Adult-FanFiction.org : Inuyasha / Yashahime

The More Things Change	By : inumom Category: InuYasha > Het - Male/Female > InuYasha/Kagome Views: 2401 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha, nor make money from this story.

Chapter List
- 7
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- 9
Disclaimer: I don�t own them, damn it. Maybe for Christmas�.

8. Meetings

The traveler picked up his pace, passing through the silent forest in a blur of motion. It had been a long time since he had ventured into this area, and he was not terribly surprised to find that little had changed. He had spent much of the past couple of months on his journey, visiting the villages in the territory of the Western Lands. It had been a hard winter on the humans living in the region, and he had been obliged to assist in any way that he could. He liked to think that he had been instrumental in saving quite a few human lives.
As he had traveled, he gradually became aware of a new local legend. Generally, the stories travelers heard were simply variations on old, established tales. In this case, though, the story was unlike anything he�d ever heard before. It seems that in an unidentified village to the east there was a young miko. She was a mysterious figure, with no origin that anyone had ever been able to discover. She possessed great knowledge unknown to even the wisest of the scholars, and was extraordinarily powerful--there were those who said that her power rivaled that of the legendary Midoriko herself. She also had a reputation as a skilled fighter, keeping her village safe from youkai who attacked with frightening regularity. Despite her great knowledge and power, she was profoundly sad, yearning for something that none of the travelers had ever been able to identify.
Perhaps, he thought, racing through the trees, I should find this village. If nothing else, it would be interesting to meet with a miko of such great power.

*

The woman sat quietly in the forest clearing. Stilling her concerns and maintaining only the slightest connecting thread with her physical body, she sent her perception through the forest, looking for the source of the great power she had sensed approaching from the west days earlier. She was so intent on her search that she never felt the approach of the small snake youkai until it sank its fangs into the muscle of her calf.
Her concentration snapped, bringing her back to her body suddenly as she writhed in agony from the youkai�s venom that spread rapidly through her small frame. The last thing she remembered before losing control of her body to the seizures was the agonized mental plea for assistance that she sent to the only one who could help even though there was no chance that he would be able to hear her.
The youkai lord paused in his travels, sniffing the air. Something was wrong. He had suddenly been jolted out of his solitary thoughts by a shriek of distress that resonated through him. Picking up speed until he was visible only as a blur of brilliant color against the backdrop of the forest, he followed the faint scent that he knew would take him to the source of the pained mental scream.
Without slowing, he analyzed the components in the scent he followed. It was human, yes, but there were some unusual factors in the fragrance. There was the slightest trace of a youkai scent very much like his own which very definitely should not have been there: he had had no contact with any human in this area for several months--even if he had left a scent mark on the woman it should have faded away long ago. There was something else, though--some indefinable scent of power deeply entwined in the woman�s scent, all overlaid with the scent of the youkai venom that was slowly and painfully killing her.
Crashing through the last tangle of brush separating him from his goal, he stopped instantly at the sight of a human woman twitching on the ground next to the small pile of ash that had once been a very stupid snake youkai. As near as he could tell, she had automatically purified the youkai as it struck, killing it instantly. Perhaps if she hadn�t done so she would have been able to heal herself from the poison it had left in her body. Sniffing carefully, he grabbed the woman around the waist, holding her motionless. Concentrating on the task at hand, he observed that the claws of his right hand began to glow, dripping a substance that looked like nothing so much as human blood. In a move too fast for human eyes to see, he plunged his claws into the woman�s leg at the site of the original bite.

*

Kagome was still partly conscious--at least on some level--when the agony of the youkai�s poisoned bite began to give way to a pleasant warmth that spread quickly through her entire body. Although she wondered briefly if this new sensation was in fact approaching death, some small part of her didn�t think so. Struggling to open her eyes, she instead drifted into a deep sleep.
For the first time in months, she didn�t dream of the hanyou she loved so deeply dying in agony somewhere beyond her reach.
Kagome gradually became aware of a rhythmic sound, a soft rumbling vibration that seemed to resonate through her entire body, relaxing muscles that had been cramped and painful from the seizures caused by the youkai�s venom. Still deep in that place somewhere between sleep and waking, she thought that she could feel something warm and wet moving over the wound in her leg. Surprisingly, there wasn�t any pain.
Still too tired to force her eyes open, she drifted back to sleep, sending a thought of thanks to whoever had found her and returned her to Kaede�s care. *Sleep now. We can talk in the morning.*
She opened her eyes, surprised to find that she was still in the forest clearing in which she had been attacked by the snake youkai. Too surprised to even think about moving, she simply stayed as she was, trying to determine exactly what had happened by what she could sense of her surroundings. She was, she decided, entirely too comfortable, half-lying against something that was firm and extremely warm. That warmth, whatever its cause, seemed to be wrapped around her, soothing her jangled nerves. Surprisingly, something very warm--almost hot enough to burn, in fact, seemed to have worked its way under her sweatshirt and was resting against the skin of her stomach. Breathing deeply, all she could detect were the scents of the forest, a slightly spicy, piney fragrance that brought back all of the memories she had been trying to bury for months now.
Turning towards the surface against which she lay, she finally allowed the pain that had been her constant companion out of where she had locked it away. Sobbing wildly against the firm surface, she blocked out all conscious thoughts until she suddenly felt something running through her hair and down her back.
Looking up, she suddenly thought that she had finally started to go insane. *Please, let this be a dream.*
The voice that answered her unspoken words was familiar, though subtly different from the sometimes mocking tones she remembered. �Stupid girl,� it said, the tone soft but with rough overtones of amused affection and something else that she couldn�t identify. �What the hell were you thinking of? I�d have thought that you�d know better than to just sit out here alone and become youkai bait.�
She was trembling slightly, but not from the chill of the early morning air. �I�m only human, you know.�
�I know,� he said. �Tell me, are you the sad miko from all the stories I�ve heard?�
She was starting to get her reactions under control once more. �Maybe,� she said. �Are you the mysterious youkai lord who�s been going around helping to rebuild villages that had a rough time getting through the winter?�
�Do I look like some damn royal youkai? Why do you ask?�
�That�s why I came out here--I figured that the travelers must have been talking about Sesshoumaru from their descriptions, and I wanted to find him.�
The voice, now freed of the worry of the earlier part of the day, was sounding more and more familiar. �What the hell did you want to see him for, anyway?�
She looked away from the amber eyes briefly, trying to order her thoughts so that they wouldn�t come out sounding all wrong. �A friend of mine left me a while ago. I don�t really understand what happened, but I must have hurt him badly for him to leave that way. I thought that Sesshoumaru might have seen him, and could tell me where I could find him.�
�This friend of yours must have been a real asshole to run out on you like that.�
She shook her head. �I don�t think so. I think he was going through a hard time in his life, and didn�t want to hurt me by accident. I�ve been waiting for him to come home ever since.�
Two soft, furry ears twitched in surprise. �You�ve been waiting here all this time? Why the hell didn�t you go back to your home? Your family�s probably worried half to death about you by now!�
She shrugged. �I couldn�t go. I wouldn�t take a chance on him coming back and not finding me here. What if he thought I forgot about him? What if he thought I was gone forever? What if he thought I lied when I said that I wanted to always be with him?� She reached down to lightly trace along the hand that was pressed against the soft skin of her stomach. �Does this mean what I think it means?�
Amber eyes stared intently at her. �That depends on you. Do you want to be the mate of the biggest ass in either of our worlds? Are you willing to be scorned by humans and hunted by youkai, at least until I can beat the hell out of them so that they�ll leave us alone? Are you willing to forget that I�ve probably been the biggest fool in all of history and let me love you the best I can?�
Suddenly remembering the snake youkai, she shook her head slowly. �How do I know this isn�t all a dream from the youkai�s poison? Will you still be here if I go to sleep?�
The deep chuckle that sounded in her ear warmed her through. �Look at your leg, baka. You can still see the two marks from the youkai�s fangs, but if you look around them you�ll see four more marks--from my claws.� Suddenly realizing exactly how that sounded, he hurried to explain. �It�s kind of like what Sesshoumaru does with his poisoned claws, but mine seem to have healing abilities. I put some of the liquid from my claws into your leg and it cancelled out the effects of the youkai venom. Even those little marks will probably be gone before tomorrow�s over.�
She suddenly grew serious. �I don�t understand--why are you asking me to be your mate? I mean, Kikyou�s still out there waiting to take you away to hell.�
He sighed but refused to relinquish his hold on her. �You heard me when I promised to protect Kikyou from Naraku. That hasn�t changed. But I won�t be going with her to hell. If it�s at all within my power, I don�t want her going there either. You didn�t know her when she was alive: she was an outcast, the same as me. She was feared and respected because of her power, and I--well, you�ve seen how strangers take to me. We were both alone in a world that didn�t really want us, and we found a common ground in that. I thought we loved each other, but you showed me that I didn�t know what the hell I was talking about. If we�d loved each other like I thought, we would have known better than to fall for Naraku�s little tricks. Also, she would never have asked me to become human if she cared about me that much.�
The young miko couldn�t help but ask, �So, what are you going to do?�
He shook his head slowly. �I�m going to do what I planned to do all along--kill that son of a bitch Naraku. Once he�s gone, my obligation to protect Kikyou will be over. Then I can do what I should have done when she was first revived. The old hag was right, Kagome--that isn�t really Kikyou. What small part of your joint soul is in that false body has been corrupted by the sorcery that put it there. I want to free her from that so that she can move on to the afterlife and you can have the rest of your soul back. I�m willing to bet that you can purify the evil out of it just like you did that snake youkai.�
�Is there a ceremony?�
�Nani?� He was momentarily confused by her nimble leap to a completely different topic.
�For becoming mates, baka. Just about every human society has a different ceremony, so I wondered what youkai did.�
He shook his head slowly. �Not really. At least, not in the sense of a human ceremony. Some youkai couples concoct elaborate rituals, but they�re not really necessary for the mating to be recognized. All that�s required is the placement of the mating marks and a witness--unrelated by blood to wither of the mates--to swear that the mating was consummated.�
Her voice came out as a faint squeak. �A witness?�
He laughed at the assumptions he knew must be running through her head. �It�s not like that. The witness doesn�t actually watch--he usually waits outside the area where the mating is taking place and listens. When inuyoukai mate it usually gets a little noisy.�
She shivered slightly, and he pulled her tighter against himself, drinking in the scent of her rapidly growing arousal. �Could we do it now?�
He chuckled again, his breath warm against her ear. �It�s been all I can do to not do it for just about as long as I can remember.� He looked around the clearing. �Do you really want to do this here?�
�Not really,� she admitted, �But I know just the place: under the Goshinboku, where we first met.�
He gave her an especially serious look. �Are you sure about this? Inuyoukai mate for life, you know--once done, it can never be undone.�
She looked at him in the gathering darkness, realizing that he looked subtly different than he had when he had walked away from her all those months ago. His features were slightly more angular, a little more defined. His hair looked a little less wild, but even longer and thicker than before, and she wondered if he had learned a new way of caring for it while he was gone. As they stood to leave, she realized that he was now slightly taller than he had been: instead of her head reaching to his chin, it now came to the base of his throat. She could hardly wait to see what other marvelous changes had come about as a result of his new maturity. �Find us a witness,� she said. �I don�t think I can wait much longer.�
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The More Things Change