FicWad

KURAMA: I demand that take my garments off the aution block at once!

I can't. My computer is away at getting-repaired camp.

KURAMA: Then we must your account from another machine.

Um...

KURAMA: Unless your laptop was the only thing programmed to remember your password...

Um...

.
.
.

Not when he'd first heard Naraku's name.

Not when his brother had reached out with a human arm to wield the stolen Tetsusaiga.

Not when the earth had opened up to swallow him, the sky to drown him, or the fire to scar his soul.

At none of these times had Inuyasha felt such a clenching dismay bite down on the muscles on either side of his spine. None of those crises had forced the animal in his mind to react in nerve-relay panic.

"What are you doing, Higurashi-san?"

Inuyasha's eyes flipped open to stare blankly at the smooth underside of Kagome's chin for half an arrested heartbeat before he flipped into a sitting position fast enough to make his hair fly, forehead nearly cracking against her jaw. He found himself half-crouched between Kagome and the door, one clawed hand outstretched and the other halfway to Tetsusaiga, as if puny Hojo were the vilest threat he'd ever known.

And somewhere in all of this, a mortified blush managed to rise on his face.

He hadn't... seen, had he?

"...Oh," the boy trailed stupidly. "I'm... sorry?"

Fuck!

He'd let Kagome touch him. He hadn't meant to, but she'd just reached out and then he couldn't make his hands obey him and slap her away. Before he knew it, he'd let himself sink off into something that smelled like her and felt like the opposite of pain, and what little of his mind wasn't buzzing like a horde of warm bees in the back of his skull began to work on an idea. ...Maybe even if he did still have to be so strong, just have to stay alive. ...maybe she wouldn't mind. ...maybe there was something that wasn't so bad about letting her hold him, even if he was supposed to be the demon and she was the weak human.

And Hojo had seen.

And if the soft-skinned runt had been a real enemy, he and Kagome would be dead.

Sour shame rose with the growl in his throat. For all Inuyasha knew, he'd been thumping his foot against the ground like the worthless fucking mutt that his asshole brother, Kouga, and half the humans on the planet always said he was. Not even fit to guard the camp if all some stupid girl had to do was scratch at his damn ears and he'd roll over.

"Uh ...Hojo?" behind him, Inuyasha could hear Kagome pull out her I-can-explain voice.

"I'm sorry..." he said again, face twisting as if he were the one who was embarrassed. Stupid fuck, couldn't he just leave? Didn't he have people to tell?

"No! I'm sorry, Hojo," why was Kagome sounding so concerned? Inuyasha bristled. This wasn't her fault! He just shouldn't have been so stupid as to let her- "I should have told you that Inuyasha.-" Kagome choked off and Hojo's eyes moved from her to Inuyasha and back, but his face didn't lose that half-mortified grimace.

What..? Inuyasha's mind rose out of its self-deprecating mire.

Tell him what? And what could she want to say to Hojo - about him - that she'd be afraid to let him hear?

"...Inuyasha was still asleep," Hojo finished in the same bland, apologetic tone.

Inuyasha blinked. A quick sound came from Kagome's throat.

"I'm sorry for startling you like that, Inuyasha. Miss Sango told me you were awake-"

Alright, Hojo wasn't known for his shining grasp of the deductive process, but was he fucking blind?!

But then... Maybe Inuyasha had moved fast enough. Maybe Hojo's eyes hadn't adjusted to the dim. Or maybe he just was that stupid.

Inuyasha was not complaining.

"-and I wanted to say I was sorry for ..uh..." he looked at the wall, shifting on his feet, "...for whatever it was that I did back there."

...but that didn't mean that he was happy. Kagome had-And then he'd-But what did she-Aaaagh!

"You're sorry?" Inuyasha managed. "You'd better be fucking sorry, you stupid-" Kagome smacked him in the back of the head. Inuyasha growled.

"You said I could call him names if he was an asshole, and he's being an asshole!"

"No he's not! He came in here to apologize!"

He turned around to snap at her and then remembered that this was his first look at her face since... Well, since. She was red, but was it because she was embarrassed about what she'd wanted to say to Hojo, because Inuyasha had insulted him, or just because she'd been caught stroking some stray?

"And /I'm sorry for waking you up when you're still hurt-" Hojo dragged Inuyasha's attention away from being embarrassed into the much more familiar sensation of being angry. That squishy pink toad thought that he'd hurt him with his little sparks? /Even without my fire-rat robe it takes more than a little flare to take me out! Even without Kagome shielding... Inuyasha's jaw set. Kagome was shielding me... The insult struggled and died in his mouth.

"-but Miss Sango told me you were awake, and Kaede-sama said she wouldn't tell her news unless the both of you were there." He began to back towards the door, "I'll just tell them you're still a little out of it."

"You keep your ugly trap shut; I'm coming right now," Inuyasha lashed, reaching back to snag Kagome's wrist and pull her along.

Inuyasha only closed his eyes for a second. As much as he wanted to talk to Kagome - not that he had any idea what to ask - there was no way he was going to look weak in front of this tufty-haired whelp three times in the same day. He'd have plenty of time to speak with Kagome during the ten days she'd be staying here with him to hunt jewel shards.

...but that was only if he didn't rip Hojo's kidneys out through his neck.

.
.
.

"While I was seeing to the boy's illness," Kaede explained slowly, "his mother began to speak to me of a series of serpent attacks upon the settlement to the north..."

Shippo tried not to sigh too loudly. Sure, rumors about demons usually meant that they were going to go shard hunting, but this part was so boring! Trying not to be too obvious about it while the priestess was talking, Shippo pulled his present out of his vest pocket at held it in both hands.

A ball. A yellow ball with something in it that made it sparkle. It didn't do much more than roll when it hit dirt, but when it hit stone... Shippo gave it a little toss, hoping that no one would see him playing when he was supposed to be paying attention.

"Serpent demons are common in mountains such as those," Sango was saying. "Why should this one draw her attention?"

The ball slipped his grip and rolled. He cringed inwardly, tracking it with his eyes. If that thing went down the hill he'd never catch it!

It came to a stop next to a clean black shoe. Shippo looked up at Hojo and blinked. The human was staring at him. He realized with a start that he'd probably been staring at him since before Kaede had started talking.

Hm... So I guess he's not super-polite all the time/, Shippo realized. /He wasn't paying attention either. /The fox boy's eyes went wide as he remembered something Miroku had said to Inuyasha. /Then... maybe he's NOT a neuteral!

"It is not the fact of these incidents," Kaede went on, "but of their ferocity which has become alarming. Even if what she said to me had been embellished by rumor and retelling, these attacks have grown more frequent, and the demons involved more fearsome."

"Demons?" Inuyasha asked with a crooked eyebrow. "As in more than one?" Shippo frowned. Was it just him or did the dog demon seem ...edgy? He kept looking at Kagome and then looking away. And when he did, his ears would start twitching like crazy.

Shippo set his tiny teeth. Had dog boy done something to make Kagome run away again? If she went back down the well this soon after being away so long, he'd chew those flippy ears until Inuyasha's head was as round as a human's. He'd sow screaming mushrooms around the Goshinboku so that he couldn't sleep. He'd steal all the ramen and throw it in the river!

But first he'd get his ball back.

Shippo checked that everyone else's attention was busy and started to scurry toward where Hojo was standing. The human went stiff. Was he afraid that Kaede would see and think he was as rude? Big deal. She already thought he was stupid...

As Shippo was sneaking behind Sango - Kirara, curled up by the taijiya's leg, opened one eye at him, but she wasn't a tattletale - he accidentically brushed a little closer than he'd meant. Biting his bottom lip, as he heard her draw in a quick breath, he noticed that Miroku had happened to sit a bit closer to Sango than he usually bothered. As nimbly as he could, Shippo grabbed the monk's nearest hand and planted it in the dust behind Sango's legs.

As he ducked for a little shadow by the rocks, he heard the smack of skin on skin.

"Houshi-sama!" her voice was dark, "Be serious while Kaede-sama is speaking."

Miroku made a choked noise. "But-! But I..." a silence, and then, "Think you, Priestess Kaede, that one or more of these demons may be in posession of a jewel shard?"

"It may be..." Kaede trailed off.

Shippo risked a glance at the others and realized that he wasn't the only one who'd been surprised.

Just a slap? And just a mumbled protest and a "be serious"? What about the shouting, the glorious thud of centipede jawbone on human head, the thunderous protests of monkly purity and virtuous intentions?

Grownups made no sense. Shippo shook his head and started to inch toward Hojo again. The boy hadn't stopped staring, even during the disappointing grope scene.

The human's jaw flexed as if he were thinking, though his face still seemed very pale. Then Hojo's foot gave a nudge, and the ball came scuttling quietly toward him. Shippo leaned down with both hands and caught it, tucking it quickly back inside his shirt. He gave the others another quick look. Either they hadn't noticed or they didn't care. Score!

Shippo scurried back to his place next to Kagome and looked back up as Kaede finished.

Kagome's friend Hojo sure was jumpy. Were all people from Tokyo that way, or was this guy just special? Did neuterals have twitchier brains or something?

Shippo shrugged. Hojo annoyed Inuyasha, which was a plus in itself, but unlike most things which annoyed Inuyasha, Shippo was fairly sure that Hojo didn't eat kitsune cubs.

He turned for another look at Hojo, and flashed him a smile with all his teeth. The boy jumped.

Shippo turned back to Kaede, frowning at the ground, then hid a slow grin as he eyed an unusually disgruntled-looking Inuyasha.

This was going to be fun.

.
.
.

Quit complaining. I gave them back.

KURAMA: No you didn't. I had to buy them.