which wasn’t necessarily unexpected when you consider the life of a feudal era samurai, and how he had obviously been trained from a tender age to believe that all youkai were evil.
“But surely you must realize…” he damn near lectured, as if for her own good, “…that you are putting your spiritual purity at risk with such familiar conditions.”
Miroku lifted an eyebrow at that, and for Kagome’s sake, took it upon himself to respond with “How do you figure?” Hokori turned to acknowledge the monk as Miroku continued to explain “I too was not raised to fear and hate all youkai at sight, and as a result, have a dear old friend who lives back with my sensei, who happens to be a raccoon-dog.” Hokori raised his eyebrows in surprise at this revelation. “And as you can plainly see…” Miroku concluded, “…both Kagome-sama and myself have retained our spiritual abilities.”
“Indeed….” Hokori mumbled, as if truly pondering this revelation. “Still…” he continued in a small voice, nearly pleading with Miroku as he spoke, “You must protect her virtue. Most youkai would love nothing more than to take her purity, as it would destroy her.”
By that point, Kagome had stood up and was fixing her gaze down the path Inuyasha and Shippo had taken, willing them to return. At Hokori’s last words, she shook her head while rolling her eyes. She didn’t know whether to be offended, or simply laugh at the man’s stupidity. Still, she realized, it was a common consensus among the humans of the era she’d chosen to call home, so she supposed she’d better get used to the static her family was bound to receive from time to time.
Miroku dropped his jaw slightly at their guest’s bluntness, but he too found that his blatant inaccuracies were more amusing than anything else.
“I assure you,” Miroku finally decided upon, “that Kagome-sama is more than capable of protecting herself.”
“A miko who travels with, and hunts youkai, should have someone assigned to protect her.” Hokori stated in such a fashion as if to suggest that as payment for their saving his life, that he was offering himself in the role of said protector.
“I protect Kagome.” he suddenly heard stated rather clearly by the red-clad youkai that had suddenly returned to their group, carrying several fish, already gutted and prepared for cooking.
Kagome ran towards him eagerly and took the fish from his grasp. Before anything further could be said on the matter, Sango emerged from the other side of the forest, arms loaded with firewood. Sitting back down, Hokori stared in mild shock as Kagome and Inuyasha, together, skewered and cooked the fish, sitting rather closely to one another as they did so. His eyes widened further when Shippo crawled into Kagome’s lap to bask in the warmth of the fire while the fish were being cooked. Kirara had also crawled into Sango’s lap, but he could see how a lower neko-youkai like that could simply be considered a pet, whereas the more humanoid kitsune was obviously more intelligent, like a child. Just as he was managing to accept that the miko could care that much for the kitsune, being that he was a child, he saw what he considered the final straw when the adult youkai beside her reached down into her lap to “innocently” pat the kid on the head, his tainted claws mere inches from the miko’s virtue.
Bolting to his feet Hokori glared at Inuyasha, and demanded in a rather forceful tone “Youkai, you will not be so familiar with the miko. Not in my presence.” In a twisted sort of way, it was actually noble, the fool obviously having no idea…about anything really…but doing what his training had taught him to believe was right.
Bolting to his feet in turn, Inuyasha glared Hokori down in the same fashion, before rather boldly proclaiming… “I can be as “familiar” with my mate as I like!”
“Yo...your...m…ma...mate..???̶ 1;
“Was that wise?” Miroku whispered to Sango.
“Probably not.” Sango whispered back.
Kagome flashed them a shut up look, which reminded them both just how good her hearing was now.
“How dare you taint this miko with your youkai filth?!” the man demanded, not truly yelling, but speaking rather forcefully all the same.
“Does she look tainted to you?” Inuyasha asked back, sarcastically. “In case you were too weak from blood loss to notice, she purified quite a few of those bugs last night.” Pausing, he threw on a mask that meant to suggest he were contemplating something, before speaking again. “I’d say…” he began, his voice calmed through Kagome’s presence, “That if anything, my youkai blood has made her stronger.”
Flabbergasted, Hokori stepped back to take it all in. It was true, wasn’t it? She hadn’t lost her miko powers. But did that mean that everything he’d ever been taught about youkai was…a lie? Finally, managing to find his composure, he humbled his eyes, as he bowed towards the pair ever so slightly.
“My apologies…” they heard him mumble. “I am a product of my teachings, but perhaps you spoke truthfully, Kagome-sama, when you said that you were fortunate to have been spared such lessons.”
Kagome bowed softly in return.
“Inuyasha-sama,” Hokori spoke next. “Please forgive my foolishness. I meant no offence, but only sought to protect your miko from what I had perceived as a threat, as per my duty to the sword requires.”
Surprising most present, Inuyasha nodded his head slightly in return, and said “You wanted to protect Kagome from harm, I can’t fault you for that.” Glancing sideways at his mate, his smile saddened, as he said “Most would want to cause her harm.”
Nodding in understanding, Hokori accepted the fish Kagome handed him now that they were ready. Breakfast was rather silent, and afterwards, Hokori excused himself into the woods briefly. While the others all packed up and put out the fire, Kagome excused herself as well, heading towards the edge of the stream to clean up, in the opposite direction in which Hokori had gone.
Kneeling by the edge of the water, Kagome suddenly felt a familiar presence approach from behind. Turning her gaze casually, she saw the friend she thought of as a sister.
“Hey Sango…” she greeted casually.
“Kagome, are you all right?” Sango asked, concern present in her voice and scent alike.
“Who me?” Kagome asked with mild sarcasm. “I’m fine. Takes more than one narrow minded idiot to get me down.”
Sango nodded in what appeared to be understanding, before uttering her next sentence. “It would probably be wise…” she said hesitantly, “…when we reach the village, for you and Inuyasha to avoid too much physical contact.” she expressed quietly.
Kagome’s eyes widen in confusion, as she asked “What?! Why?!”
Sighing, Sango set herself down next to the younger woman. “He was ready to challenge Inuyasha back there, I’m just afraid for you. If others found out, and didn’t like it, they could group together-” She was cut off by her friend’s gesture of a raised hand.
“I know, I know…” she sighed. “Inuyasha confessed he’d had concerns about the villagers back home, but they all accepted us. I guess I just forget sometimes that most people in this era won’t.”
“We all know that Inuyasha loves you…” Sango continued, “But for his sake, and your own safety, you two should avoid revealing the nature of your relationship when in the company of strangers.”
Sighing, and deciding she didn’t like the idea at all, even if she did realize her friend’s concerns were grounded, she nodded finally, and murmured softly “I suppose you’re right.”
“Well,” Sango added, standing up, “I’d better get back, I’ll let you get cleaned up.”
“Thanks…” Kagome muttered, suddenly feeling rather dirty.
When Kagome returned she found Sango and Miroku talking casually amongst themselves, and Inuyasha and Hokori both up and in postures of alertness as they awaited Kagome’s return. Picking up her backpack, she slung it casually off one shoulder, the weight of the thing no longer too much for her to bear.
“Shall we?” she asked nonchalantly, with a fake smile. Hokori turned and lead the group, heading towards the river, which he then proceeded to follow upstream towards the point where he was joined by the youkai who had chased him. Inuyasha had placed himself in the second position, but when he noticed his mate dragging her feet, he slowed and allowed Sango and Miroku to pass him up, as he waited for Kagome to approach.
“What’s wrong?” he whispered as he wrapped an arm around her waist.
He was mildly shocked when she stiffened under his touch, though she didn’t push him away.
“Shippo, why don’t you go on up ahead and make sure Miroku doesn’t grope Sango.” she whispered
Though the kit wasn’t that naïve, he nevertheless happily bounced from her shoulder calling “Okay…” as he ran towards the others.
“Well?” Inuyasha asked, once they were alone.
“Sango thinks it would be wise to conceal the fact that we’re mated when we enter the village.”
Inuyasha was slightly confused, wondering when Sango and Kagome had had a moment to speak in private, but he nonetheless absorbed what it was she had said, and answered with “She’s right, it probably would be wise.” But hearing the hitch in his mate’s voice prompted him to add with a grin “But I ain’t all that wise.”
She glanced at him in understanding, that he was stating he wouldn’t conceal their relationship, unless it was what she truly wanted. She nodded slowly, and said “It’s probably for the best.” He knew she wasn’t ashamed of him; he knew it was out of concern for their safety, so reluctantly, he agreed.