InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Savvy ❯ Chapter Sixteen ( Chapter 16 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

A/N: I finally slept! (I think someone laced my sweet tea...) But anyway, this would have been up sooner, except I couldn't figure out how to start it off. Oh, well, it's done now! This chapter is a little shorter than most, but I had to end it there before the next scene. It's also got some lyrics in it, and so will the next, but don't worry; I'm not turning this into a songfic. It's just that the next two songs are important to the plot, I think. I tried to keep the amount of lyrics in this chapter to a minimum, but the next chapter might have quite a bit more. Maybe even the whole song. Just bear with me; it should stop for awhile after that.

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"Cumbersome" Seven Mary Three

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Two weeks later...

As Rin navigated her car down the narrow street, she silently hoped Kagome's first acting class was over; there was no place to park at all.

Luck was on her side, and she watched as Kagome exited the door of the narrow brick building, chatting with a small group of people as she walked down the stairs, and waving good-bye before joining Rin in the car.

"Hey, who's the cutie?" Rin asked as she started to pull away.

"What?" Kagome glanced out the window at her classmates. "You mean Jonathan?"

"The tall one?"

"Yeah, that's Jonathan," Kagome replied, smiling. "He's my partner."

"Oh, really?" Rin sang, and Kagome rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, the teacher paired us all up, for when we act out scenes."

"Was it fun?"

"It was great, I can't wait until my next class. Thanks for coming to get me, by the way."

"I just still can't believe Inuyasha let me. He's been like your personal guard dog lately. I figured he'd call off band practice."

Kagome shifted in her seat. "Well, Kouga's only called twice since he showed up at the apartment that morning."

"So, he thinks Kouga's giving up?"

"No, but he thinks he'll be more careful from now on."

"Yeah, the creep's lucky he got away last time People don't just get up and walk away from falling out of second floor windows. Besides, he'd be pretty stupid to mess with you while you're with me, and Inuyasha knows that."

Kagome glanced over at her friend, confused. "What do you mean?"

"Well," Rin replied with a grin, "I'm Sesshoumaru's mate now. I'm sure Inuyasha's told you all about that."

"Well, he told me that once inuyoukai mate, it's forever, but that's really all he's said about it."

"He didn't tell you about anything else?" She sighed grimly. "I guess I could understand why he didn't, though."

Kagome looked out the passenger window. "Let me guess. Kikyou?"

"Well, he never actually asked Kikyou to be his mate, but he did tell her how it's done. She freaked, which honestly wasn't a big surprise to me."

"How it's done?" Kagome echoed.

"Yeah." Rin unbuttoned the collar of her dress shirt, pulling the fabric away from her shoulder. "Check it out."

Kagome leaned over, her brow furrowed. At first, she didn't see anything, but after a moment four very faint, silvery scars caught her attention. "What are those?"

"Mating marks," she replied, pulling her shirt back together. "All youkai have different mating rituals, but a lot of them mate for life."

"Inuyasha said something like that, about Kouga."

"Yeah. With wolf youkai, it's done through sex." Kagome could feel herself blushing as Rin continued. "Inuyoukai can have sex before they ever decide to take a mate, though. When they do decide on a mate, they mark them."

"Mark them? I mean, I saw yours, but I don't get it."

"What, the mark? Sesshoumaru bit me."

Kagome turned to gape at Rin. "He bit you?"

Rin giggled at Kagome's obvious shock. "Yeah."

"But didn't it... Didn't it hurt?

Rin shrugged. "Not so much."

"But I don't understand why he'd have to do that."

"Oh, there's all sorts of reasons for it. See, scent is very important to youkai, especially dogs. When I get home, Sesshoumaru will know exactly where I've been, and who I've been with. It works the same with other youkai. When they smell me, they know I'm Sesshoumaru's mate, and no one in their right mind would mess with Sesshy."

"Oh, okay. So, it's sort of a protection thing?"

Rin nodded. "Also, it makes sure I'll be with him forever." When Kagome didn't respond, Rin explained. "See, being human, I would have died long before Sesshoumaru. Now that we're mated, I'll live as long as he does."

Kagome stared at Rin in shock. "You mean, you won't die?"

"Well, I will eventually, but Sesshoumaru's still pretty young as far as youkai go." Rin laughed. "You look like you might blow a fuse over there, girl."

"Sorry," Kagome laughed weakly. "It's just, the scientist in me is trying to figure out how any of it could be possible."

"Oh, I wouldn't bother. There's all sorts of youkai doctors, and they've been researching it for decades, Sesshoumaru said. They think it might have something to do with DNA, but they're still stumped."

"There's youkai doctors?"

"Oh course, silly. Youkai have been repopulating ever since they learned how to conceal themselves."

"I guess it was a dumb question."

"Nah. I was a little like you when I found out." Rin pulled into the back lot of Savvy. "Well, here you are. I'd come up, but I have to go pick up dinner."

"Alright. I'll see you at the Christmas party?"

Rin smiled, nodding. "We'll be there."

"Okay. See ya!"

Letting herself in the back door, Kagome wished she hadn't missed the band practice. Kagura had agreed to let the band play at Savvy's annual Christmas party, and if they did well, she was planning on booking them once or month, or so. The guys were really excited about it.

Once she reached the second floor hall, Kagome saw Inuyasha door was standing open, and she peeked inside to see him on the couch, strumming his acoustic guitar. "Hey."

He looked up, his golden eyes almost seeming to glow in the dim light of his living room. "Hey. How was class?" he asked, and she could see his nose working. It made her think of what Rin had told her. Can he really tell all that just with his nose? she wondered. That's really amazing.

"It was good," she told him as she joined him on the couch. "Did practice go okay?"

"Yeah." His tone of his voice told her that either he was lying, or something else was wrong.

"I'm sorry I missed it."

He smiled slightly, still picking notes in a distracted sort of way. "It's not a big deal."

"Then, what else is on your mind?"

"What do you mean?"

She smiled in a knowing sort of way. "You just seem a little down."

He shook his head. "Not really. Just got some stuff on my mind."

"Do you want to talk about it? I'm a good listener."

"I know you are," he replied, not looking up as he continued to play. "It's just Miroku's got this friend that owns a coffee shop; one of those new age hippy places," he said with a scowl. "But the guy wants us to play a show sometime."

"Isn't that a good thing?"

"Well, it would be, except he just wants me and Miroku for an acoustic set. It would be great, because it's in Manhattan, but--"

"But they're not going to get a real show," Kagome supplied.

"Exactly."

"Well, think of it this way. If they like you, chances are they'll go see you somewhere else, with the whole band. Some of them might not like you, but you're going to have some that still will. You've got nothing to lose by doing it."

"I guess so," he said uncertainly. "I'm just not really into acoustic sets. It's a big difference, sitting there by yourself with a bunch of people just staring at you."

"So, you're nervous?"

"No."

Kagome smiled at his defensive tone. "Well, play me a song, then."

He looked up then, his eyes slightly wide. "What?"

"Play me a song," she repeated. "You didn't have any problem playing last time I watched you and Miroku. It won't be any different; just a few more people."

"I don't think fifty or more people is a few, Kagome."

"Well, then pretend there's fifty of me," she told him with a grin.

"Kami forbid," he whispered, smiling as she stuck her tongue out at him. "Fine, I'll play. What do you want to hear?"

"I don't care. Something you'll play if you decide to do the set, or whatever comes to mind."

Inuyasha looked thoughtful for a moment, his eyes roaming over her face before he nodded. "I know one."

"Good, let's hear it." She leaned back against the armrest, drawing her knees up to her chest.

Inuyasha began to play, and Kagome knew just by a few simple chords that it wasn't something he'd written, but she liked the sound of it.

"She calls me Goliath,
And I wear the David mask
I guess the stones are coming
Too fast for her now
You know, I'd like to believe
This nervousness will pass
All the stones that are thrown
Are building up a wall...

"I have become cumbersome to this world
I have become cumbersome to my girl..."

Kagome was listening attentively as he continued to the next verse, her head nodding a little to the music, and felt chills run through her when Inuyasha glanced up at her, their eyes meeting briefly.

"Too heavy, too light
Too black or too white
Too wrong or too white
Today or tonight
Cumbersome
Too rich or too poor
She's wanting me less
And I'm wanting her more
The bitter taste is cumbersome..."

When the song ended moments later, Kagome let out a long breath. "That was... really good," she told him. "You don't have anything to worry about."

"Never said I was worried," he replied quickly, and she rolled her eyes. "Besides, it'll be another month or so before we even think about doing it. We've got the party downstairs first."

"Did you practice any new songs today?" she asked him.

"One," he replied with a quick nod, "But I don't think we'll play it yet. Nathan and Miroku keep arguing over the bass line."

"I was thinking of inviting a couple of people from class to the party," she told him.

"Really?" he asked, and she noticed he looked a little strange, but couldn't figure out what it was.

"Yeah, just a few of them I met. Everyone's really nice."

"That's good, I guess. Um, you wanna go get some take-out?"

She tilted her head to the side, thoughtful, and nodded. "That sounds good. I'm just going to go change first."

Inuyasha watched Kagome go through the door, and grimaced. He already didn't like these classes she was taking; she was covered in the scent of someone else. A male someone. Since he knew Kagome as well as he did, he knew the reason behind it was something perfectly innocent. It only stemmed from the fact that someone had touched her. Still, he had the urge to completely eradicate that scent, and to find out exactly what it was she was doing in those classes. He figured dinner together might take care of both.

They decided to walk to the nearest take-out place despite the snow falling; it would have taken longer to drive. Inuyasha was happy to discover he didn't have to try prying any information about the acting classes from Kagome; she was more than happy to talk about it.

"In a week or so," she said, "we're going to start filming the scenes we do. Jonathan's excited about it, but it sort of scares me. What if I find out I look stupid?"

"You won't look stupid," he told her. "Who's Jonathan?" Wow, that was casual, he mentally sighed.

"Oh, he's my partner. The teacher paired us all up, first thing. She said it'd take less time out of class that way."

Inuyasha nodded, feeling slightly better now that he had a name to attach the scent on Kagome to. Still, that only meant he would be finding it on her more. He tried telling himself that it was none of his concern. He knew he had no claim on Kagome; he'd made the decision that they would only be friends. Now he had to live with it.

That was going to be the hard part.

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