Wednesday, September 29, 2004

   inuyasha 12
The silence was so complete and packed with the thrum of subtle menace it became deafening... even painful as it stretched on in the little room.

Kagome held Shippo to her so tightly he was starting to worry, especially since her eyes had gone glassy and the only color on her face was the blue and purple bruises from her fight with the two reptile youkai. Shippo could feel her heartbeat start to pound, her mouth moving with silent words only she could decipher as she gathered him to her chest and held him like a lifeline to her own sanity. He leaned up on his tiptoes to pet her cheek, trying his hardest to snap her out of whatever held her so enthralled, but Kagome didn't even register his little attempts.

Inuyasha had completely forgotten that his hand was still wrapped tightly around Miroku's throat, however, Miroku was in much the same state of mind. The hands he'd wrapped around the hanyou's wrist were slack with surprise as they stood frozen in disbelief, their eyes completely centered on the shaking girl who sat with her back to them. She was presently trying to curl into on herself as though it would somehow hide her from their silent attention and, more importantly to her, from the slow stream of anger that had begun rolling off the hanyou in thick, nearly tangible waves.

Shippo's casual comment had fallen on their ears with the effect of an explosion, made that much more disturbing by her reaction and the silence now choking the group. The slow dawning of understanding had Inuyasha's brows lowering and a dangerous growl steadily gaining volume in his throat. And the longer the silence stretched, the more he felt his anger rise.

Shippo had discovered something that Kagome had hidden from the rest of them.

Deliberately.

And Kagome had told him to his face there was nothing else she hadn't told him.

"What weird bruise?" Inuyasha released Miroku so abruptly, the priest didn't have time to keep himself from dropping rather unceremoniously to the ground. Ignoring the surprised gasp and muted curse rising from the man, he turned towards Kagome, his lips pulling back in a snarl at her lack of response. "What the hell is he talking about, Kagome? What bruise? Answer me!"

Silence fell yet again, nothing in the room moving for a long moment.

Finally, Kagome gently set Shippo on the ground in front of her, shifting her weight so she could rise to her feet. Shippo tried to cling to her, his eyes going liquid with fright at such uncharacteristic behavior in his beloved Kagome. She very gently, but firmly detangled him, giving him an absent pat as she stood.

Her motions were slow, measured, as though she wasn't sure her legs would support the commands her brain was sending to it. She kept her back to the three the entire time, aware of their gazes boring into her with silent demands for answers. She tried to speak, but the emotions humming thickly in the air, hers and theirs, closed her throat and not matter how hard she tried to force words past her lips, she couldn't do anything more than open and close her mouth weakly.

Her head bowed forward as her mind raced desperately from one thought to the other, refusing to settle on a plausible response. She'd told Shippo it was a bruise, but Inuyasha would know... IF she told him it was a bruise, directly over her scar from the Shikon no Tama, he would demand to see it. He would know the convenient bruise was just too coincidental with everything else that happened and then he would want to know how long she'd had it... He would be livid when he saw his own name permanently inked into her hip and even more so when he realized how long she'd known it was there and just hadn't told him. Especially considering this time, she HAD lied.

Panic welled up steadily inside Kagome, her imagination running wild with all the possibilities that revealing the mark to Inuyasha could bring. How would he react? There wasn't any way she could pretend it was anything else when it was so precisely his name. Feeling trapped and desperate, she did the one thing pounding the strongest through her chaotic thoughts. The thought repeated over and over.

"Sit!" Kagome forced out, the sound of her own voice breaking her paralysis. In the same instant she breathed the subduing spell, she was launching herself forward at an adrenaline-fueled dead run.

"Dammit!" Inuyasha snarled out as he went crashing down, so startled at the abrupt response that for a few seconds he nearly forgot he had his own for her. "Stay!" he roared out at the top of his lungs, his head snapping up to try and find her fleeing figure.

He barely heard the soft shriek of surprised outrage and the thump that indicated she hadn't gotten out of range of his voice fast enough to avoid being subdued herself. That was a small consolation, however, considering the rage pouring through him at the moment. His claws dug deeply into the wood beneath his palms, making it groan loudly in protest as his eyes seemed to catch fire. His entire form shook from the effort it took to contain the seething anger even as a feral growl began to rumble steadily from his chest and his eyes narrowed to slits. There was no response, absolutely 'nothing' that could have confirmed to him this was yet another secret faster or more damningly than Kagome's reaction, and running had only proven that knew just how badly she'd fucked up. If she thought she could get away from him she was going to be sorely disappointed.

Determined to get an explanation even as the force of his anger made his blood scream and his heart pound, he wrenched his upper body up on his hands. Brute strength alone levering him up against the rosary's spell so he could look out into the night. His nose twitched even as his ears flicked forward, fanning out his senses for her exact position, but the wind was being uncooperative.

Inuyasha swore blackly at his immobility, turning that hell-fire gaze to Miroku and Sango, "What the hell are you waiting for? Go get her and fucking bring her back in here!"

Miroku took an instinctive step away from the hanyou, swallowing an immediate agreement to spread his hands in a placating gesture, "Inuyasha, don't you think you should wait until your temper has settled?"

Inuyasha's response was a threatening show of fangs as disturbingly a hint of red bled into the glowing gold. Yet when he spoke, despite the constant growl, his voice was soft and more deadly than his worst shout, "Go get her. Now."

Sango set a hand on the startled priest's arm, nervously hoping they weren't about to have to fight Inuyasha's youkai form, "We'll scare her if we drag her back here like that. It would be better if we wait, wouldn't it? Kagome-chan has nowhere to go except to us."

"I don't give half a fucking damn how scared she is," he answered, forcing his body up into a crouch. "She's scared because she knows she fucking disobeyed me!"

Miroku's eyes were wide at the hanyou's motions against the subduing spell, alarmed that he could manage such a feat through anger alone. Hoping to distract the hanyou into cooling down at least a little, he turned his own attention down to where Shippo sat cringing in uncertain fear. He knelt before the kitsune with the soft inquiry, "What did the bruise look like, Shippo?"

Shippo jumped at the question, backing away from them when all their heads turned in his direction. His eyes widened and he paled as he finally realized that it was all his fault things had just turned ugly and Kagome was trying to run away. 'He' was making her run, not Inuyasha! This had just turned into the little kitsune's worst nightmare, "I...I didn't see it for more than a second! I thought she was bleeding, but Kagome just said she accidentally hit her hip on her desk and bruised it! It was so long ago that I...I thought it would have healed by now..."

Inuyasha silently flexed his hands, timing how long it would take to catch the fleeing girl when the spell wore off as he processed Shippo's explanation. It seemed to be taking an agonizingly long stretch of time for the spell to completely release him this time, and that just notched his growling a step louder. Kagome was trying to run from him, he could feel her fear and her desire to flee teasing his instincts. Everything in him demanded he give chase, and this time there was no chance in hell of her getting away. He simply would not allow it. His jaw clenched so hard it was a wonder the bones didn't shatter under the strain and he looked at the kit to demand, "Where is it?"

Flustered, but not daring to refuse the hanyou in this state, Shippo shook his head and looked out in the direction Kagome had tried to run, "She...she keeps rubbing it. Like it hurts."

"That goddamn scar," his eyes hardened and he swung his head back to the open doorway. "She's been rubbing it since she fucking got back! Kagome, you bitch! You fucking lied to me!"

"I did not!" came the shaky response from outside, farther away than he'd first thought and bringing a scowl to his face as he refigured the distance.

"Then get your ass back here and show me this damn bruise!" Inuyasha yelled back, uncaring that his voice was likely waking up everyone in the house. If she didn't have something to hide, she wouldn't have run in the first place, would she? Okay, so maybe she had just panicked at not telling him she had hurt herself, he reasoned as he tried to take deep breaths and cool some of the anger at that possibility. If she came back now, that would prove-

"No!"

Well, to hell with that possibility.

"Kagome!" he growled, his voice full of warning and unmistakable command.

Miroku and Sango shared a look before hurrying to the doorway and searching the shadowed courtyard for Kagome's location. She'd managed to hop the low rail on the raised walkway and was halfway across the empty yard, sitting cross-legged in the grass but looking over her shoulder at them. It was amazing she had managed to cross that great a distance in so short a time, but Inuyasha's spell dropped her just a quickly as hers dropped him and she was presently just as immobile as he was. She had a determined expression on her face, one hand on her hip and the other fisted in her lap.

"Kagome-sama..." Miroku blinked at her in surprise, truly concerned for her welfare. Was this all part of this spell? Something might be controlling her, but... There was just something about the entire situation that felt wrong. Not enchanted...just wrong.

"I won't!" she shook her head fiercely, her jaw set as she looked from the room out to the woods. "It's just a stupid bruise!"

"Then...why are you running?" Sango shook her head, confused and more than a little alarmed at the girl's reaction. As much as she hated to see them going back and forth with the subduing spell, she had to admit that she felt Inuyasha was justified at the moment. Kagome was acting so bizarre... What could she possibly be this afraid of if it was just a bruise? And why wouldn't she tell them?

A glimmer of renewed panic went through her eyes, but she squelched it out stubbornly, moving both hands until her palms rested in the grass. "I... I just need to be by myself! Leave me alone!" her muscles tightened visibly as she turned away from them.

"She's going to run," Sango whispered to Miroku, looking back at Inuyasha's set expression and glowing eyes in concern.

Miroku shook his head, gesturing back at the hanyou, "He won't let her."

Almost as though the words had been the trigger, the spells wore off and Kagome was up and running at the same instant a blur of red and white shot past them so fast it set clothes and hair billowing like mad.

As soon as he'd cleared the railing, Inuyasha bellowed angrily, "STAY!"

"SIT!"

Both again dropped instantly where they stood, but Inuyasha was only a few feet away from her this time. Kagome might be moving at adrenaline hightened speed, but it was still nothing compared to the hanyou. Especially a hanyou as pissed off as Inuyasha was at the moment, "Dammit, bitch, this isn't getting us anywhere! I can do this just as fucking long as you can! But you're going to tell me what the hell is going on."

"Then we aren't moving from this spot!" she turned her head to glare at him. "I don't have to show you every bruise I get, Inuyasha. I mean it, just let me fucking be by myself for a little while!"

Sango and Miroku hopped the railing, landing at the same moment and walking closer to the pair hesitantly. Their attention, however was centered mainly on Kagome, their expressions filled with their disbelief at the scene unfolding in front of them. She was swearing at Inuyasha and as far as they had come to figure out, she only did that since he gained his own subduing spell and when she was feeling helpless. When she knew he was right and she couldn't do anything to change it... That meant she was most definitely hiding something important.

"Kagome-sama," Miroku attempted to break the staring match between the two, the strained battle of wills as every thing about Inuyasha's gaze screamed at her to obey and hers just as adamantly resisted. "Surely nothing could be this bad... You can tell us what happened."

"We only want to help you," Sango added, uncertain of whether or not they would have to protect Kagome from the force of Inuyasha's anger. They could see the spell wearing off in slow degrees simply by the way both antagonists went stiff, muscles bunching in preparation for flight with one and pursuit in the other.

"Then leave me alone," Kagome growled out herself, her eyes never leaving Inuyasha's.

"Not a fucking chance, little girl," he bared his fangs, answering the challenge in her voice.

"It's mine to deal with," she hissed, a note of desperation creeping into her voice. "I can handle this on my own."

There it was. The admission that she was willfully concealing something that she knew was serious, something that she knew would make them angry. Sango gasped, her hand rising to her throat as Miroku's face took on a pained look and he shook his head regretfully. This would definitely set off the hanyou's temper like nothing else could.

Inuyasha very briefly shot his gaze askance when the pair trying to diffuse the situation shifted as though about to come between them. The look in his eyes stopped them in their tracks, however, as he ground out, "It's between Kagome and me, you two. Stay out of it on your own, or I'll knock you out of it."

Shippo had hopped onto the rail, his fists clenched over his mouth and looking like he was about to cry at any second. "Kagome, I'm so sorry!" he cried out desperately, looking from her to Inuyasha and back. "Please don't run away!"

Kagome's gaze broke away from Inuyasha's switching instantly to Shippo's face. At the sorrow and fear in his eyes, she felt a pang of guilt so intense it brought tears to her own eyes. She shook her head, doing her best to rid her voice of her fear and filling with concerned reassurance, "Shippo-chan. I...I'm not angry with you... You know, I'm not."

"But-" the kitsune shook his head, still looking miserable and uncertain. "But you're scared-!"

A slight shift from the figure in front of her had her eyes jumping away from Shippo's face and back to Inuyasha's glowing eyes. He was waiting for her response just as much as the rest of them... Probably more after she'd told him over and over that there was nothing else that happened that night. He was well aware she would do nearly anything to soothe the little kit, her own instincts demanding nothing less of her even under these circumstances.

"It's...it's not your fault, Shippo-chan," she averted her face and said softly, her hand moving down to her hip.

"You 'are' hiding something," Inuyasha's voice softened even as there was a subtle shift in his features, the aura around him. He was every inch the predator at the moment, and all those instincts were focused on her.

Kagome leaned away from him instinctively, "It wasn't worth mentioning-"

"Then you did lie," his hands clenched on the ground, blood seeping out from between his fingers as his claws dug deeply into his own palms. "You looked into my eyes and lied. What the fuck happened, Kagome? What are you hiding this time? And why?!"

The spell wore off a second time, but Kagome had barely started to move when Inuyasha came after her, moving so fast he nearly blurred. Swallowing a scream of alarm, she yelled out again, "Sit!"

"Stay!" his hand caught onto hers and held tight as they hit the ground again.

Kagome tried to extricate herself from the hanyou's hold, looking pleadingly up at Sango and Miroku when it became obvious he wasn't releasing her hand anytime soon. But they were both looking at her with almost accusing expressions. Their jaws set as they tensely waited to see what she would say. They all knew it now. She had been lying to all of them about what she remembered from that night. There was no other reason for this kind of behavior, but for some reason, she was terrified to tell them what it was.

"You know what that monk did to you, don't you?" Miroku asked softly, casting a quick look at the hanyou to gauge just how angry he'd become. Gratefully, catching hold of Kagome seemed to have taken the feral edge off the anger in his eyes, but they were still glowing fiercely and locked onto Kagome's face. "Something that you remember..."

"I didn't..." she shook her head fiercely, tugging at Inuyasha's hold and refusing to look down at him.

Inuyasha growled at her, interlocking his fingers with hers and pulling her inexorably forward until he could bring up his other hand and catch her chin in a hold that was so soft she almost couldn't feel his fingers against her skin. However, the look in his eyes and the promise more or less vibrating off him was warning enough to show he would not tolerate her attempting to move away. When he locked his eyes on hers and pulled her nose to nose with him, he enunciated very concisely, "What the fuck did that monk do to your hip, Kagome? Don't disobey me again."

Kagome's heartbeat started thundering in her ears, apprehension lancing down her spine at the overly soft growl compared to his eariler yelling. She was trapped and they both knew it, "Si-"

"Don't," he interrupted, his voice a quick flat bark that had her mouth snapping shut in instant reflex. Growling very softly in satisfaction that she'd finally listened to at least one command, he arched one brow in challenge. "Answer me, Kagome. What did you lie about?"

"It's nothing!" she whispered desperately, her free hand lifting to circle the wrist of the hand holding her chin. "Really! It's a bruise like Shippo said."

Miroku winced and Sango shook her head in disapproval, speaking before the hanyou could, "Kagome-chan... We know it's not true. You wouldn't act like this over a bruise."

Inuyasha released her chin and Kagome let out a shaky breath as he rose up on his haunches in front of her. His eyes bored into hers for a long, tense moment before he released her hand to take hold of her waist and stand her up with him. She tried to push his hands away, but he simply lifted his brows and she subsided meekly. Under his unblinking stare, her hip started to burn and throb uncomfortably.

Kagome sucked in a breath sharply when she saw a streak of confusion penetrate the rage on Inuyasha's face. His eyes went to hers and then down, and to her her horror, his hand moved from her waist down to cover the scar.

His eyes narrowed sharply for a moment as he looked down at his hand and then up to her face, "A pulse...The fucking scar has a pulse, and it doesn't match yours...."

Kagome closed her eyes, wishing the ground would open up and swallow her, anything but this.... "Inuyasha, I-"

Whatever she'd been about to say was lost when he slipped his hand beneath the bottom of her shirt to slip his claws to the waistband of her jeans and pull. She let out a muffled shriek when she felt the thick denim slice under his claws effortlessly, trying to twist herself out of his hold.

Inuyasha caught her waist again, his eyes blazing as he roared down at her, "What the fuck did he do to you, Kagome?! Why does that scar have a fucking PULSE?!"

She shook her head, her mouth opening and closing before she just squeezed her eyes shut, biting down hard on her lip as tears leaked from beneath her lashes. Her hands were on his wrists, but they were just squeezing lightly, her strength draining out of her with a rush of despair. Her voice was barely a whisper as she let her worst fear slip out, "You'll hate me..."

And just like that the rage drained out of Inuyasha, only to be replaced with bone-deep fear.

Those words in that tone of voice scared him as nothing else could. His hands at her waist tightened and pulled her forward, sliding around her back to enfold her in a tight embrace. He used one hand to press her face to the crook of his neck, stroking it soothingly through her hair when she obeyed his direction and clung to him almost desperately.

Kagome's hands clenched in his haori as she sobbed silently against his shoulder, the tears hot against his neck as he dropped his head to murmur reassurances in her ear, "Shh, Kagome, don't cry. Please don't cry, you know I can't stand to see you do it. I would never hate you..."

Miroku blinked, unsure of what had happened to alter the mood of the moment so quickly, but leaning forward, he nudged the hanyou and silently motion for him to take Kagome back to their room. He was feeling much the same as Inuyasha, now worrying at what Kagome could possibly think was so terrible that she had kept it from all of them for fear of bringing his hatred down on her head. What could she possibly think had happened that was bad enough, serious enough to make Inuyasha hate her?

Inuyasha nodded, bending slightly to scoop the girl up and cradle her protectively to his chest as he turned and crossed the distance to the raised walkway in one leap.

Shippo was beside himself with worry, scrambling along at Inuyasha's feet as he re-entered the room, still murmuring softly to Kagome as she wrapped her arms around his neck to keep her face hidden at his throat. When the kit opened his mouth to speak, Inuyasha scowled at him and shook his head, motioning for him to sit down and stay still as he eased down to sit cross-legged on the floor himself.

His arms wrapped around more securely, tucking her onto his lap as his sleeves covered most of her shaking body. Ears flattened back in concern, he continued to whisper to her as he rocked her back and forth gently and waited for Sango and Miroku. The monk and exterminator came inside a moment later, sliding the door closed as they silently thanked whatever miracle hadn't brought the entire household down on their heads. Brushing that inconsequential thought aside, they crossed the room to the hanyou and arranged themselves on the ground across from him. Their eyes were solemn and expressions tense as they watched Kagome's silent crying.

Inuyasha looked down at Kagome, moving one of his hands to urge her face away from his neck so he could meet her eyes before he repeated softly, "What did he do to you, Kagome? You can tell me and I won't hate you. I promise."

Kagome's hands tightened and she shook her head as tears continued to track silently down her cheeks as she stammered out, "I... didn't know! I swear I had no idea, Inuyasha!"

"Shh, it's okay, Kagome," he stroked a thumb over her cheek, brushing off the tears as he reassured her, even as he tried without much success to tamp down the fear that was steadily rising in him to choke out the anger simmering deep inside him. "What didn't you know?"

"I didn't see it until I woke up the next day," she closed her eyes and breathed out in a rush, trying to hide her face against him again. "When I saw it I remembered there was this buzzing sound and everything was so hot, but I didn't know what was happening. You have to believe me!"

Inuyasha felt sick at all the possibilities racing through him, but at the same time, so angry that someone had caused this kind of terrible fear in his Kagome that he wanted to rip something apart, most specifically the cause of her distress. He had to get the problem out of her before his own thoughts sent him over the edge...

Careful not to show her the anger his imaginings were kindling, he schooled his face into what he hoped was a mild expression and assured her in as calm a voice as he could manage, "I believe you, Kagome. It's all right now, I won't let anything happen to you again. Just tell us what happened so we can help."

Kagome closed her eyes and hid her face against his neck again, whispering so softly Miroku and Sango leaned forward and strained to hear the words, "It won't go away. He knew! I don't know how he knew, but he...he said he was expecting me, and-"

Inuyasha frowned when she cut herself off, feeling her hip give a particularly strong pulse and a twinge of heat. Concerned and more than a little suspicious, he carefully eased his hands away from her back. Still managing to hold her with his arms, he slid his hands down to where he knew the scar was located. Gently, he used one hand to ease the bottom of her shirt up and the other to tug at the split he'd made in her jeans until the thick fabric moved aside to give him a clear view of her scarred hip.

Sango leaned forward when she saw the first sign of dark red, her eyes narrowed grimly at what they might see. When Inuyasha's hand moved the fabric completely out of the way, she went still, her eyes widening slowly as she gasped, "What... the hell-?"

Miroku was staring silently, his expression both startled and grim, while Shippo leaned up to see for himself and then promptly jerked back with a surprised squeak, all but plastering himself to the silent monk.

Inuyasha, however, had gone perfectly still as he stared down at her hip in wide-eyed disbelief. He could feel Kagome shaking against him almost violently now, curling up in his lap as the breath froze in his lungs and his stomach clenched as thought he'd just been run through.

A tattoo... That goddamn monk had tattooed Kagome's hip right where the Shikon jewel had been ripped forcefully from her body when he'd first met her.

His name.


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