Still working on the next chapter of Pick Up the Pieces, but seeing as the next chapter is set in Kagome's cottage, I thought you might all like to see the scribbly floor plan I drew up so I remember where everything is. All images sourced from Pinterest; they're more of a 'vibe' than exact, so you get the feel of the place.
Is this cottage cutting edge with all the mod cons? No. Doesn't have a tv or air conditioning, all the furniture and fittings are original or thrifted/donated. But there's a whole lot of love in this little place; time and effort put in by a community who want to show they value professionals that are there to help them. And I wanted that to show.
Honestly, I'd live here in a heartbeat. As long as I could install wifi.
Chapter 10 of Pick up the Pieces is finally ready on AO3!
Even though his voice was stern, she could see the corner of his mouth struggling not to smile at her, and she smiled back. There was no earthly reason to be happy. She was soaked and cold, worried and exhausted, battered about by rocks, and her foot hurt almost as badly as it did on the night she’d first injured it. She wasn’t the least bit safe, and here she was, grinning like a fool just because Inuyasha had put himself in the same deadly peril she was in.
“I missed you,” he said softly, and she stopped grinning, her eyes widening at the softness of his expression. “As soon as I told you to leave, I wanted you back.”
Sometimes, I write things just for myself, as a little treat. I might write my other favourite scenes here and there. Who knows, eventually I might have enough to string together a whole plot line. But lookie here @elkonigin and @coquinespike - have a little InuKag scene from The Mummy on me. If I ever find where I've put my laptop pen, there may even be some art to go with this.
Kagome swept across the courtyard, her anger making her simmer even hotter under the midday sun. She wasn’t sure who she was more annoyed at – the squat prison Warden for the obviously lecherous looks he was giving her, or Miroku, for lying about where he got the puzzle box. She shivered a little as they passed the gallows, not wanting to think too much about what usually took place here. When the Warden paused for a moment to speak to one of the guards, she rounded on Miroku, her voice a hissing whisper.
“I can’t believe you Miroku! You said that you found that box at a dig in Thebes! And now I find out you stole it from a drunk at the local Casbah! You told me a barefaced lie!”
Miroku looked a little chastened, but then fought back with a winning smile, hooking his arm into hers as they continued across the courtyard.
“That’s a bit harsh, Kagome dear”, he said, patting her hand affectionately. “We were playing cards, a gentleman’s game. I would have won it fair and square if he hadn’t got himself into an altercation. He left it unattended in his pocket. What was I going to do, leave it behind? He probably didn’t even know what it was.”
“You. Lied. To. Me.” Kagome hissed.
“What’s a little white lie between family members, ey?” He tried a winsome smile, which faltered quickly under Kagome’s withering gaze. “I mean, you’re not the only one I lie to old mum. But at least the lies I tell you are pretty ones.”
“That makes it worse! I’m your sister Miroku! Whatever happened to us against the world, together through thick and thin!”
Miroku looked taken aback, even slightly hurt.
“I’m deeply offended. Didn’t I come straight to you with the box? I could have just sold it, but I knew it was something special. And I knew you would be smart enough to recognise that. We both know you’re the one with the brains in this family Kagome dear.” Glancing nervously around, he tugged on her arm, trying to turn her back towards the way they’d just come. “And anyway, I don’t think this is the best place for a lady, so how about we just pop back to-”
Kagome glared at him furiously as he tried to make a run for the door, wrapping her hand around his bicep tightly so he couldn’t get away.
“Stop trying to get out of this Miroku. You can’t sweet talk your way out of this one. Oh, I am absolutely livid! Not only have we lost the most important part of the map, but we have to come here, to this place. You are going to stay here with me and see this through!”
She shuddered a little self-consciously. There were quite a few leering eyes directed towards her, and not all of them were owned by prisoners safely behind bars. Miroku patted her hand again, obviously trying to soothe her, and Kagome straightened her spine.
They’d been through plenty of scrapes together, her and Miroku. They only had each other since their parents died, social outcasts amongst the English elite due to their mother’s Egyptian heritage. She’d barely got Miroku back in one piece after the war, one of his hands shattered by a bullet directly through his palm. She knew it still hurt him, even though he never complained. He’d always been devil may care, even before he was conscripted, but since his return it was like he invited trouble. She was constantly worried about him. This was a chance to find the legendary Hamunaptra together, and there was no way she was going to back down, even if she was more than a little out of her comfort zone here.
Warden Mukotsu came back, his eyes running over her lasciviously, and Kagome lifted her chin in defiance, staring back at him with spirit. She pulled her elbow away from his grasping stubby fingers as he ushered both her and Miroku over to the rusted iron bars surrounding a holding pen. The locked metal door behind it probably led to somewhere unspeakable.
She took a deep breath to steady her nerves. Wasn’t this what she had always wanted? A chance to show that she was not only a scholar, but able to go toe to toe with all the pompous, overstuffed Egyptologists? A chance to put all her knowledge to good use? She could do this.
Clearing her throat in an attempt to make her voice as unaffected as she needed it to be, she turned her attention away from the locked metal door to Warden Mukotsu.
“So, what is this man in prison for?” she asked, attempting an imperious tone. She hoped it wasn’t something horrible, like rape or murder.
The warden preened under her gaze, and she turned her eyes forward again, not wanting to encourage him one iota. He was giving her the creeps. Besides, there was some kind of ruckus going on behind the closed door, yelling, swearing, chains rattling. What on earth was going on back there? Miroku was looking more and more like he was going to bolt, and she pinched his arm viciously to keep him beside her, gratified when he yelped like a little girl.
The warden chuckled, his dark eyes squinting in the hot, midday sun.
“I don’t know what you’re expecting lady, but he’s not human.” He spat derisively on the ground, and Kagome grimaced, tucking the toes of her boots safely back under her long skirt. “He’s a dirty half djinn, with the ears of a jackal. His words cannot be trusted. But I did ask him.”
“And what did he say?” Kagome asked, unsure if she actually wanted the answer to that question. What on earth had Miroku gotten them into this time?
The warden leered at her, before leaving momentarily to handle a disturbance on the other side of the courtyard.
“He said, he was just looking for a good time.”
The metal door burst open with a clang. Four guards dragged a prisoner forwards, their arms and legs wrapped in chains. Despite the handicap, he seemed to be fighting them every step of the way.
His shirt and pants were ragged, his grey, hip length hair matted and oily, hanging in clumped tendrils around his face. Both her and Miroku took a step backwards at the absolute stench that surrounded him. One of the guards walloped him on the head with a truncheon, hard enough for them to hear a solid thump as it connected. Kagome winced in sympathy as it smacked one of his canine ears, blood trickling onto his scalp, and he snarled loudly, baring some very obvious fangs. Another guard beat him again, and the other two kicked him in the back of the knees, forcing him to kneel in front Miroku and Kagome. He grasped the bars in front of him as best he could with his shackled wrists, teeth still bared in anger, amber eyes full of rage.
“This is the person you took the box from?!” Kagome squeaked in surprise, shuffling backwards a tiny step. She’d never seen anyone like him before, and the scholar in her was already wanting to know more. Why did he have dogs ears and fangs? He had slitted pupils like a cat – could he see things human eyes couldn’t? Where had he come from? Did he speak English or Arabic? Or some other language she had no knowledge of?
“Shush, not so loud,” muttered Miroku from the corner of his mouth, turning his face away from the prisoner kneeling in front of them.
“Who are you?” the prisoner demanded, looking Miroku up and down, then turning his eyes almost immediately towards Kagome, as if he’d judged Miroku’s worth and found him lacking. “Who’s the wench?”
“Wench!?” Kagome sputtered, mouth opening and closing like a goldfish. The sudden smirk on the prisoners face, and the accompanying glint in his inhuman amber eyes, made her want to slap him. She’d been feeling a little sorry for him after witnessing his treatment at the hands of the guards a moment before, but now she was seething.
“Ah, hello my good man,” smiled Miroku, pushing Kagome a little behind himself. “I’m just a humble local missionary, visiting the prison to save the souls of unfortunates such as yourself…” He faltered a little as he watched the prisoner ignore him, picking at his teeth with the very pointed, and probably very sharp, claw on his little finger. He dragged a reluctant Kagome forward. “And this here is my younger sister, Kagome.”
“How do you do?” said Kagome, attempting a cordial tone, then stiffening as the prisoner looked her up and down.
“Tch. Well, I guess she’s not a total loss.” He turned his head away.
“Excuse me!” said Kagome, tapping her foot at a rapid pace on the dirt, in an attempt to mitigate the burst of anger that was beginning to rise at this man’s attitude. “Excuse me, Mr…”
“Inuyasha. Just Inuyasha.”
Kagome nodded, and tried her best to smile winningly at him. “Inuyasha then.” She made the tone of her voice as warm as possible, speaking slowly and carefully, her expression coy. “You see, my brother and I found a puzzle box that we believe you might be able to help us with.”
“Bullshit.”
“I beg your pardon!?” she exclaimed. Both Miroku and Inuyasha winced at her loud and high pitched tone of indignation.
“I smell bullshit,” Inuyasha repeated gruffly. “We both know you didn’t come here to dirty your pretty little shoes in this hellhole to ask me about some box, lady. You and this stuffed shirt came here to ask me about Hamunaptra, am I right?”
Both Kagome and Miroku’s eyes widened in surprise. They both looked around nervously, hoping the guards hadn’t heard anything, and moved a little closer to the bars.
“How do you know the box has anything to do with Hamunaptra?” asked Kagome, barely able to keep the excitement out of her voice. Now they were getting somewhere!
“Because that’s where I found it.”
Miroku leaned forward, his voice a little suspicious.
“How can we believe anything someone like you would say?”
“Wait, do I know you?”
Miroku gave a nervous chuckle.
“Oh no, I don’t believe- “
Inuyasha’s nose twitched slightly, and then his eyes widened in recognition. He glowered at Miroku.
“You!”
Before Miroku could even think about taking a step backwards, Inuyasha’s fist shot forwards, catching Miroku on the chin. Even hampered as Inuyasha was by the chains, as soon as the blow connected, Miroku was laid out cold. One of the guards whacked his already bleeding ear again, hard, forcing his forehead to bounce off the metal bars in front of him.
“Hey, watch it, fucker!”
Kagome looked down at Miroku, laying prone at her feet, then delicately raised her skirt a little as she stepped over him to get closer to the bars, her eyes full of excitement.
“You were actually at Hamunaptra?” she asked, her voice full of wonder. Inuyasha stared at her in amazement.
“Don’t you care that I just decked your brother?”
She waved a placating hand at him.
“Oh, he’s had worse, I’m sure he’ll be fine in a moment. But Hamunaptra! You were actually there?!”
She watched as Inuyasha’s amazement changed into a lazy grin.
“Yeah wench, I was there.”
She was so excited that she hardly noticed what he called her.
“You were there? Oh my goodness, I can’t believe it!” Her eyes narrowed a little in suspicion, and she moved even closer. “Do you swear?”
The lazy grin grew wider, a pointed fang lowering over his cracked lower lip.
“Every damn day.”
Kagome scoffed.
“That’s not what I meant, and you know it.”
The grin was still there, then it dropped away from his face.
“I know what you meant. But I was there alright. Seti's place. The City of The Dead.”
Kagome could hardly contain her excitement.
“What did you see there?”
“A lot of sand.” He almost shuddered. “And a lot of death.”
But Kagome would not be put off now. Not when she was so close. She could see the warden coming back, and she just had to get this information. She leaned closer to him, taking off her hat to guard their conversation.
“Inuyasha,” she whispered, her tone determined. “Could you tell me how to get there?”
He looked at her, and blinked slowly, his expression nonplussed.
“The exact location,” she wheedled, eyes shining with excitement, “pretty please?”
“You really wanna know?” he asked.
“Yes!”
“You really, really wanna know?”
“Yes, yes, more than anything!” she said, almost bursting with nervous excitement.
He beckoned her closer, gesturing with one pointed finger.
“C’mere then.”
She was now almost nose to nose with him, ears straining, eyes wide, ready to commit anything he might say to memory so she could write it down as soon as a pen and paper were handy. If only she’d bought one of her notebooks with her! But before she knew it, one of Inuyasha’s hands shot out, not to punch her as he had Miroku, but grab her chin firmly. And then his chapped lips were planted firmly against hers.
Before she had a chance to register anything more than shocked astonishment at receiving her very first kiss in such a manner, the lips were dragged away.
“You wanna know so bad? Then get me the fuck outta here lady!”
She watched as all four guards rained blows down on his head, dragging him backwards. She heard the warden laughing maliciously behind her.
“Wait, wait, I’m not done talking to him yet! Where are they taking him?”
“To be hanged.”
“Why?” Kagome gasped, her shock at this sudden turn of events evident. She grimaced at the wide grin Warden Mukotsu gave her.
“Apparently, he had a very good time.”
Kagome hurried after Mukotsu, almost tripping over Miroku as she strove to keep with the warden.
They climbed a set of stairs to a balcony overlooking the whole courtyard, Mukotsu sitting down to watch the show, while Kagome hovered anxiously, fingers tapping nervously on the balcony railing. She watched as Inuyasha was dragged up the stairs to the gallows. Other prisoners hollered and jeered as the noose was roughly forced over his head, then cinched tightly around his throat. He made direct eye contact with her, his expression stoic. What could she do? Suddenly she had a brain wave, turning to address the warden.
“What if I offered you one hundred pounds to secure his release?”
The warden shrugged, noisily snacking on a plate of dates on a small table at his side. Juice and spittle ran down his chin as he answered.
“I would pay one hundred to see him hang,” he replied, his eyes fixed on the gallows below.
“Two hundred pounds, then,” she bargained, eyes darting back and forth between Inuyasha and the warden, who ignored her totally. He stood for a moment, bellowing down to the guards below.
“Proceed!”
“Three hundred pounds!” Kagome said desperately. She could tell Inuyasha could hear their conversation even over the dreadful noise of the screaming prisoners, his ears twitched in their direction. She looked back towards him and saw him nod at her, as if to say, keep it going. The yelling suddenly grew quiet as the hangman addressed Inuyasha.
“Any last requests, dog?” he sneered, spitting on the trapdoor near Inuyasha’s feet.
Inuyasha pretended to look thoughtful for a moment, then spat his reply.
“Yeah, I'd like ya to let me go.”
The Hangman grabbed the lever to the trapdoor with a leering grin.
“FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS!” yelled Kagome, sitting down on the seat next to the Warden, her eyes pleading, then recoiled as he set his greasy, lecherous hand high on her thigh, fingers grabbing hard enough to bruise.
“Anything additional to offer?”
Before she could think, Kagome slapped his hand in revulsion, then gasped as Warden Mukotsu angrily turned and gestured to the Hangman. The trapdoor dropped away with loud bang.
“Oh no!”
She watched, horrified as Inuyasha dropped through the hole, his body jerking as the rope pulled taut. She wanted to look away, but couldn’t. His legs kicked wildly, then stopped, and for a moment, she thought all was lost. The rope spun him lazily around to face her again, and she realised he was still alive.
“Ha! His neck did not break! Good! Now we watch him strangle to death,” jeered the Mukotsu, stuffing another date into his mouth.
Angry chanting began amongst the prisoners, and the guards shouldered their guns nervously. Kagome could see Miroku climbing the steps, staggering a little, but she didn’t have time to help him right now. Not when a man’s life and finding Hamunaptra was at stake. She leaned towards the Warden.
“He knows the location to Hamunaptra”, she whispered urgently.
Warden Mukotsu’s head jerked toward her, his expression incredulous.
“You lie.”
“I would never!”
She glanced back towards the gallows. At the end of the rope, Inuyasha was making horrible choking and gagging sounds, his face a grotesquely mottled shade of red. She had to hurry!
The Warden eyed her suspiciously, wiping date juice off the corner of his mouth with a dirty sleeve.
“Are you saying this filthy godless son of a dog knows where to find The City of The Dead? Truly?”
“Yes, and if you cut him down, we will give you ten percent,” she said quickly, hoping that this would work. Inuyasha didn’t look like he had much time left.
“Fifty percent.”
She hesitated a moment, glancing back to Inuyasha, and watched his eyes widen at her incredulously at her bargaining. She quickly turned her eyes back to the Warden.
“Twenty.”
“Forty.”
Kagome hesitated again, biting her lip. Inuyasha’s eyes were looking up at her, almost bulging out of his head, like he couldn’t believe her.
“Give .... give him .... give him,” he coughed.
Under pressure, Kagome shrieked, “Twenty-five percent, and not one single farthing more!”
The Warden leered at her, then yelled down to the hangman. The sunlight bounced off the scimitar in his hands as he swung, cutting the rope, sending Inuyasha plummeting to the ground. His bound hands scrabbled in the dirt as he fought to get himself onto his knees, coughing and wheezing, taking deep breaths. His bloodshot eyes looked up towards the balcony.
Miroku finally made it up the stairs, leaning against the railing with a groan.
“So, how’d we do old mum? Did we win?” he asked, looking with some distaste at the leering grin of the Warden, then down into the courtyard at Inuyasha, who was still on his knees.
Kagome smiled broadly, and waved down at Inuyasha, who glowered at her.
“Yes Miroku, I do believe this visit was a success,” she said, excitement bubbling up. They were going to Hamunaptra!
“Jolly good show,” replied Miroku, gently fingering the darkening bruise on his chin.
Chapter 9 is up! An extra day off work for Easter and somehow I managed to write a whole extra chapter! But don’t get too used to it because I can’t see two chapters a week happening again anytime soon. A little sneak peek for you…
“Why isn’t she answering her goddamn phone?” Inuyasha fretted.
“I don’t know dear,” Kaede said. “Maybe she isn’t carrying it. Some people have been known to live to a ripe old age without ever owning a mobile phone.”
He smiled indulgently at her, but his tone was grim.
“The first time I rang, it rang out. Now it says the phone’s turned off or it’s out of range. There’s no way she’ll have turned it off. She’s as worried as I am.”
“Ah. And yet you sent her home,” Kaede said, her voice very knowing.
“Shut up,” he growled, less convincingly now he was human.
Chapter 8 of Pick Up the Pieces is available now on AO3! Forgot to put this on Tumblr yesterday when I first posted it.
You get a bonus pic of Belle and the little spuds because they are not in this chapter.
Also, this chapter contains a car crash scene. There are medical procedures, and children injured. Blood is mentioned. Also please note, I am not a health professional, just a regular nerdy person who likes reading and watching far too much medical drama. I've made every effort to describe injuries and treatments correctly, but this is a fanfic, not a medical journal. Anyway, enjoy.
Chapter 6 is now available on AO3 - here's a little teaser for you!
He pulled to a halt. She thought he was about to get out but instead he hesitated again. “You know, I shouldn’t say this, but you and Inuyasha…”
“What about me and Inuyasha?”
“Not that I swing that way, but Inuyasha’s really attractive, if you like that sort of thing.”
“What do you mean by that sort of thing!” exclaimed Kagome, ready to jump to Inuyasha’s defense. It wasn’t as bad as it had been in previous decades, but human prejudice against demon kind did still exist, and she’d never seen anyone like Inuyasha with more animalistic features. She’d thought Miroku was his friend!
“Well, he’s kind of rumpled,” shrugged Miroku. “Not very well put together if you get my drift. Wouldn’t hurt if he occasionally brushed his hair, or ironed his shirts. But judging by the interest shown by quite a few women around town, some women like that kind of scruffiness.”
“Oh.”
“What I’m getting at, is you’ve only been in town for two days. You’re not imagining yourself in love with him or anything ridiculous like that, right?”
Chapter Five of Pick Up the Pieces is now available on AO3! A sneak peak for you.
Inuyasha was sitting with his back against the truck’s rear tyre, and involuntarily Kagome shifted closer – close enough so she could feel the comfort of his big body against hers. She was holding Shiori, but the feel of one little child wasn’t enough contact. She needed as much reassurance as she could get. She needed to feel that she wasn’t alone, that the terror of the fire was over.
Belle was settling down amidst her pups, nuzzling each, doing her eternal check, and the dog’s rump was firmly settled against her leg. Belle too, it seemed needed comfort.
“Hey, more blankets,” someone called from the shadows, and produced a pile of thick wool to spread over all of them. Dry soft wool. Lovely. Kagome tucked a corner of it under her behind to stave off the chill of the cold ground.
Amazingly, Shiori was back to being herself. She wriggled out of Kagome’s grasp and ventured to the end of the fire truck, taking a blanket with her. Kagome watched her small face transform from fear and shock to wonder. Firefighters, Hoses, pumps, water. This was obviously now an adventure to her.
But not yet to Kagome. Not for Shippō and not for Inuyasha. She sniffled, feeling a bit desperate. And Inuyasha’s arm came round her shoulders.
“It’s okay,” he said softly. “We’re safe. Thanks to you.”
It's already Thursday here in the merry old land of Oz, but shush..
First came a fire engine, screaming through the dark, screeching to a halt at the front gate, sending floodlights over the scene. Maybe fifteen men and women, all in various states of undress, tumbled out. They were donning uniforms as they climbed from the vehicle; it was organised chaos. They’d be local volunteers, roused out of their beds, expecting anything.
“We’re over here,” Kagome tried to call, realising they wouldn't be able to see them tucked in the shadows of the bushes under the veranda, but her voice wasn’t working properly. Then she saw them heading toward the gate and Belle’s pups were right in the way.
“Go stop them,” Inuyasha croaked, one arm still wrapped tightly around Shippo, and she cast him a look of desperation. Because that was how she felt. Desperate. Her voice didn’t work. But before she could scramble to her feet, Belle was off and running towards the gate, and Shiori was hightailing after her.
“Shiori,” she whisper shouted, struggling to get her legs under herself.
Chapter Four of Pick Up the Pieces is now available on AO3. A little teaser for you...
She glanced through to the kitchen as she replaced the receiver. Inuyasha looked up at her, his eyes asking if all was good, and she nodded, grinning at the sight of him stretched out on the kitchen floor in front of the wood stove, a tiny pup cradled in his large hands. He smiled back at her, and her heart did a silly backward somersault. And she was suddenly even more determined to stay.
Any more determined they’d soon have to prise her out of here with a chisel, she thought. Super glue had nothing on how she was starting to feel.
Chapter Three of Pick Up the Pieces is now available on AO3! Here's a small teaser...
“You said there was someone who could drive me to Melbourne.” She hesitated. “That is, if you don’t want me to stay.”
He’d been about to take another bite of his scone. He didn’t, afraid if he did, he might choke. “Um. If I don’t want you to stay?”
“I sort of thought I might be useful,” she said, sounding uncertain. “Seeing Kikyō’s away. If there are more emergencies. If you want me to.”
“Is this because of the dog?”
She tilted her chin at that, a gesture he was starting to recognise.
“I have friends in Melbourne who’d take her in. For a few days at least until I’m sorted. But I’m offering to stay here for Easter. Only if you can use me though. I won’t stay unless I can be useful.”
“What,” Hōjō said, in a voice that said he didn’t believe what he was seeing, “is that?”
“Not what, who. She’s the dog I was telling you about,” Kagome explained patiently. “She had puppies last night. And I’m keeping her,” she repeated steadily, pushing up her chin a little defiantly. “I’m keeping them all.”
Ignoring them, Inuyasha dropped to his knees. While Belle drank, he slipped the IV line out, putting pressure on the entry point for a moment with a wad of clean tissues he tugged from his pocket.
What sort of man carried an excess supply of tissues? Kagome wondered. A guy who was used to life’s messes she supposed. A really sexy doctor who was used to life’s messes.
“That’s great,” Inuyasha said cheerfully, as Belle kept on drinking. “I’m thinking she’ll settle, wherever you take her. She was great this morning while I cleaned her side – she’s a lovely placid dog. You’ll have to give the rest of the antibiotic orally, but she should be fine.”
“You’ll have to give…” Hōjō repeated faintly, and stared at Kagome in horror. “You’re kidding.”
“I’m not kidding,” Kagome said solidly. “I can’t leave her here.”
“Why not?”
“Inuyasha has enough on his plate. He has kids.”
“Kids like dogs,” Hōjō said flatly. “I can’t believe this. You crashed the car for this?”
“Hey,” Inuyasha said. “Mind the insults. You need to be wary of new mothers. Very hormonal.”
He was still grinning. Laughing at Hōjō? At her situation? Kagome glared at him over her shoulder to tell him what she thought of that – and then tried to concentrate on Hōjō.
“I have to take her.”
“Not to my parents’, you can’t,” Hōjō said bluntly. “Mum’d have kittens.”
“That’d add to the menagerie,” Inuyasha said, still grinning.
“I don’t know what your mother would think. And I can’t imagine how Peppy would react.”
I had planned to write this entire fic before posting it, ready for Easter. And then my monkey brain went - we demand validation - post now! So here is the first chapter of a new modern family AU, set in Australia. A little sneak peek to whet your appetite - you can read the first chapter now on AO3.
“Let’s get you inside.”
She looked up then, as if seeing him for the first time.
“Where…where…?”
She was almost incoherent, her eyes blinking in the yellow glow from the light above his front door. He watched as her eyes focused at first on his face, then drifted upwards to latch onto the white canine ears perched atop his head amidst the short shaggy haircut he preferred. Her eyes widened comically.
“I’m the local doctor,” he said, smiling at her in what he hoped was his best bedside manner, which to be fair, usually fell a little short of the mark. “I assume you know that from the sign on the front gate. My name’s Inuyasha Taisho. Yash for short.”
“Inuyasha,” she managed. “Inuyasha will do fine.”
He fucking hoped it would, it was the only name he had. “And your name?”
“Kagome Higurashi”.
It wasn’t the most comprehensive patient history he’d ever taken, but it’d do for now.
“Kagome, can you tell me what hurts?”
“Everything!”
It was practically a wail, and he relaxed a little. In his experience, patients who were on death’s doorstep didn’t have the energy to wail.
Inuyasha tucked a dark strand of hair behind his ear, the other hand carefully cradling the large plastic bowl of popcorn on his lap. He didn’t enjoy this snack as much as potato chips, disliking the way it sometimes got stuck in his teeth, but it was still pretty tasty, especially covered in butter and salt the way Kagome made it.
He thrust his hand in to grab another large mouthful, munching as he watched Kagome kneel on the floor nearby, fiddling with the buttons on the box that controlled the sound and pictures of the TV. The other members of her family had all gone to bed, and now it was just them, alone in the dim lighting of the Higurashi’s tv room, getting ready for their monthly ritual.
After a few recent close calls in his time, involving some blood loss and bandages on his part, and lots of tears and worry on Kagome’s, Inuyasha had grudgingly agreed to spend his human nights at her home in the future. The decision was heartily supported by Sango and Miroku, who now looked forward to their regular monthly holiday. Kirrara didn’t seem to mind one way or the other, as long as Sango was close by. Only Shippou had initially been disappointed, feeling like he was missing out in some way, but Kagome usually brought him back extra treats, so he’d come to accept it as just the way things were.
Kagome’s family had also quickly embraced the idea of having both Kagome and Inuyasha home on a day they could plan ahead for. It almost felt like a family celebration, even though Inuyasha himself didn’t feel like celebrating much.
He still disliked his human night, there was no getting around that.
He didn’t like that he couldn’t taste, smell, see or hear as well as he usually could. He’d tried to explain it to Kagome once, and she’d compared it to when humans got a sickness called a cold, which made their head ache and dulled their sense of smell and taste. He guessed it might be like that, he’d never had a cold to compare it to. But he was touched at the Higurashi family’s attempts to make him feel better on a night that was uncomfortable for him, filled with not so pleasant memories.
The night now followed a familiar pattern. Souta eagerly waited for them near the well house, hollering a quick greeting to Kagome before tugging on Inuyasha’s sleeve as soon as they arrived, wanting him to play soccer or computer games with him. Mama would be in the kitchen making one of Inuyasha’s favourite meals, remarking that a young man of his age needed proper nutrition to keep up his strength. Even Grandpa was welcoming in his own gruff fashion, patting him on the shoulder without an ofuda in sight. Kagome would go off to the store for ‘provisions’, but would always return before sunset.
As soon as the sun went down, Mama would call them all to dinner and they would eat together, gathered around the table. Kagome would tell them highly edited stories about their travels. Souta would talk about school, Mama and Grandpa would fill them in with news about the shrine. Inuyasha would eat, pushing his empty plate forwards every now and then for Mama to refill, which she did gladly, beaming at him with a motherly smile.
Everyone would help set the kitchen to rights again after the meal, then Souta would be sent off to bath and bed, grumbling about not being allowed to stay up. Kagome would go and get changed into her night clothes while Grandpa dozed off in his chair, his head nodding until being gently roused by Mama and sent off to his own room to sleep. And then Mama would bid them both goodnight, going off to her own room to read or do whatever she did before bedtime, pausing only to offer a hug and kiss to Kagome and a gentle ear pat to Inuyasha. And if he pushed his head into her hand a little more firmly sometimes, so similar to the gentle touch of his own mother, it was only because she deserved his politeness, nothing more.
Then came Inuyasha’s favourite part of the night. The part that belonged just to him and Kagome. He still didn’t entirely feel comfortable sleeping, even though the future time seemed to be not quite as dangerous. He would have been fine with just sitting up by himself, but Kagome would not allow that. Instead, she had come up with the idea of movie marathons.
As soon as they arrived through the well, she would go to the store, returning before dark with a triumphant smile and a bag that contained ‘movie snacks’ and two or three black boxes that contained the movies themselves, that would somehow be magically transferred to the Higurashi family tv screen. She would set them aside without showing him until the rest of the family went to bed – he never knew what they would be. But that hardly mattered.
Because they would sit on the big soft seat and watch them together.
Sitting close to Kagome in the dark room with only the light from the tv flickering in front of them, laughing and talking and teasing with no one else to interrupt or stare, letting her head rest on his shoulder or lap when she finally succumbed to sleep – that made those new moon nights bearable in a way he didn’t really want to examine too closely. Even though he couldn’t breathe in her nice smell or hear her heart beating with his subdued human senses, she was right where he could see her. And then if he did doze off, waking with a start at sunrise as his youki rushed back to full strength, she was right there beside him, her sleeping form a reward to his senses like a cool glass of water for a man who had been wandering alone in a desert.
“Hey, don’t eat it all before the movie starts Inuyasha!” chided Kagome as she noticed him taking yet another huge handful of popcorn. She pushed the black plastic box into the machine under the TV, pressing a button to make the images move faster, smiling sympathetically at Inuyasha’s scowl of distaste at the annoying noise it made. “I’m just going to fast forward it past all the trailers, and then we can watch the movie.”
“What’s this one about?” asked Inuyasha indistinctly around his mouthful of popcorn. “I hope there’s not going to be lots of singing this time.”
He actually hadn’t minded the movie about the magic blue genie they’d watched last month. It was pretty funny in some spots, but the music had stuck in his head, and made it hard to concentrate, especially as he hadn’t understood what they were singing or saying. Kagome said it was in English. The words had been there on the screen, but they’d moved a little too fast for him, and he didn’t understand all of them. Not that he would have told Kagome that. He didn’t want her to think he was stupid or ungrateful.
Kagome glanced down at the case in front of her.
“No, this one’s not a musical. Eri recommended it. She said she saw it when it came out in the movie theatre and suggested I watch it with you. It’s called Scream.”
Inuyasha huffed.
“Sounds noisy.”
“I think it might be scary”, said Kagome, biting her lip as she read the writing on the plastic cover that the movies came in. “I hope it will be okay.”
“Feh”, Inuyasha snorted, “no movie’s gonna be scarier than stuff we’ve already been through together.” He nodded at the screen. “Put it on.”
He was eager to get their evening moving to the best bit where she sat next to him in the dark.
“I guess so.”
Nodding determinedly, Kagome pushed the button to start the movie and sat next to him, kicking off her house slippers and curling her legs up, reaching across him for her own handful of popcorn. She nudged Inuyasha with her shoulder playfully as the movie started and he grinned, nudging her back.
“Wow, that’s a big house”, Inuyasha commented, watching the blonde girl walk around a kitchen twice the size of the Higurashi’s. “Oh, she’s gonna eat popcorn too!”
The kitchen seemed much shinier than Kagome’s family kitchen, with a lot more fancy things, but not as real or lived in. He stared at the screen in puzzlement as he felt Kagome inch closer to him.
“Why don’t her words match her mouth?”
“It’s dubbed”, she whispered. “It’s an American movie, but they’ve recorded words in Japanese over the top so we can understand it.”
“Okay”, said Inuyasha, not quite understanding what she meant, but not wanting to admit it. “Wait, why does she keep picking up the phone if she don’t wanna talk to this guy?”
“I don’t knooow”, whispered Kagome. She edged a little closer to him, grabbing a pillow and holding it to her chest.
“This girl is dumb. She keeps answering the fucking phone instead of leaving”, grunted Inuyasha.
“Ohh”, moaned Kagome, tucking herself into his side as the girl on the screen flicked on the porch light only to see her boyfriend tied up, tape across his mouth.
“Pathetic”, grunted Inuyasha, munching more popcorn as the boy died a lacklustre death on screen. He hadn’t even put up much of a fight.
Kagome gasped as the girl managed to get away from the black masked figure reaching through the broken glass of the door.
“Oh, now she runs”, he said, rolling his eyes. “Why didn’t you do that earlier woman? Oh, for fucks sake, don’t stop running!” He sighed as the killer caught up with her and stabbed her with a knife, gesturing towards the screen with a popcorn filled fist.
“See, that’s what you get for bein’ stupid”, he commented, then made a disappointed noise as the girl’s parents rushed into the kitchen, pulling the flaming pan of popcorn off the stove.
“Aww, what a waste. She burned it.”
Kagome’s fingers pinched at his arm as the mother screamed at the sight of her dead daughter hanging from a tree, and she jumped, knocking the bowl in Inuyasha’s lap, almost sending it to the floor.
“Hey!” he grinned. He glanced at her face, about to tease her for jumping, but was alarmed at her terrified expression. He picked up the bowl from his lap and put it on the little table nearby, out of the way before it got spilled.
“Kagome, you okay?” he asked quietly, ignoring the movie now and focusing all his attention on her. Stupid human night. With his usual senses, he would have been able to pick up her fear much sooner. Her face was now burrowed into his arm, not even looking at the screen.
“Kagome, look at me. You told me this wasn’t real. It’s all pretend”, he said softly, nudging her gently.
“I know”, she whimpered, her voice muffled by his sleeve. “But that was so scary.”
“Turn the movie off then. We can watch something else. Or just talk.”
She shook her head.
“Eri said it was good.”
“It’s not good if it’s scaring you. I don’t want you to be scared.”
Hesitantly, he stroked her hair, remembering another time, earlier in their journey, where she’d sat beside him and done the same, leaning into his side, staring with terrified eyes at a dead girl. But that had been real and this was not.
“She’s not really dead, it’s a movie, just pictures, like you told me. And you would never be as stupid as her. Besides, I would never let anything like that happen to you.”
Greatly daring, he put his arm around her, squeezing her against him, then squawked in sudden surprise as she climbed into his lap, tucking her head on his shoulder.
“Is this okay?” she asked shyly.
“O’course. I’ll protect you from the stupid movie. Nothing’s gonna happen when I’m here Kagome.”
“I know, I always feel safe with you, Inuyasha”, she said with a happy sigh.
He could feel how hard her heart was beating, and now his was beating just as hard. Her hands tucked into his chest, gripping his suikan, and he adjusted her in his lap, his arms going around her to keep her close. Sighing, he nuzzled his nose into her hair, relishing the fact that when she was this close, even without his hanyou senses, he could pick up the scent of the soaps she used in her hair.
They both settled in to continue watching. He was now just as terrified as Kagome, but not because of the moving pictures on the screen. His lap was full of the girl that he would do anything for, the one person in this world he would die for, maybe even live for.
And that thought was scarier than any fucking movie.
The next chapter of Jar of Hearts is up on AO3! Here's a little snippet to whet your appetite. And I might start a tag train for this one, so if you'd like to be added, let me know in the comments!
Inuyasha did his best to swallow his quick temper and see things from Kikyou’s side. He understood how it might look. But Kagome had asked him to go with her, and in front of Kaede too, so there was no need for her sister to be angry. Kagome was completely safe with him.
“I didn’t do anything wrong”, he said, doing his best to keep the defensive tone out of his voice. “Kaede knew where we were going. Kagome asked me to help her-”
“I don’t care what you thought you were doing!” she spat venomously. “She doesn’t need your help. My sister has a habit of thinking the best of people, instead of being wary. You’re a stranger!”
The next chapter of Jar of Hearts is almost ready - just need to do a little bit of spit and polish on it. In the meantime, have this small offering of very early InuKag, before Shippou, Miroku, Sango and Kirrara joined the crew.
You can also read it here in my Inukag series Dog Tails on AO3 if you prefer.
“C’mon woman, stop draggin’ your heels!”
Kagome pouted at Inuyasha as he glanced over his shoulder at her, unable to stifle her wide yawn. Blearily, she rubbed her eyes, watching him bounding forward again through the cedar trees to sniff out the trail up ahead. He kept pausing every now and then to glance back at her, his expression puzzled.
“Yeah yeah, I’m coming”, grumbled Kagome, shrugging the heavy backpack on her shoulders to shift its weight and almost doing a face plant when she tripped over a stick.
For some reason today, everything felt twice as difficult. She’d woken up with a headache, and she felt like she was swimming against the tide, her movements clumsy and awkward. She didn’t feel ill exactly, but definitely not well – her stomach felt a little off and the area below it felt weird, like she’d overstretched some muscles maybe.
She’d almost caught up with Inuyasha when a sudden warm trickling feeling between her legs made her halt and freeze.
Oh. Oh no. Oh no no no. This couldn’t be happening. Not out here.
She’d only had it once before, a couple of months ago, and Mama said that they took some time to get regular. And now here she was, out in the middle of nowhere; no Mama, no toilet, alone with a boy, one she had only known for a little over a month… and she had her period.
But maybe she was wrong? Maybe that wasn’t what this was –maybe it was just that other thing, the discharge stuff she got occasionally, just a bit more than usual? Or maybe she was just exceptionally sweaty or something?
Quickly moving off the path Inuyasha was following and heading alone into the forest, she jogged over to the largest tree she could find and hid behind it, flipping up her skirt to check her underwear.
Please let me be wrong. Please, please, please. Oh. Oh no.
“Hey Kagome, what the fuck do ya think you’re-“
“Don’t come back here!” she screeched, squatting down and putting her hands over her head, as if it would hide her from his view.
“Fucking hell, don’t scream at me! If ya need to stop to take a dump, just tell me first, all right?”
She glanced around, her heart beating double time. She couldn’t see Inuyasha anywhere close by, but she heard a rustle of leaves as he sat himself down on the ground a little way away, muttering darkly to himself. Probably nothing complimentary towards her, but at least he wasn’t coming any closer.
Take a deep breath Kagome, you can do this.
Mama had given her a little bag of pads and painkillers and told her to keep it in her bag in case of emergencies. She could totally handle this. She was fifteen now. If she could battle youkai and search for the shikon jewel shards with Inuyasha, surely she could handle having her period when she wasn’t home. It would be fine, no worries.
Except the little bag wasn’t there.
Frantically she dumped everything out of her backpack – first aid kit, schoolbooks, pyjamas, a few spare pairs of underwear and a bra, Inuyasha’s ninja snacks, her pencil case, hairbrush, toothpaste and toothbrush, shampoo and soap and a roll of toilet paper… but no little bag.
And then she remembered. She’d had a headache last time she was studying at home, and rather than going downstairs to the bathroom, she’d taken the little bag out of her backpack to get some of the tablets. And she hadn’t put the bag back in.
She felt another little trickle down below and couldn’t stop the tears coming. She’d messed up. She’d forgotten to plan for this. How could she forget? What was she meant to do now? Her underpants would be dirty.
She felt like a toddler that hadn’t made it to the toilet on time and a wave of embarrassment washed over her. She couldn’t let Inuyasha find out that she’d made a mess of herself. He’d laugh at her and tease her, call her stupid. She scrubbed at her face as more tears came.
“Hey Kagome, you okay?”
Inuyasha’s tone was still gruff, but his voice was much softer.
“Um”, she hiccuped, “just give me a minute.”
Taking a deep breath, she tried to calm down. She needed to be rational. She had toilet paper and clean underpants, that was the obvious solution for the moment.
Quickly glancing around to make sure Inuyasha wasn’t watching her, she took off her soiled underpants and wrapped them up in the plastic bag she used for her dirty laundry, pushing it to the bottom of her backpack, then put on a new pair, choosing the firmest ones so that the thickly wadded up piece of toilet paper doing duty as a pad would stay put. It was uncomfortable, but necessary.
She piled everything back into her backpack and sat down gingerly, leaning back against the tree. This was okay for the moment. But it probably wouldn’t last for the days that this was likely to continue – she would run out of toilet paper. And it wasn’t like she could use leaves or anything. At a pinch she could probably cut up her pyjamas, maybe? Would that work?
Her head thumped, and the tight cramping feeling below her stomach intensified. If only Mama were here. But she was a long way away, five hundred years into the future. All the way back home.
What if she asked Inuyasha to take her home? This was a natural thing, surely he couldn’t get mad at her for something that wasn’t her fault. But how would you start a conversation like that? Did he even know about periods? And he hated when she went home. This was going to cause an argument, she just knew it. Her head thumped harder, the more she tried to think. Oh kami, what should she do?
“Hey uh, Kagome? You… you got that, uh, woman thing, huh?” he stammered, his voice oozing with embarrassment from his spot over behind the bushes. “It’s, uh, it’s okay, take your time. Do you want me to go further away?”
Oh. Oh kami, he could smell her. He already knew. Well, that settled it. She would just stay here. Stay here and never come out from behind this tree ever again. Just curl up and die of embarrassment.
She couldn’t help the small whimper that left her. Just when they were beginning to be closer, just when Inuyasha had begun trusting her to fight alongside him. And then this had to happen. This would prove to him that she was just useless cargo, instead of being worthy to gather the jewel shards with him.
“Oi, don’t cry! Is it makin’ ya feel bad?“
“Inuyasha, I’m so sorry!” she sniffed. “It’s only the second time this has happened and I don’t have any of the things in my backpack I would usually use in my time. I’m so stupid!”
“Kagome, hey. Don’t-“
“I should have known this might happen, I should have planned better. How can you trust me to help fix things with the Shikon jewel if I can’t even take care of myself!” she sobbed, dropping her head to her knees and hugging her legs.
A few moments later she felt him sit beside her, not quite touching, but close enough to feel his body heat. His hand patted her on the top of her head, a little heavily, but she could tell he meant it to be comforting.
“Ya are bein’ stupid, but not for the reason you think.”
Sniffing, she raised her tearful face to his, wiping away her tears. He wasn’t looking directly at her, his gaze directed off towards the trees in front of them. His cheeks were a little pink, but his face was split by his trademark cocky grin.
“There, much better. That’s the Kagome I know. So, what do ya need?”
“Could... could you take me home? Not for a long time”, she quickly added, “just long enough to get some supplies, and then we can head off again?”
“Hmmm… I could do that”, he rumbled, glancing sideways at her. “But it’s gonna cost ya.”
“Cost me?” Kagome asked hesitantly.
“We’re outta the dried crunchy things.”
“The potato chips? Sure, we can get more chips. I’m sure Mama will have some in the pantry. Or if we don’t have them, I can go buy some.” She almost laughed in relief.
“And make sure you take some medicine, I can tell you’re not feelin’ well. Can’t have you slackin’ on the job.”
“Okay.”
He moved to crouch down in front of her.
“Well, what are ya waitin’ for. This way’s faster. I can get you home before sunset this way. And then we can eat at your house. In fact we may as well stay overnight an’ start fresh in the morning.”
Putting on the backpack, Kagome very carefully positioned herself on Inuyasha’s back, not wanting the makeshift pad in her underpants to shift around too much.
“Ya good?”
“Yeah.”
“Tell me if ya need to stop again okay?”
“Okay. Thank you for being so understanding Inuyasha”, she said sincerely.
He gave an embarrassed cough.
“Yeah well, everyone has times that they’re not feeling their best. It’s not your fault. It’s just one a those things. Besides, maybe your mother will be makin’ steak for dinner.”
And before she could reply they were off, bounding through the tree tops in a direct line to the well.
Chapter Three of Jar of Hearts is up on AO3! Here's a little snippet to whet your appetite...
He could hear her heart beating rapidly as he touched her, the sour scent of her nervousness making his nose twitch in distaste. He made sure to release her and take a step backwards as soon as she was safely on the ground.
“Hey. I know I’m… different, but you don’t need to worry. I’d never hurt you. I only hide because people are frightened by what they don’t understand.”
Kagome’s eyes drifted up towards his ears again, currently drooping a little in response to the change in her mood, her expression a mixture of understanding and sorrow. This woman also knew what it was to be different.
Hey everyone! My Halloween Bang contribution for @inu-spiration has been available on AO3 all day, but I've been at work and we were so busy I wasn't able to put a link here on tumblr. I didn't even get time to stare at this gorgeous art by @mickisketch - doesn't it make you want to weep at how beautiful it is?!
You can read Jar of Hearts on AO3.
The next two chapters are done, and will be posted over the next two weeks. After those are up, I would love to say it will have a regular update pattern, but every time I promise something like that, life taps me on the shoulder and reminds me that my time is not my own. We'll just keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best hmmm?
