CRAZY LITTLE THING CALLED LOVE: Chapter Six
“Sword fights are boring!”
Inu Yasha cringed at the memory of Kagome’s condescending tone. He’d always thought he must look heroic (and even a bit studly) as he crushed an enemy with the Tetsusaiga. Kagome knew what his father’s sword meant to him and what it meant to him to be able to use it well so he wouldn’t disgrace the great demon who’d sired him. Had his human mother found sword fights boring? Or had she admired his father as he wielded the Steel Cleaving Fang? Maybe Kagome wasn’t interested because swords weren’t important in her time. What kind of weapons did they use now? What did it matter. Kagome hated violence, so the weapon wouldn’t be an issue. But…”boring”? Watching him fight was boring?
The gentle sounds of a stringed instrument gradually insinuated themselves into his thoughts. Inu Yasha realized he didn’t recognize the deep-toned instrument, nor had he heard a stringed instrument played like that, with more than one string being struck at the same time over and over. It was actually rather nice. Then a man’s voice began to sing a song in a gaijin tongue. Inu Yasha’s ears swiveled backwards to listen, and he realized the singer was Shunusuke and that he had a very pleasant voice.
“What language is that?” Inu Yasha asked when Shunusuke came to a part that was just music and no singing. “Amer-ee-kan?”
Shunusuke repeated the bridge, so he could answer the question. “How do you know about Americans?”
The demon shrugged. “Yuki said your mother is one. Is that her language?”
“Yes, but it’s called English, after the country it originated in: England.” Inu Yasha grunted but since he didn’t seem to have anything more to say on the subject, Shunusuke went back to singing.
When the song was over, all but Inu Yasha applauded. Still watching the rain, Inu Yasha asked: “What was that song about?”
Shunusuke strummed nonsense while he replied. “It’s one of my mom’s favorite songs from when she was a kid. She used to play the album it’s from over and over again-“
“Album?”
Shunusuke shook his head, though Inu Yasha couldn’t see it. “I don’t know how to explain. It’s a collection of songs recorded by a machine onto a disk that people can play back with another machine.”
Inu Yasha nodded. “Oh. That makes sense. So what’s the song about?”
“It’s called ‘Margaritaville’ and it’s about an imaginary place in a country called Mexico that’s south of America. The man singing the song--his name’s Jimmy Buffet--is talking about his life there, on the beach.” He translated some of the lyrics into Japanese: “‘Wastin’ away again in Margaritaville, searchin’ for my lost shaker of salt. Some people claim that there’s a woman to blame, but I know it’s my own damn fault.’ See, a Margarita is a kind of drink that has Taquila in it, which comes from Mexico, and salt on the rim of the glass. Being at the beach and your girl troubles made me think of it.”
Inu Yasha snorted: “’Girl troubles’? Yeah, I guess so.” He turned around to lean his back against the glass and see the instrument Shunusuke was playing. It was similar to a mandolin, he thought, but bigger and shaped like…hmm. Yes, it was definitely shaped like a woman’s torso. Heh. “Play something else. Another song your mother liked.”
Shunusuke smiled and wondered if Inu Yasha’s mother liked music as much as his own did. What else did mom like? Shunusuke picked absently for a few moments until he could think of one she liked and he knew how to play, then segued into “Yesterday” by the Beatles. Good thing Inu Yasha couldn’t understand the words to that one, he thought about halfway through the song.
When it was finished, more applause, and this time Inu Yasha joined in. “You’re pretty good,” he told Shunusuke. “You have a nice voice.”
“Shunusuke’s in a band,” Yuki told him proudly, “two or three, actually, here and at school.”
Band? Inu Yasha guessed that was what people in this time called a musical group. “What’s that called?” He pointed at the instrument.
Shunusuke passed it to him with a smile. “It’s a guitar. Go on,” he encouraged the demon, “try it. Do you play any instruments?”
He shook his head. “I have no use for such things,” but he picked at the strings anyway, enjoying the way the body of the instrument vibrated against his chest and the deep, rich tones hummed in his ears. “Court people learn to play because they have other people to take care of things like growing food and protecting their homes. I live from day to day, wandering, stealing food or hunting for it when I’m hungry. And I have a lot of enemies to worry about, so I don’t have time for music making and don’t have the spirit for singing.” And yet he continued to pluck at the strings, mimicking with dead-on accuracy the melody of the song Shunusuke had just played. When he realized what he was doing, Inu Yasha stopped and frowned at the guitar. “I didn’t know I could do that.”
They laughed at him.
“Figures he’d have a perfect ear,” Shunusuke snorted, then said to Inu Yasha pointedly: “Some of us have to take lessons for years and learn songs from sheet music before getting good enough to play by ear.”
He’d never imagined himself as a musician before since the very idea of him taking up anything but a sword had always been absurd. It was actually sort of fun. If only he knew the words to that song Shunusuke had song, he could see if he could sing, too. Probably not, he thought sourly. His speaking voice was too rough to make the sweet sounds Shunusuke did. What a samurai that Asano was: A swordsman, martial artist, religious, musical… well-rounded. “And I’m just a coarse, brawling wanderer. No wonder Kagome thinks I’m a jerk.” And boring, he reminded himself, can’t forget boring. Of course, if he could play songs for her on this guitar-thing she might see him in a different light. Women loved music, didn’t they? His mother had. If he could sing, too, that would be even better!
Nah! Inu Yasha couldn’t picture himself serenading Kagome like some stupid fairy-boy. He handed the guitar back to Shunusuke. Hm. Asano wasn’t a fairy-boy and he sang and played, as well as being able to kick ass with a sword. “Tell me about that song,” he asked finally. “Was it about the beach, too?”
Shunusuke hesitated just long enough for Keiichi to answer for him. “It’s called ‘Yesterday’, by a band named the Beatles, which no longer exists but had immeasurable influence on modern music all over the world. In fact, that song is widely recognized as one of the best songs every written.” He cleared his throat. Why was Asano looking so worried? “It goes like this: ‘Yesterday, love was such an easy game to play, now I need some place to hide away. I believe in yesterday. Why'd she have to go, I don’t know, she wouldn’t say. I said something wrong, now I long for yesterday.’” Gulp. Oh, that’s why Asano was making that face. Open mouth, insert foot. “Uh…well, it’s just a song. Ha-ha!” A song that perfectly reflected Inu Yasha’s girl troubles of the moment.
The demon sighed, and his ears drooped. Love was such an easy game to play. Like hell it was. It had never been easy for him. And oh boy was he good at saying something wrong to Kagome--everything he said seemed to be the wrong thing to her. “What other songs do you know, Asano? Any with words in Japanese?”
He did and was happy to change the musical subject. Inu Yasha turned back around to watch the rain come down and listen to the happy little song about dancing and partying that Shunusuke chose to play for them. Bleh. It sounded like that crap Yuki liked. “That sucks,” he snapped. Kagome had used that phrase at him once, and he’d like it so well he’d adopted it. Shunusuke stopped playing with a start. The girls giggled. “Sounds like that shit Yuki likes.”
“Hey!” Yuki protested. “What’s wrong with the music I like?!”
Inu Yasha whipped out the other phrase Kagome had used, which he liked even better than the first one: “It bites.”
Shunusuke, Keiichi and Karami snickered at Yuki’s red-face. She tossed her head and took herself off to the bathroom to sulk for a while (and take care of business). “Did you say ‘it bites’?” Karami asked incredulously. “Do they say stuff like that in your time?”
“No. Kagome says it.” Oh well, at least Kagome hadn’t said sword fighting sucks or bites. It was just boring. What did that girl like, anyway? “Play something that doesn’t bite, Shunusuke. Something cool.” He paused, then added quickly: “She says that, too.”
Keiichi exchanged a knowing look with Karami. “So, you and Kagome are pretty close, would you say?”
“’Close’?” Inu Yasha lowered his ears with a little growl. “What do you mean by ‘close’? We’re not lovers, if that’s what you’re getting at. You shouldn’t believe everything Yuki says. She’s obsessed.”
From the bathroom, Yuki shouted: “I heard that, Dog Boy!”
“So what?!” Inu Yasha shouted back.
She emerged from the bathroom and kicked him in the butt. Inu Yasha snarled at her but refused to take the bait. “You’re such a jerk. Even if you wanted Kagome, she’d never want a creep like you!” She plopped into a chair with an angry snort, leaving Inu Yasha to chew on that for a while. “Go ahead and flatten those ears,” she snapped, “see if I care. You don’t scare me with that Big, Bad Demon act.”
“Yuki…” Shunusuke warned, wondering what her problem was this time. There was no way she’d gotten that attached to Inu Yasha in a matter of a day and a half.
Inu Yasha jumped to his feet, threw open the door, stalked onto the porch and jumped over the railing before anyone could speak up to stop him. Shunusuke dropped his guitar and ran after him, but Inu Yasha had already disappeared. “Shit!” He went back inside and closed the door. “I’m going after him,” he declared and headed out the front door.
Yuki ran after him, pausing only to warn Keiichi and Karami to stay put and lock the doors. “Shunusuke! Wait!”
Her brother turned on her at the foot of the stairs with a look that could melt iron and shouted: “Get back in the house, Yuki! I don’t know what your problem is, but you better have an explanation when I get back!”
She watched him run down to the beach for a few moments, then muttered: “Don’t tell me what to do!” And lit off after him.
Inu Yasha watched the Asanos run past his hiding place in a tree, looking for him. If it had only been Shunusuke, he might have revealed himself, but as long as Yuki was with him, Inu Yasha would stay hidden. That bitch. Who did she think she was talking to him like that? And how did a girl like her get a brother who was so cool? All the girls in this time seemed to be useless: Air-headed Karami, flirty Yuki, incomprehensible Kagome, not to mention all those gigglers who’d watch him and Asano spar that afternoon. The guys were alright, though: Even if Keiichi hadn’t been able to defend himself against Tachi and his gang, the man seemed intelligent enough. Shunusuke was conceited (if his reaction to female admiration was any indication) but he was Inu Yasha’s kind of human: Tough, skilled and intelligent. He didn’t appear to be prone to the sort of stupidity that seemed to plague his race. Then again, he did come from a noble family. Oh wait, so did Yuki. Where had Mr. and Mrs. Asano failed between big brother and little sister?
Suddenly, his ears pricked forward at the sound of a familiar voice. Inu Yasha sat up straighter and strained to make sure he wasn’t mistaken. With a passionate curse and knot in his stomach, he jumped from his hiding place and ran after Yuki and Shunusuke. “Tachimora! Damn!” The bully was back for revenge and, just as he’d promised that morning, he’d brought more guys with him. Inu Yasha counted fourteen males, including their leader. Six of them bore the bruises and bandages from last night’s altercation. They had the Asanos surrounded, but to their credit Shunusuke and Yuki were utterly calm and ready for action.
“TACHIMORA!” Inu Yasha roundhoused the two gang members who turned at his shout. The wet sand made for better footing, but the rain was coming down hard enough to make it difficult to see and almost impossible to smell his enemy. A skinny gangster stupidly tried to kick him in the face, but Inu Yasha grabbed his foot and gave it a twist. A sickening crack, and the boy went down with a shriek of pain, clinging to his ankle.
Inu Yasha’s attack was a signal to Yuki and Shunusuke. Yuki laid out three of the gang in seconds with well-placed power kicks, while her brother eliminated three more. Then she flipped her way over to engage two more opponents, feet and fists flying like lightning. Inu Yasha gawked at her in astonishment long enough for one of Tachi’s guys to take a swing at him. The kid had a pocket knife in his hand, but Inu Yasha dodged it. He grabbed the boy’s wrist and twisted until the knife came free. The boy screamed and staggered away, holding his injured wrist.
Inu Yasha came about with a triumphant snarl to find himself face to face with Tachi. The man had a bandage on his nose from last night, and blood trickled from his nostrils. He had a black eye and a cut on his jaw, as well, both of which looked new. Tachimora’s eyes were fixed, not on Inu Yasha’s face, but higher…on the top of his skull. It was then that the demon realized with a terrible, sinking feeling that he wasn’t wearing his disguise. Tachi and his guys could see him for what he was: A wolf-eared demon with golden eyes. Ah well, now that his secret was out, Inu Yasha figured he just as well use it to his advantage. He bared his fangs at the gang leader and let go with the most terrifying growl he’d ever produced. Tachi turned white as a ghost and fainted at Inu Yasha’s feet. “Heh. That felt good.” Inu Yasha declared, then waded in to help his cohorts finish off the rest of the gang.
Shunuske was faced off with two assailants and three knives. He disarmed the boy who only had one weapon easily enough, but the other boy was faster. The boy sneered at him: “Not much without your demon pal, are ya, Asano?”
Shunusuke risked a quick glance at Inu Yasha and his stomach went cold. Even in the driving rain he could see that the demon was without his disguise. Dammit! Now what would they do about him? He dodged the knife the boy swung at his face and caught the hand holding the knife that tried to get in under his guard while he escaped the other one. Shunusuke jerked the boy’s arm behind his back and pressed until the blade came free. Suddenly Yuki was in front of them, her hands knitting and unknitting before her as she muttered a high speed chant. Her hands exploded with a bright blue light that hit her brother’s attacker full in the face. The boy screamed as every bone in his face cracked, and blood shot from his nose and ears.
Everything stopped. Attacker and defender gaped at the stricken boy, then at Yuki. Her hands still glowed a quiet blue for a few moments as she caught her breath and dumbly watched the knife slide from the boy’s hand to stick in the sand. Shunusuke lowered him onto the ground, his frightened gaze never leaving his sister’s. Yuki’s eyes rolled up into her head and she collapsed face down into the sand. “Yuki…” Shunusuke choked as the rain washed blood from the injured boy’s face into a puddle made by someone’s footprint. Inu Yasha crouched next to Yuki and gently turned her head so she could breathe.
“That bitch killed Yamota!” Someone cursed.
Shunusuke touched the boy’s jugular with a trembling finger and shook his head. “He’s not dead, but we need to get him to the hospital. I don’t suppose any of you has a phone on him?”
Nobody moved for a few seconds, then one of the boys reached into his jacket pocket and handed Shunusuke a cellular phone. He took it and called for an ambulance, then returned the phone to its owner, feeling like everything was moving in slow motion. Surreal. “You assholes,” he growled. “See what you started?! None of this would’ve happened if you--“ He sat in the sand and turned the wounded boy onto his side so the blood could drain out of his nose properly and not choke him. “Inu Yasha,” he croaked, “go back to the condo,” when the demon didn’t move, Shunusuke screamed at him: “NOW! Do you want the authorities to see you?!”
“Fuck them,” Tachi groaned as he stumbled over to check on his man. “I’ve seen him--we all have. He’s a fucking demon, Asano! Just like the rest of your godforsaken clan.” He nodded to the unconscious Yuki. “Just like that scary bitch.”
Shunusuke grabbed him by the shirt and jerked the gang leader’s face into his own. “Who’s a demon? Huh? How about a guy who orders his men to gang rape a woman? Or beats up on a guy while his men hold him still. Fuck you, Tachimora! You almost killed them both last night!” He threw Tachi away from him with a disgusted growl. “That demon,” he pointed to Inu Yasha, who still hadn’t moved to leave, “saved those people’s lives-and today he was trying to save ours! Between the two of you, I’d say you’re the demon, you sick mother fucker!”
He lunged at Tachi, but Inu Yasha held them apart. “Knock it off!” He threw them away, putting at least three meters between them with his shove. “I’m leaving, Asano. Me and Shippo both. We’ll go home.” He clenched his fists as he rose to go. “That’ll solve everybody’s problems. Thank Yuki for the clothes when she wakes up. Tell her I’ll figure out some way to repay her later.”
“You can’t leave,” Tachi protested in a dangerous voice. “I have eyes everywhere, man. I’ll follow you. I don’t care where you go or what kind of allies you have, I’ll track you down, Inu Yasha the Dog Demon, and I’ll fuckin’ kill your ass! This is personal.”
Inu Yasha gave him a bored look, but just as he turned to go, Tachi added: “I know about you and Higurashi.”
The demon froze in his tracks. “Who?”
“Don’t play dumb with me,” Tachi retorted. “Didn’t I tell you I have eyes everywhere? Ears, too. One of my boys overheard your girlfriend talking to some of her buddies about you. I think it’s love.”
Inu Yasha shrugged. “She means nothing to me. Her family has a shrine, I’m a demon. Our kinds mix all the time.” He continued walking away, not stopping this time, even when Tachi called after him:
“Be a shame if anything were to happen to such a beautiful girl!”
Shunusuke threw sand at him to shut him up. “Not if you want to land in jail, Tachimora.”
He rolled his eyes. “Ooh. I’m scared. Thought maybe you’d sick your freak sister on me.”
The paramedics appeared on the beach then, running toward the group. Shunusuke said: “We were defending ourselves against you. Keiichi and Karami will testify to what you did to them last night. Unlike you, my sister and I have spotless records. And who’s going to believe that you fought a demon when the word of Asano goes against you?” He let his gaze rove over the other gang members. They returned his stare at first, then good sense got the better of them and they hung their heads. Even if they didn’t fear the younger Asanos, they knew better than to temp their father’s wrath. There would be no demon stories tonight.
Shippo arrived just ten minutes after Inu Yasha returned to the condo and almost got run
over in the bigger demon’s haste to leave. “What’s up?” The little
kitsune asked in a frightened voice. “They’re taking some kid away down there.
He’s pretty beat up. Your work?”
“Where’s Kagome, Shippo?” Inu
Yasha asked him urgently and actually allowed himself to be pushed back into the house.
Shippo looked puzzled. “She’s in her
room at the Green Mermaid, why?”
Relief washed over Inu Yasha with enough force
to turn his legs into noodles. He staggered over to a chair and flopped into it with a
ragged sigh. “Go back there and make her lock her door,” he ordered. “Tachi
knows about us. One of his guys overheard her talking to you and that other girl about
me.”
“I have a better idea,” said Keiichi
from the couch. “Call her. You can get the number from the front desk at the
Mermaid.”
“Forget that,” Shippo headed for the
telephone, picked it up and brought it over to Inu Yasha. “Here. She gave me her
phone number, so you can call her.” He fished a piece of paper out of his kimono and
handed that and the phone to his friend.
Inu Yasha stared at the phone, unable to make
heads or tails of it, then held it out to
Keiichi. “How do I work this
thing?”
Keiichi didn’t get up. “Push that
green button to turn it on,” Inu Yasha did and was rewarded with an annoying buzzing
sound. “Good. Now press the buttons corresponding to the numbers on that piece of
paper.” He did. “Ok, you talk into that end and listen through that one. Put it
against your head, so you can hear when she picks up."
Inu Yasha followed directions, putting the
phone to his head as he’d seen Yuki do when ordering pizza the night before. It
buzzed at him twice, then Kagome’s cheerful voice said: “Hello! Kagome
Higurashi!” He hesitated. She sounded so happy. How could he tell her what had
just happened?
“It’s me, Kagome,” he said,
letting his tone of voice put her into the proper frame of mind. “He knows about
us.”
She gasped. “Tachi, you mean. How?”
“He heard you talking to your friend and
Shippo,” Inu Yasha told her. “There’s something else: Yuki almost killed
one of Tachi’s men. I don’t think she meant to hurt him that badly.”
Karami and Keiichi gasped at the same time as
Kagome did. “She almost--“ Karami began in horror, but Shippo waved her to
silence.
“Yuki?” Kagome whispered. “What
happened? Did she just lose control?”
Inu Yasha sighed. Kagome had seen weirder
things than Yuki’s attack. “She used some kind of power on him, a blue light
from her hands, only it wasn’t light. It hit him like a boulder and broke his face.
Shunusuke called for an, “ he tried to remember the word, “ambulance? Does that
sound right?”
“Yes,” she said. The catch in her
voice told him she’d begun to cry. “Poor Yuki… Will the boy live, do you
think?”
“I don’t know,” Inu Yasha
replied quietly, “he was hurt pretty bad. Yuki was unconscious when I left--“
“Why did you leave?!” Kagome
shrieked. “I can’t believe--what if--“
“I had to!” He shouted back. “I
didn’t have my disguise on, and Shunusuke wanted me out of there before the ambulance
got here.” In a calmer voice, he added: “Anyway, the fight was over. Shunusuke
even borrowed a phone from one of Tachi’s men.” He hesitated, then told her
solemnly: “I don’t think the Asanos are what they seem, Kagome.”
Pause. “Why do you say that?”
“Tachi said I was a demon, just like the
rest of Shunusuke’s clan.”
“The Asanos are demons?” Kagome
snorted. “I think he was speaking metaphorically.”
“No,” Inu Yasha argued, “I felti
when Yuki used her power. It was youkai power, but weak. Not like mine or a full
demon’s.”
Neither of them said anything for a while. Inu
Yasha listened to her breathe and thought of Yuki, seeing the Asano girl’s hands
sending a blast of power that could crush a boy’s face. She’d collapsed
afterwards, as if the power had come as a complete surprise to her, though she’d
seemed to know what she was doing when preparing the attack. What were they? Did Shunusuke
have that kind of power, too?
“I’m going home, Kagome,” he
told her finally, “and I want you to come with me. It’s not safe for you here
now that Tachi knows who you are.”
“What?!” Kagome cried, confused.
“You can’t leave! I can’t leave! No,” she amended in the tone of voice
she used when arguing with him over her returning to the future for school, “I
won’t be driven off by some stupid human! I’ve faced demons and survived, Inu
Yasha. As long as you’re here, too, I know I’ll be safe.”
Inu Yasha could just see her trembling with
rage in his mind’s eyes and had to smile. She could be so stubborn sometimes…and
strong. Her words made him rethink his decision to leave: “I won’t be driven off
by some stupid human!” Well, neither would he. He was ashamed of himself for even
considering it. Tachimora said it was personal, between the two of them. Fine. Then Inu
Yasha would settle with Tachimora. That “stupid human” didn’t know who he
was dealing with.
“Alright,” he said, “I’ll
stay and deal with Tachimora. He said it’s between him and me, so if it’s a
fight he wants, I’ll give it to him. But you stay in your room and lock the damn
door, Kagome! Do you hear me?”
“I will not be a prisoner!” She
snarled with enough ferocity to make him cringe. “He’s not ruining my vacation,
or anybody else’s. We’re gonna put him away, Inu Yasha--legally. We’ll put
him in jail. Him and his gang, so they can’t hurt anybody anymore.”
“But, Kagome,” Inu Yasha argued,
“they know what I am now!”
“Big deal.”
He paused, not sure he heard her correctly.
Shippo’s sharp ears had picked up her words, too, and he raised his eyebrows
curiously. “Maybe you didn’t hear me--“
“I heard you,” Kagome snapped.
“I heard you just fine and I don’t think it’ll matter. You’re a hero,
Inu Yasha! Everybody’s on your side and nobody’s on Tachi’s. In fact,”
she added smugly, “I think they’ll think it’s cool that you’re a real
youkai.”
Cool? The humans will think he’s cool because
he’s a demon? “What about Shippo?”
Kagome thought about it, but Shippo answered first.
“Nobody knows I’m not human, so I can keep up my disguise.”
Inu Yasha relayed his answer to Kagome, who chuckled.
“I think he just doesn’t want Rei to know he’s a little kitsune boy and not
a cute human who’s old enough for her to date.”
Inu Yasha turned a stern look on his little friend,
who gulped. “It’s not what you think!” Shippo assured him unconvincingly.
“I just think she’s nice--and I don’t want her to know I’ve been sort
of lying to her.”
“You don’t want her to know you’re a
little boy in youkai years,” Inu Yasha scowled. “Don’t lead her on, Shippo.
I think you should come clean next time you see her. If I can’t hide, neither can
you.”
“You keep saying that…”
Inu Yasha bared his fangs at the fox, who just bared
his own in return. Meanwhile, Kagome said something then hung up the phone, leaving Inu
Yasha with that odd buzzing noise again. “Kagome?” He shook the phone, then
dropped it as her words finally crawled back into his conscious mind. “Oh no,”
he gasped and jumped out of his chair and ran for the door. “Kagome, you idiot!”
“WHAT?!” The others shouted after him.
Shippo was hot on his heels as he opened the door to find Shunusuke standing there with
Yuki in his arms.
“Get out of my way, Asano!” Inu Yasha
grunted as he pushed past them and took off into the air, using the top step as a spring
board. Shippo dove between Shunusuke’s legs and dashed after Inu Yasha.
“I think Kagome’s leaving the
Mermaid!” The kitsune shouted over his shoulder by way of explanation.
Shunusuke ran into one of the bedrooms and
deposited Yuki on the bed. As he ran through the living room again, he ordered Keiichi and
Karami to lock the doors and look after his sister, then took off after the demons,
slamming the front door behind him.
Kagome got as far as the stairs from the Green Mermaid to the beach before she crashed
straight into Tachi’s arms. “Excuse me,” she tried to push away, but he
held her fast. Irritated, she glared at him, then realized who it was and started to fight
him in earnest. “Let me go!”
“I don’t think so,” he told her
with a smile that chilled her blood. She’d seen scarier eyes on demons.
“You’re going to be my guest for a little while, Kagome Higurashi.” Tachi
grabbed a fistful of her hair and yanked her head back. Then he crushed her lips with his,
smashing her body against him with the hand about her waist.
Kagome screamed and struggled, but he was too
strong. He let her go with a satisfied gasp and grinned at her angry tears. But just when
he opened his mouth to speak, something flashed past him, plucked her from his arms, then
flashed away into the sky. Tachi was too shocked to do anything but stare after Inu Yasha
as he flew away toward the Asano’s house with Kagome on his back. “He can
fly?”
Kagome wrapped her arms around Inu Yasha’s
neck and sobbed into his hair. “Thank you, Inu Yasha.”
“I told you to stay put!” He shot
back, but his anger was tempered with real fear for her. How dare that Tachimora bastard
kiss her before he did?! It had probably been her first kiss, too (it had better have been
her first). A first kiss should be with someone you wanted to kiss, not some asshole who
wanted to-- Inu Yasha cut off that thought before it went too far and got his imagination
going. Kagome was safe now. He’d take her back to Shunusuke’s, and she could
stay with them. They’d protect her while he dealt with Tachimora.
So lost in thought was he that Inu Yasha almost
missed the soft kiss she pressed against his cheek. The feathery sensation mixed with the
hot wetness of her tears and the cold rain and made him shiver. “I wanted it to
be…” she sniffled and hugged his neck more tightly until he touched down at the
foot of the stairs to the condo. She slid off his back, and he turned to find tears still
streaming down her face. Then she threw herself into his arms and sobbed: “I wanted
it to be you the first time!”
Inu Yasha wrapped his arms around her and
held her tight. It was her first kiss! That asshole! “I’ll kill him,” he
thought in a hot rage, “I’ll rip his--“
“Please…Inu Yasha. Make me
forget.” She looked up and closed her eyes.
Inu Yasha’s breath caught his throat as he
realized what she was asking of him. He licked his lips and buried his fingers in her wet
hair. She was so beautiful with rain on her upturned face and her lips softly parted,
waiting for him to kiss her. Him! He closed his eyes and--
“Inu Ya--oops! Sorry.”
“Shunusuke!” Inu Yasha coughed,
turning bright red.
Kagome’s eyes fluttered open and she
blushed and jumped out of Inu Yasha’s arms. “Oh! Asano! Hi.”
Shunusuke grinned. “Don’t let me stop
you,” he said slyly and slipped past them and up the stairs into the house. Still
blushing madly, Kagome dashed after him, leaving Inu Yasha holding his heart in the rain.