InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Soul Exchange ❯ Full Moon ( Chapter 9 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: RozeFire 
The whole bed now smelled of Kagome... it nearly covered his own smell. She smelled nice... like Lavender... it was nice to have his bed smell like Lavender...
Kagome chose that moment to enter and stopped dead when she saw Inuyasha with his face pressed against the mattress. "Um... hi...?" He stood up straight away and stared at her.
"What were you just...?"
"Nothing!" he snapped. "I often smell my mattress. What's it to you?"
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Drama / Comedy / Angst / Action | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 04.04.2003 | Updated On: 07.24.2003 | Pages: 5 | Words: 4.0K | Visits: 1.7K | Status: Completed
The whole bed now smelled of Kagome... it nearly covered his own smell. She smelled nice... like Lavender... it was nice to have his bed smell like Lavender...
Kagome chose that moment to enter and stopped dead when she saw Inuyasha with his face pressed against the mattress. "Um... hi...?" He stood up straight away and stared at her.
"What were you just...?"
"Nothing!" he snapped. "I often smell my mattress. What's it to you?"
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Drama / Comedy / Angst / Action | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 04.04.2003 | Updated On: 07.24.2003 | Pages: 5 | Words: 4.0K | Visits: 1.7K | Status: Completed
AN: Chapter Nine! 3rd chapter in one update! Now that's all the chapters out, I'm still writing chapter ten and chapter 15 of 28 Days. Should be out soon, but probably not tonight.
Soul Exchange
Full Moon
< br>
Why did the advisors always seem to think it necessary that Inuyasha needed to be informed about all the Kingdom crap? That was his mother's job.
"Sesshomaru continues to threaten us - my lord." One advisor warned as he scuttled after Inuyasha with his friend. "He says that if you do not take the throne in three months then he will take away your options."
"That's just an excuse. Even if I did take the throne he would still attack with a new excuse saying that I'd stolen his throne or whatever..." he glared at the two men behind him. "Don't you have tales to be telling to the Queen - stop harassing me!"
"Lord - if you continue to ignore the situation then we'll all suffer the consequences." The advisor bowed humbly. "Your mother cannot deal with this - she is only human!"
"What?" Inuyasha stopped short, making the two men almost collide with him.
"Um... she's female?" the advisor quickly corrected his mistake. "She is female and weaker than you..."
Inuyasha was silent for a moment before he simply continued walking towards his room. The advisors finally decided it was best to just leave him be. They didn't want to press their luck and send their heads rolling by annoying him further.
He arrived at his room cautiously, and opened the door slowly to make sure Kagome was up and somewhere else. She was gone. With a sigh of relief he entered his room, half feeling that it didn't belong to him anymore. Kagome had been spending the last few nights in the room... Inuyasha had been avoiding her all together. The only time he actually spent in his room anymore was to get his clothes.
He had a feeling that this was just like practise for marriage...
And just like usual, the bed was neat and tidy, the floor was clear of its usual clutter and the windows were open slightly, letting in the gentle sea breeze from outside. Inuyasha stomped over and shut the windows at once, annoyed that she'd been taking liberties with his room. He made sure he knocked open his drawers to spread clothes over the floor again (didn't matter that they were clean) and messed up the bed.
Yep... that was more like it...
Just by lifting the covers though, he caught a strong whiff of Kagome's scent and paused for a moment, taking a deep breath. He leaned down with a frown, taking in more of the scent with a frown. The whole bed now smelled of Kagome... it nearly covered his own smell. She smelled nice... like Lavender... it was nice to have his bed smell like Lavender...
Kagome chose that moment to enter and stopped dead when she saw Inuyasha with his face pressed against the mattress. "Um... hi...?"
He stood up straight away and stared at her.
"What were you just...?"
"Nothing!" he snapped. "I often smell my mattress. What's it to you?"
"It's nothing to me... I just..." she trailed off as Inuyasha blew past her and out of the room, leaving her alone. She stood, a little too stunned to move before realising the room was a mess again. "I only left it five minutes ago!"
With an irritated growl she busied herself around the room, picking up his clothes and putting them away. She arranged the bed and opened the windows again... but stopped as she looked down to the scene below. From her vantage point she could see Inuyasha leaving the palace down the steps, through the gates and was heading towards the lake.
"Gonna drown yourself?" Kagome asked him quietly, not that he would hear her or anything.
He stomped around the edge of the lake before dropping down beneath the shade of an old weeping willow tree that hung over the edge of the lake. He leaned back against the trunk and stayed there.
Kagome watched him for a little while before bringing her thumb and forefinger up and pretended to squish him between them. He looked just like an ant from where she was stood. An unhappy little ant...
She dropped her hand and watched him for a while. He seemed to be thinking deeply... obviously he wanted company! So Kagome took it upon herself to go down there and cheer him up. Anyway... she was eager to find out what was on his mind.
Kagome followed his path through the palace and out of main gates into the grassy plateau area with the two lakes. She walked quickly and nervously - she'd never been this far out of the palace before. It was a nice day... the sun was shining, the birds were singing loudly (she could hear them all the way from the forest) and the kids were out playing on the grass. As she drew closer to the willow tree she saw Inuyasha look up and spot her coming. But he didn't move to leave...
"Morning." Kagome said as if it was the first greeting they'd had that day. "Nice day isn't it?"
Inuyasha glared at her a moment before looking away pointedly. Kagome stood for a moment before realising he wasn't going to do much else, and so sat down a short distance from him. He'd picked out a good spot here. It was a lovely view of the land.
"You seem down," Kagome stated, trying to get the ball rolling. "Is something bothering you?"
"No." Inuyasha remarked guardedly. "Everything's fine."
"Yeah... I suppose the threat of war is what you'd call 'fine'." Kagome shrugged. "Right?"
Inuyasha sighed loudly, hoping she'd take the hint and leave... no such luck.
"I'd be scared too, I guess, if I was in the same position as you." Kagome went on. "I mean, having your father die and then suddenly there's all these enemies hanging around - your own brother being one of them! And you're so young - if I were you I would have freaked out and gone nuts ages ago-"
"I'm not scared, my father's not dead and it's not my problem." Inuyasha replied curtly. "And I ain't going nuts either..."
A soft laugh escaped Kagome and he shot her a glare. "What?"
"You said 'ain't'." she snickered. "Does that mean you're a fake Prince too?"
"Shut up..." he grouched, leaning his head back against the trunk of the willow.
"You know..." Kagome subdued her giggles. "Even if your father is alive... he's not here."
"Duh..."
"Well if he's not here than how can he protect his Kingdom from his eldest son and the wolf Youkai?" Kagome said logically, watching the surface of the lake. "It's probably not his fault that he can't be here... but right now he's about as useful as a... a steak and kidney pie..."
"Careful - you're talking about my dad there..."
"The point is - if he can't protect the Kingdom right now then who can?" Kagome glanced at Inuyasha to see he was watching her carefully, she quickly broke the eye contact and looked down at her hands, slightly nervous that he was still watching her so closely. "Your mother is a good woman... and a good ruler... but she can't exactly defend her people. They need a strong leader - a physically strong one."
She paused for a moment not sure if she should go on, before deciding she might as well.
"She said that if you get attacked then you'll lose. Sango and your mother will be killed for being human and you will probably be killed as well..." Kagome sighed and looked back at him. "And what about Fushi?"
Inuyasha stared at her a moment before looking away, about to say something... but he couldn't find the words and so gave up. He tried again a minute later. "I can't take the throne... if he ever comes back he won't ever be able to reclaim it from me... and then I'll be stuck with this job for the rest of my life until I get bumped off by my son, or some other heir."
"Hey... who says you'll get bumped off by your own son?" Kagome chided. "You didn't bump off your dad..."
There was a long pause.
"...or did you?"
"No!" Inuyasha snapped. "I'm weird - I don't want the throne. But my father killed my grandfather and Sesshomaru wanted to kill dad for the throne as well."
"Maybe he did kill your father...?"
"No, he didn't." Inuyasha said shortly. "Dad's stronger than that. But if I get married and have kids - I immediately create my own enemy."
"That sounds really tough..." Kagome sighed. "But maybe... because you're half human you didn't want to do your dad in? Maybe your kids will be the same?"
"I doubt it... my mother wants me to marry a demoness... that will make any children I have will be more demon than human." He shrugged. "That's why I'm NOT getting married."
"Wise decision." Kagome nodded. "But are you willing to risk everyone here just because you don't want to be stuck with a life time job?"
He glared hard at the ground before standing and walking away with a closed expression. Kagome watched him go before sighing deeply and hugging her knees. He obviously hadn't liked what she'd said.
^_^
She went back to the tree the next day... and was surprised to find Inuyasha was there again. She'd planned to go there to have some thinking time to herself... but it was a pleasant surprise to find Inuyasha already there, training himself with a bow and a quiver of arrows.
"You follow me here again?" he asked as she came up beside him.
"No... I actually came to enjoy the view." She smiled softly. It was true that she had a nice view... Inuyasha was always good to look at when he was doing training.
He cast her a dry look before drawing his arrow back and aiming at the tree he was using for target practise... the one on the other side of the lake. He released and the arrow flew... but fell short and disappeared into the water. "Bastard..." he muttered to himself.
"You need to aim higher." Kagome told him helpfully.
Inuyasha clenched his fists angrily... she was beginning to try his patience already. With a grumble he strung another arrow and drew it back.
"Higher than that..." Kagome pointed out.
With a growl Inuyasha aimed it at an almost ninety degree angle and released. The arrow shot straight up into the air, and then began to fall... hitting the ground a few metres away. "Happy? Is that high enough for you?" Inuyasha snapped. "Why don't you just shut your trap?"
"Alright..." Kagome sighed defensively and leant back against the tree.
He tried a few more times, hitting the other bank of the river twice and even shooting one arrow into the higher branches of the tree, though he was still aiming at trunk itself.
"Can I have a go?" Kagome suddenly asked.
"Alright, if you think you could do better." He smirked and dropped to bow to her feet and stood back to let her handle it.
Kagome bounced to her feet with a smile and picked up the bow and began to string it with another arrow. At this point Inuyasha realised his mistake... Kikyo had been a master at the bow. She could probably have shot every single one of these arrows and hit the same point on the other tree each time.
"One point if you hit the tree... two if you hit one of the sheep." He told her, not entirely sure that she wouldn't show him up.
Kagome closed one eye and aimed carefully, aiming a little higher than the tree, accounting for the fact that the arrow lost height over the distance it travelled. Then she released.
It sailed straight over the water... and straight over the target tree... and started falling towards a flock of sheep. "Oh no... pull up - pull up!" Kagome cried.
It didn't pull up. Kagome couldn't bare to look. She looked away quickly as a horrified bleating could be heard across the lake. She glanced up at Inuyasha timidly. "Did it hit one?"
Inuyasha looked bewildered. "Jeez... right in the chest!"
"Oh crap..." Kagome spared a look before grimacing and looking away.
"You are the girl, Kagome!" he suddenly laughed and clapped her on the shoulder. "I guess you got two points after all!"
Strangely enough Kagome didn't feel so great about that and she huffed angrily when Inuyasha took the bow back and ruffled her hair with a snigger.
^_^
"Yum ... what is this we're eating?" Kagome asked that evening at supper.
"Cook says it's mystery meat." Lady Inu told her with an oblivious smile. "Could be Lama for all we know."
"Tastes like lamb chops to me." Inuyasha said carelessly around a mouthful, with a not-so-subtle wink at Kagome.
Kagome gulped as she looked out the window to the flock grazing the pasture... one sheep down tonight...
^_^
Ka gome yawned tiredly as she made her way to Inuyasha's room as her bedtime rolled in a few nights later. No doubt Inuyasha would be elsewhere now. He never used his room anymore now that she'd taken up residence in there. She'd just come back from a little girl chat with Sango, having the time of their lives dissing old and past loves.
Kagome's hair had now fallen from its neat and tidy princess style, and was now flopping around her shoulders loosely. Well, there weren't many people around so she didn't have to worry about being seen in such a messy state.
How long had she been at the palace now? Almost two whole weeks... that just about gave her till the next new moon to get the Shikon. Naraku wanted Inuyasha dead by then... something Kagome couldn't even comprehend now. She wouldn't even try it...
But then again, she was going to die of Sesshomaru's slow acting poison if she didn't tell him about the new moon. That was information Inuyasha's life also depended on... she didn't want to sell him out for a cure... but if she didn't she'd be dead in no time at all.
Kagome stopped walking as she reached the corner of the corridor leading to the royal quarters. She chewed her lip thoughtfully. Somehow she would have to talk to Inuyasha and find out if he knew where his father was. With that information she could get the Shikon... and then she could work on getting a cure out of Inuyasha's brother.
How she would do that she had no idea. But she'd just have to cross that bridge when she came to it. For now she could do the only thing possible... try and find out where Inuyasha's father was... dead or alive. Maybe Inuyasha wouldn't know... but she had to ask and find out.
She picked up her pace as she hurried towards his room, hoping for once that he would be in there. She doubted it, but as she neared the door strange sounds from within made her slow down. Someone was groaning in pain inside...
Kagome stood in complete silence, listening, unsure whether to run and get help, or to race inside and see what the problem was... Until another rather disturbing thought struck her. What if those weren't groans of pain... but of pleasure?
That poison must have been churning in her stomach, because suddenly she felt very sick... The thought of Inuyasha in there entertaining another woman...? An unexpected pang of hurt and confusion shot through her... she felt cheated for some reason.
"Kagome!"
She jumped around guiltily at the sound of Sango's voice. "I'm not a voyeur if that's what you're thinking!"
"Didn't cross my mind." Sango's stride didn't break, along with that determined, yet worried expression on her face. "Come on, Inuyasha's using his room tonight, you can stay in Lady Inu's room - I'm sure she wouldn't mind."
"What's he doing in his room?"
"Um - sleeping?" Sango said a little too quickly.
A loud, half groan, half growl rumbled from Inuyasha's room. Kagome glanced towards the door dubiously while Sango coughed loudly to try and cover the sound. "Sorry," she patted her chest. "Just got that cough that's going around... lots of flem..."
"What's going on in there-" Kagome took a step towards the door.
"Nothing!" Sango grabbed Kagome's arm and began dragging her away. "Nothing at all!"
It didn't sound like nothing... but Kagome gave in to Sango's persistence and allowed herself to be ushered into the Queen's room. The Queen was awfully nice about it and allowed Kagome to sleep on the lounging chair (saying the floor was not fit for a Princess).
Kagome couldn't sleep though. Mainly because Lady Inu's snoring kept her up, and also the strong light from the full moon outside. Or it could have been because she wasn't sleeping surrounded by Inuyasha's comforting scent anymore. Whatever the reason, Kagome couldn't sleep. The thought of Inuyasha just nagged at her mind and she couldn't even begin to understand why she was suddenly a little jealous that he could be with someone else.
Maybe it was because she had worked hard over the last two weeks to find some way to befriend him... and maybe even more than that. It hurt to know she'd failed...
She stayed awake a little longer, until her mouth started to become dry and she decided she seriously needed a drink. It meant that she'd have to trek all the way down to the abandoned kitchens... but maybe the trip would wear her out and send her to sleep when she got back.
As quietly as possible, she pushed her blankets off and tiptoed towards the door of the room, trying not to wake to Queen. But right then she doubted a herd of elephants passing by would wake the Queen from her deep slumber.
Once outside in the dark hallway, she began making her way quickly towards the stairs that would lead down to the ground floor, and ultimately the kitchens. But a soft sound from Inuyasha's room made her pause. She glanced at the door and frowned angrily. Was he still entertaining that woman?
That's just when Kagome noticed something strange about the door. A strip of paper with funny squiggly lines had been pasted on the edge of the door, to the door frame. If the door slid open the paper would rip in half... and it had been placed on the outside.
What was the point of that? Was it supposed to lock Inuyasha inside? If so that was pretty useless... she was sure Inuyasha would be strong enough to rip the paper apart... unless it was an ofuda spell.
Kagome crept closer to get a better look. She was right... it WAS an ofuda spell. This would only be used to keep Youkai at bay. To keep Inuyasha in the room?
"What a mean thing to do..." she mumbled made to open the door and rip the charm.
As soon as she did so she felt her mistake... when a rather strong feeling of apprehension made the fine hairs on her arms tingle with awareness and her scalp crawled. She looked inside and saw no woman... just Inuyasha sitting on the chest before his window, looking out at the moon with his back turned to her.
Kagome just stared. Hadn't he heard her open the door? "Inuyasha?"
She took a couple of steps into the room, and shivered slightly, like it had suddenly gotten quite cold. She glanced back towards Inuyasha before noticing something was wrong...
The sleeve of his night kimono had been ripped, and four long dark gashes ran along his shoulder to upper arm... making the crisp white kimono material become sodden with dark red blood.
"Inuyasha - what happened to your arm?" Kagome quickly abandoned her inhibitions and ran forward, her hand outstretched to touch his clean shoulder.
She was inches from touching him when suddenly his hand snapped out and seized her wrist in a painful grip. She gasped in pain as he squeezed before roughly throwing her to the floor. Kagome held her offended wrist to her chest as she looked up at Inuyasha, who swiftly rose to his feet and turned on her.
"Inuyasha..." Ok, maybe she'd intruded, but throwing her that hard had been uncalled for. But then she noticed that he wasn't Inuyasha.
Inuyasha had gold eyes... this demon had red... his ears looked wilder and his fangs overlapped his bottom lip slightly. She didn't want to focus her attention on his claws... because right then they were dripping in blood. His own blood. He'd injured himself.
"I can see you're... uh... busy..." Kagome started to scoot back slowly along the floorboards. "I'll just leave you alone..."
When he didn't move to pursue her, she quickly bolted to her feet and darted towards the door. But in a flash of white, the door slammed shut and Kagome skidded to a stop lest she crash into Inuyasha who was suddenly braced against the doorway.
"What are you-"
She was cut off as he suddenly threw a fist out and backhanded her sharply, and hard. Kagome flew back a few feet and landed on her back by the bed. It took her a few moments to regain her senses, before she realised Inuyasha was advancing on her slowly, with a short soft chuckle that should only ever have been emitted by Naraku during his more evil moments.
Wanting to put something between them, no matter how futile it seemed, Kagome scrambled to her feet and tried to scuttle across the bed to the other side. However, she didn't even get that far when a rough hand grabbed her ankle and flipped her onto her back when she was only halfway across. Before she could even vocally protest or otherwise, he straddled her waist.
Kagome gasped in outrage that he could even think about trying something on at a time like this, and drew her hand back to slap him as hard as she could. Unfortunately he was too fast and caught her hands in one of his bigger hands and pinned them above her head.
She was completely exposed to him, and the fear and shame was racing through her veins in gallons. Out of control Inuyasha was much worse than sane villains. Sesshomaru was about as intimidating as a baby cat compared to how Kagome felt right then. And Naraku was no competition at all...
She thought he was going to take advantage of her, until she saw him draw his fist back, ready to hit her hard. The fear multiplied and suddenly a long forgotten memory resurfaced... and she reacted the only way she could...
She screamed.
^_^
Next morning Sango arrived to Inuyasha's room with a tray of breakfast and fresh bandages in case he'd managed to cut himself up again, like he usually did on full moons. She arrived at the door... and her blood ran cold as she saw the charm had been broken...
Had he gotten out during the night...?
But that was nothing compared to the scene she found when she hurried inside. It was enough to make her drop her tray in shock and horror as she stared at Inuyasha...
"What have you done...?"
AN: *Dun, Dun, Dun!!!* No I'm not giving the next chapter title because I don't know what to call it yet. Sorry. Maybe that'll add to the horrible suspense.
Soul Exchange
Full Moon
< br>
Why did the advisors always seem to think it necessary that Inuyasha needed to be informed about all the Kingdom crap? That was his mother's job.
"Sesshomaru continues to threaten us - my lord." One advisor warned as he scuttled after Inuyasha with his friend. "He says that if you do not take the throne in three months then he will take away your options."
"That's just an excuse. Even if I did take the throne he would still attack with a new excuse saying that I'd stolen his throne or whatever..." he glared at the two men behind him. "Don't you have tales to be telling to the Queen - stop harassing me!"
"Lord - if you continue to ignore the situation then we'll all suffer the consequences." The advisor bowed humbly. "Your mother cannot deal with this - she is only human!"
"What?" Inuyasha stopped short, making the two men almost collide with him.
"Um... she's female?" the advisor quickly corrected his mistake. "She is female and weaker than you..."
Inuyasha was silent for a moment before he simply continued walking towards his room. The advisors finally decided it was best to just leave him be. They didn't want to press their luck and send their heads rolling by annoying him further.
He arrived at his room cautiously, and opened the door slowly to make sure Kagome was up and somewhere else. She was gone. With a sigh of relief he entered his room, half feeling that it didn't belong to him anymore. Kagome had been spending the last few nights in the room... Inuyasha had been avoiding her all together. The only time he actually spent in his room anymore was to get his clothes.
He had a feeling that this was just like practise for marriage...
And just like usual, the bed was neat and tidy, the floor was clear of its usual clutter and the windows were open slightly, letting in the gentle sea breeze from outside. Inuyasha stomped over and shut the windows at once, annoyed that she'd been taking liberties with his room. He made sure he knocked open his drawers to spread clothes over the floor again (didn't matter that they were clean) and messed up the bed.
Yep... that was more like it...
Just by lifting the covers though, he caught a strong whiff of Kagome's scent and paused for a moment, taking a deep breath. He leaned down with a frown, taking in more of the scent with a frown. The whole bed now smelled of Kagome... it nearly covered his own smell. She smelled nice... like Lavender... it was nice to have his bed smell like Lavender...
Kagome chose that moment to enter and stopped dead when she saw Inuyasha with his face pressed against the mattress. "Um... hi...?"
He stood up straight away and stared at her.
"What were you just...?"
"Nothing!" he snapped. "I often smell my mattress. What's it to you?"
"It's nothing to me... I just..." she trailed off as Inuyasha blew past her and out of the room, leaving her alone. She stood, a little too stunned to move before realising the room was a mess again. "I only left it five minutes ago!"
With an irritated growl she busied herself around the room, picking up his clothes and putting them away. She arranged the bed and opened the windows again... but stopped as she looked down to the scene below. From her vantage point she could see Inuyasha leaving the palace down the steps, through the gates and was heading towards the lake.
"Gonna drown yourself?" Kagome asked him quietly, not that he would hear her or anything.
He stomped around the edge of the lake before dropping down beneath the shade of an old weeping willow tree that hung over the edge of the lake. He leaned back against the trunk and stayed there.
Kagome watched him for a little while before bringing her thumb and forefinger up and pretended to squish him between them. He looked just like an ant from where she was stood. An unhappy little ant...
She dropped her hand and watched him for a while. He seemed to be thinking deeply... obviously he wanted company! So Kagome took it upon herself to go down there and cheer him up. Anyway... she was eager to find out what was on his mind.
Kagome followed his path through the palace and out of main gates into the grassy plateau area with the two lakes. She walked quickly and nervously - she'd never been this far out of the palace before. It was a nice day... the sun was shining, the birds were singing loudly (she could hear them all the way from the forest) and the kids were out playing on the grass. As she drew closer to the willow tree she saw Inuyasha look up and spot her coming. But he didn't move to leave...
"Morning." Kagome said as if it was the first greeting they'd had that day. "Nice day isn't it?"
Inuyasha glared at her a moment before looking away pointedly. Kagome stood for a moment before realising he wasn't going to do much else, and so sat down a short distance from him. He'd picked out a good spot here. It was a lovely view of the land.
"You seem down," Kagome stated, trying to get the ball rolling. "Is something bothering you?"
"No." Inuyasha remarked guardedly. "Everything's fine."
"Yeah... I suppose the threat of war is what you'd call 'fine'." Kagome shrugged. "Right?"
Inuyasha sighed loudly, hoping she'd take the hint and leave... no such luck.
"I'd be scared too, I guess, if I was in the same position as you." Kagome went on. "I mean, having your father die and then suddenly there's all these enemies hanging around - your own brother being one of them! And you're so young - if I were you I would have freaked out and gone nuts ages ago-"
"I'm not scared, my father's not dead and it's not my problem." Inuyasha replied curtly. "And I ain't going nuts either..."
A soft laugh escaped Kagome and he shot her a glare. "What?"
"You said 'ain't'." she snickered. "Does that mean you're a fake Prince too?"
"Shut up..." he grouched, leaning his head back against the trunk of the willow.
"You know..." Kagome subdued her giggles. "Even if your father is alive... he's not here."
"Duh..."
"Well if he's not here than how can he protect his Kingdom from his eldest son and the wolf Youkai?" Kagome said logically, watching the surface of the lake. "It's probably not his fault that he can't be here... but right now he's about as useful as a... a steak and kidney pie..."
"Careful - you're talking about my dad there..."
"The point is - if he can't protect the Kingdom right now then who can?" Kagome glanced at Inuyasha to see he was watching her carefully, she quickly broke the eye contact and looked down at her hands, slightly nervous that he was still watching her so closely. "Your mother is a good woman... and a good ruler... but she can't exactly defend her people. They need a strong leader - a physically strong one."
She paused for a moment not sure if she should go on, before deciding she might as well.
"She said that if you get attacked then you'll lose. Sango and your mother will be killed for being human and you will probably be killed as well..." Kagome sighed and looked back at him. "And what about Fushi?"
Inuyasha stared at her a moment before looking away, about to say something... but he couldn't find the words and so gave up. He tried again a minute later. "I can't take the throne... if he ever comes back he won't ever be able to reclaim it from me... and then I'll be stuck with this job for the rest of my life until I get bumped off by my son, or some other heir."
"Hey... who says you'll get bumped off by your own son?" Kagome chided. "You didn't bump off your dad..."
There was a long pause.
"...or did you?"
"No!" Inuyasha snapped. "I'm weird - I don't want the throne. But my father killed my grandfather and Sesshomaru wanted to kill dad for the throne as well."
"Maybe he did kill your father...?"
"No, he didn't." Inuyasha said shortly. "Dad's stronger than that. But if I get married and have kids - I immediately create my own enemy."
"That sounds really tough..." Kagome sighed. "But maybe... because you're half human you didn't want to do your dad in? Maybe your kids will be the same?"
"I doubt it... my mother wants me to marry a demoness... that will make any children I have will be more demon than human." He shrugged. "That's why I'm NOT getting married."
"Wise decision." Kagome nodded. "But are you willing to risk everyone here just because you don't want to be stuck with a life time job?"
He glared hard at the ground before standing and walking away with a closed expression. Kagome watched him go before sighing deeply and hugging her knees. He obviously hadn't liked what she'd said.
^_^
She went back to the tree the next day... and was surprised to find Inuyasha was there again. She'd planned to go there to have some thinking time to herself... but it was a pleasant surprise to find Inuyasha already there, training himself with a bow and a quiver of arrows.
"You follow me here again?" he asked as she came up beside him.
"No... I actually came to enjoy the view." She smiled softly. It was true that she had a nice view... Inuyasha was always good to look at when he was doing training.
He cast her a dry look before drawing his arrow back and aiming at the tree he was using for target practise... the one on the other side of the lake. He released and the arrow flew... but fell short and disappeared into the water. "Bastard..." he muttered to himself.
"You need to aim higher." Kagome told him helpfully.
Inuyasha clenched his fists angrily... she was beginning to try his patience already. With a grumble he strung another arrow and drew it back.
"Higher than that..." Kagome pointed out.
With a growl Inuyasha aimed it at an almost ninety degree angle and released. The arrow shot straight up into the air, and then began to fall... hitting the ground a few metres away. "Happy? Is that high enough for you?" Inuyasha snapped. "Why don't you just shut your trap?"
"Alright..." Kagome sighed defensively and leant back against the tree.
He tried a few more times, hitting the other bank of the river twice and even shooting one arrow into the higher branches of the tree, though he was still aiming at trunk itself.
"Can I have a go?" Kagome suddenly asked.
"Alright, if you think you could do better." He smirked and dropped to bow to her feet and stood back to let her handle it.
Kagome bounced to her feet with a smile and picked up the bow and began to string it with another arrow. At this point Inuyasha realised his mistake... Kikyo had been a master at the bow. She could probably have shot every single one of these arrows and hit the same point on the other tree each time.
"One point if you hit the tree... two if you hit one of the sheep." He told her, not entirely sure that she wouldn't show him up.
Kagome closed one eye and aimed carefully, aiming a little higher than the tree, accounting for the fact that the arrow lost height over the distance it travelled. Then she released.
It sailed straight over the water... and straight over the target tree... and started falling towards a flock of sheep. "Oh no... pull up - pull up!" Kagome cried.
It didn't pull up. Kagome couldn't bare to look. She looked away quickly as a horrified bleating could be heard across the lake. She glanced up at Inuyasha timidly. "Did it hit one?"
Inuyasha looked bewildered. "Jeez... right in the chest!"
"Oh crap..." Kagome spared a look before grimacing and looking away.
"You are the girl, Kagome!" he suddenly laughed and clapped her on the shoulder. "I guess you got two points after all!"
Strangely enough Kagome didn't feel so great about that and she huffed angrily when Inuyasha took the bow back and ruffled her hair with a snigger.
^_^
"Yum ... what is this we're eating?" Kagome asked that evening at supper.
"Cook says it's mystery meat." Lady Inu told her with an oblivious smile. "Could be Lama for all we know."
"Tastes like lamb chops to me." Inuyasha said carelessly around a mouthful, with a not-so-subtle wink at Kagome.
Kagome gulped as she looked out the window to the flock grazing the pasture... one sheep down tonight...
^_^
Ka gome yawned tiredly as she made her way to Inuyasha's room as her bedtime rolled in a few nights later. No doubt Inuyasha would be elsewhere now. He never used his room anymore now that she'd taken up residence in there. She'd just come back from a little girl chat with Sango, having the time of their lives dissing old and past loves.
Kagome's hair had now fallen from its neat and tidy princess style, and was now flopping around her shoulders loosely. Well, there weren't many people around so she didn't have to worry about being seen in such a messy state.
How long had she been at the palace now? Almost two whole weeks... that just about gave her till the next new moon to get the Shikon. Naraku wanted Inuyasha dead by then... something Kagome couldn't even comprehend now. She wouldn't even try it...
But then again, she was going to die of Sesshomaru's slow acting poison if she didn't tell him about the new moon. That was information Inuyasha's life also depended on... she didn't want to sell him out for a cure... but if she didn't she'd be dead in no time at all.
Kagome stopped walking as she reached the corner of the corridor leading to the royal quarters. She chewed her lip thoughtfully. Somehow she would have to talk to Inuyasha and find out if he knew where his father was. With that information she could get the Shikon... and then she could work on getting a cure out of Inuyasha's brother.
How she would do that she had no idea. But she'd just have to cross that bridge when she came to it. For now she could do the only thing possible... try and find out where Inuyasha's father was... dead or alive. Maybe Inuyasha wouldn't know... but she had to ask and find out.
She picked up her pace as she hurried towards his room, hoping for once that he would be in there. She doubted it, but as she neared the door strange sounds from within made her slow down. Someone was groaning in pain inside...
Kagome stood in complete silence, listening, unsure whether to run and get help, or to race inside and see what the problem was... Until another rather disturbing thought struck her. What if those weren't groans of pain... but of pleasure?
That poison must have been churning in her stomach, because suddenly she felt very sick... The thought of Inuyasha in there entertaining another woman...? An unexpected pang of hurt and confusion shot through her... she felt cheated for some reason.
"Kagome!"
She jumped around guiltily at the sound of Sango's voice. "I'm not a voyeur if that's what you're thinking!"
"Didn't cross my mind." Sango's stride didn't break, along with that determined, yet worried expression on her face. "Come on, Inuyasha's using his room tonight, you can stay in Lady Inu's room - I'm sure she wouldn't mind."
"What's he doing in his room?"
"Um - sleeping?" Sango said a little too quickly.
A loud, half groan, half growl rumbled from Inuyasha's room. Kagome glanced towards the door dubiously while Sango coughed loudly to try and cover the sound. "Sorry," she patted her chest. "Just got that cough that's going around... lots of flem..."
"What's going on in there-" Kagome took a step towards the door.
"Nothing!" Sango grabbed Kagome's arm and began dragging her away. "Nothing at all!"
It didn't sound like nothing... but Kagome gave in to Sango's persistence and allowed herself to be ushered into the Queen's room. The Queen was awfully nice about it and allowed Kagome to sleep on the lounging chair (saying the floor was not fit for a Princess).
Kagome couldn't sleep though. Mainly because Lady Inu's snoring kept her up, and also the strong light from the full moon outside. Or it could have been because she wasn't sleeping surrounded by Inuyasha's comforting scent anymore. Whatever the reason, Kagome couldn't sleep. The thought of Inuyasha just nagged at her mind and she couldn't even begin to understand why she was suddenly a little jealous that he could be with someone else.
Maybe it was because she had worked hard over the last two weeks to find some way to befriend him... and maybe even more than that. It hurt to know she'd failed...
She stayed awake a little longer, until her mouth started to become dry and she decided she seriously needed a drink. It meant that she'd have to trek all the way down to the abandoned kitchens... but maybe the trip would wear her out and send her to sleep when she got back.
As quietly as possible, she pushed her blankets off and tiptoed towards the door of the room, trying not to wake to Queen. But right then she doubted a herd of elephants passing by would wake the Queen from her deep slumber.
Once outside in the dark hallway, she began making her way quickly towards the stairs that would lead down to the ground floor, and ultimately the kitchens. But a soft sound from Inuyasha's room made her pause. She glanced at the door and frowned angrily. Was he still entertaining that woman?
That's just when Kagome noticed something strange about the door. A strip of paper with funny squiggly lines had been pasted on the edge of the door, to the door frame. If the door slid open the paper would rip in half... and it had been placed on the outside.
What was the point of that? Was it supposed to lock Inuyasha inside? If so that was pretty useless... she was sure Inuyasha would be strong enough to rip the paper apart... unless it was an ofuda spell.
Kagome crept closer to get a better look. She was right... it WAS an ofuda spell. This would only be used to keep Youkai at bay. To keep Inuyasha in the room?
"What a mean thing to do..." she mumbled made to open the door and rip the charm.
As soon as she did so she felt her mistake... when a rather strong feeling of apprehension made the fine hairs on her arms tingle with awareness and her scalp crawled. She looked inside and saw no woman... just Inuyasha sitting on the chest before his window, looking out at the moon with his back turned to her.
Kagome just stared. Hadn't he heard her open the door? "Inuyasha?"
She took a couple of steps into the room, and shivered slightly, like it had suddenly gotten quite cold. She glanced back towards Inuyasha before noticing something was wrong...
The sleeve of his night kimono had been ripped, and four long dark gashes ran along his shoulder to upper arm... making the crisp white kimono material become sodden with dark red blood.
"Inuyasha - what happened to your arm?" Kagome quickly abandoned her inhibitions and ran forward, her hand outstretched to touch his clean shoulder.
She was inches from touching him when suddenly his hand snapped out and seized her wrist in a painful grip. She gasped in pain as he squeezed before roughly throwing her to the floor. Kagome held her offended wrist to her chest as she looked up at Inuyasha, who swiftly rose to his feet and turned on her.
"Inuyasha..." Ok, maybe she'd intruded, but throwing her that hard had been uncalled for. But then she noticed that he wasn't Inuyasha.
Inuyasha had gold eyes... this demon had red... his ears looked wilder and his fangs overlapped his bottom lip slightly. She didn't want to focus her attention on his claws... because right then they were dripping in blood. His own blood. He'd injured himself.
"I can see you're... uh... busy..." Kagome started to scoot back slowly along the floorboards. "I'll just leave you alone..."
When he didn't move to pursue her, she quickly bolted to her feet and darted towards the door. But in a flash of white, the door slammed shut and Kagome skidded to a stop lest she crash into Inuyasha who was suddenly braced against the doorway.
"What are you-"
She was cut off as he suddenly threw a fist out and backhanded her sharply, and hard. Kagome flew back a few feet and landed on her back by the bed. It took her a few moments to regain her senses, before she realised Inuyasha was advancing on her slowly, with a short soft chuckle that should only ever have been emitted by Naraku during his more evil moments.
Wanting to put something between them, no matter how futile it seemed, Kagome scrambled to her feet and tried to scuttle across the bed to the other side. However, she didn't even get that far when a rough hand grabbed her ankle and flipped her onto her back when she was only halfway across. Before she could even vocally protest or otherwise, he straddled her waist.
Kagome gasped in outrage that he could even think about trying something on at a time like this, and drew her hand back to slap him as hard as she could. Unfortunately he was too fast and caught her hands in one of his bigger hands and pinned them above her head.
She was completely exposed to him, and the fear and shame was racing through her veins in gallons. Out of control Inuyasha was much worse than sane villains. Sesshomaru was about as intimidating as a baby cat compared to how Kagome felt right then. And Naraku was no competition at all...
She thought he was going to take advantage of her, until she saw him draw his fist back, ready to hit her hard. The fear multiplied and suddenly a long forgotten memory resurfaced... and she reacted the only way she could...
She screamed.
^_^
Next morning Sango arrived to Inuyasha's room with a tray of breakfast and fresh bandages in case he'd managed to cut himself up again, like he usually did on full moons. She arrived at the door... and her blood ran cold as she saw the charm had been broken...
Had he gotten out during the night...?
But that was nothing compared to the scene she found when she hurried inside. It was enough to make her drop her tray in shock and horror as she stared at Inuyasha...
"What have you done...?"
AN: *Dun, Dun, Dun!!!* No I'm not giving the next chapter title because I don't know what to call it yet. Sorry. Maybe that'll add to the horrible suspense.