The Boyfriend

Disclaimer:
InuYasha, Kagome and anyone else you saw in the manga or anime does
not belong to me. Yukio does. If I saw so much as a shiny penny for
this story, you think I’d be writing fanfiction still? Okay, I
would… Damn other authors and their more interesting universes…

Genre:
Angst, Romance

Rating:
R

Codes: Inu/Kag

Feedback: Keeps my muse talking and the
stories coming! Do tell. But if you have a flame, use it for
something more productive, like setting your clothes on fire.

The Boyfriend

Chapter 18

Kagome stepped out of the forest, putting away the
roll of toilet paper she always brought with her and started walking
towards camp, enjoying the soft breeze blowing through the trees
around her. She only made it a few steps before Sango appeared in
front of her. Kagome jumped, startled at her friend’s sudden
appearance.

“Tama isn’t InuYasha’s,” Sango queried.
Kagome shook her head. “But he’s okay with her?”

“He named her,” Kagome confirmed, feeling her
heart warm as she remembered. “He says that she’s his.”

“Wow,” Sango said, falling into step beside
Kagome. “Miroku…” Sango stopped and Kagome turned to her. The
taijiya took a deep breath before continuing. “He… he asked me to
marry him,” Sango finally managed to say. Kagome squealed and
clapped her hands together.

“You said yes, right?” Kagome asked, excited.
Sango smiled back, happy to see Kagome acting like her old self
again.

“Yes,” Sango said, blushing. She smiled
broadly when Kagome laughed, so happy to hear that sound again. She
had been afraid it was gone forever.

“I’m so happy for you, Sango-chan!” Kagome
said. Sango indicated that they should go back to the group, but
didn’t stop smiling. Kagome was glad to see Sango smiling. It
seemed like she had rarely seen it in the time she had known the
demon slayer girl. Kagome wanted to run over to Miroku and thank him
for putting a smile on her friend’s face, unaware that she had
brought the wide smile herself.

“Kagome!” InuYasha’s panicked voice carried
past the trees and she sighed.

“Good grief, I just had to go to—aaaaah!”
she shrieked as a huge worm came barreling at her. She jumped to one
side while Sango jumped to the other, reaching for Hiraikotsu. Before
she could draw it, InuYasha swung the Tetsusaiga and cut the worm
youkai into pieces. Kagome was still shrieking at it when she was
covered head to toe in gore. She stood there, shaking in horror as a
trail of slime slid down her forehead.

A second later, her shrieks of disgust filled the
forest and InuYasha flinched away from the smell rising up from the
remains. Kagome batted at the larger chunks, knocking them off her
skin, but she just succeeded in smearing the viscous junk in her hair
all over her hands and face. Finally, she stopped spinning in circles
and jumping around and just stood there, looking miserable. InuYasha
and Sango stared at her, covering their noses and trying to look
sympathetic while fighting the urge to gag.

“Why… why can’t they all disappear when they
die?” Kagome wailed. “Why do some of them have to leave parts
behind?”

“What’s going on? Is Kagome-sama… ugh,”
Miroku groaned as he skidded to a halt in front of Kagome, bringing
his hand up to cover his nose. Shippo, who was sitting on his
shoulder, jumped over to Sango in a hurry.

“One day back in the feudal era and I’m
already… I need a bath, now!” Kagome howled. InuYasha jumped up
and ran off into the forest, presumably looking for a body of water.
In the meantime, Kagome stood very still, her arms away from her
body, trying not to touch the hardening debris all over her. Sango
and Miroku had retreated a safe distance from the stench and tried to
offer comforting words, but they could only imagine how bad it must
be to be covered in the foul-smelling mess.

A few minutes later, InuYasha came back and
pointed Kagome in the direction of a small lake at the bottom of a
waterfall and escorted her to it—staying a safe distance upwind the
entire time. He waited in the bushes as she stripped and threw her
clothes in the lake—not caring if she ever saw them again or not.
She dove in and swam over to the waterfall and sat under it for a
good half hour before she felt her hair was close to clean. She just
relaxed and let her mind clear under the heavy curtain falling around
her body, shivering a little from the cold. She watched the sunlight
sparkling off the blue-green water and danced her toes in the mist
rising from the rocks she was perched on.

Sitting in the waterfall calmed her and the water
pounding down on her body made her actually feel lighter, rather than
heavier, as she climbed out of the water when she finally felt clean.
She fished out the clothes, which were mostly clean and beat them
against a rock before making a rack out of loose sticks to dry them
on. She carefully took some dry clothes out of her bag, wiping it
clean and spraying her perfume on it in an attempt to destroy the
remains of the odor before she changed. When she turned around,
InuYasha was staring at her, his eyes lingering on where some of the
worst scars had been on her body.

She looked down, not even having the energy to
yell at him for peeking, afraid this was where he would reject her.
The scars the youkai had left on her body were thick and ropey and
she thought they were terribly ugly. InuYasha suffered serious wounds
and never scarred, so she figured he wouldn’t want a girl that was
covered in them. She started shaking, waiting for him to tell her
that he didn’t want her anymore and chewed on her bottom lip,
unable to start a conversation.

“I’m sorry it took me so long to find you. I’m
sorry I failed to protect you,” InuYasha finally whispered and
Kagome looked up to find him staring at the ground, clenching his
fist so that his claws dug into the palm of his hand. That wasn’t
what she was expecting at all! She took a tentative step towards him,
holding out her hand and he looked over to it, but didn’t take it.
She let it fall to her side, looking away.

“It wasn’t your fault,” Kagome told him,
again, wishing she could convince him. “But… you don’t need to
feel obligated to stay with me. If you don’t want me anymore—”
Kagome didn’t get another word out before InuYasha grabbed her and
pulled her close. She balled the fire rat kimono in her fists and
buried her head against his shoulder. His arms tightened around her
and she cried against his shoulder. He didn’t tell her to stop this
time and she realized that he was shaking in her embrace as well. She
looked up and his eyes were shining, but no tears had fallen.

“Why would you say that?” he asked, his voice
thick. “I told you that I wanted you to stay with me.”

“You… you hadn’t seen the scars,” she
whispered back, avoiding his eyes. “You hadn’t seen how ugly I am
now.” There was a moment of silence before he lifted her chin so
that she was looking him in the eyes.

“You… are… not… ugly,” he
growled. “I’m sorry I ever said you weren’t pretty. I was
lying. I’ve never once believed that.” Kagome almost made a
snotty remark, but then she realized what he had just said and she
blushed and pushed away, suddenly shy. There was too much intensity
in his eyes and she wasn’t ready for that. Her heart was racing and
for the first time in months, it wasn’t in fear. She smiled up at
him, so that he knew she wasn’t upset, then turned and went to
retrieve her bag.