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Chapter 17: Confusing Morning

Presence. Tingle. Warm. Soft. Familiar. Something large and alive near her side. Sounds of slow, rhythmic breaths. Something fluttery tickling her hand.

Kagome let her eyes gradually flutter open, pulled into wakefulness by sensations both alien and familiar. She was in her sleeping bag, beneath a familiar ceiling, the gray light of morning peeping in the windows. Kaede's hut...how did I get here?

The familiar large bundle beside her sleeping bag was her answer. Inuyasha, once more dressed in his red kimono, was sound asleep, this time curled up facing her instead of directly against her. What a sweetie, she thought sleepily. I must have dozed off on the towel. He carried me back and put me to bed.

To bed...?

She nearly jumped, then relaxed when she realized she was still wearing her bathing suit. He hadn't felt obligated to go so far as to change her clothes for her. Whew.

Relief or disappointment?

She slowly realized the fluttery thing on her hand was Inuyasha, too. His nose rested close to her hand, which lay outside and along her sleeping bag. Each exhalation puffed against her skin, warm and cool at the same time. Each inhalation no doubt carried the full measure of her scent to him. Now that she knew what it was, his breath made goosebumps stand up all the way up her arm.

A slow turn of her head, rustling, gave her a view of the room out beyond Inuyasha. She felt a start thrill through her when she saw Kaede sitting opposite the fireplace, watching them serenely. The old priestess made no sound, but she smiled gently when Kagome's eyes met hers.

Kagome took a deep breath, then sat up. Inuyasha stirred, his ears pricking up. She didn't want him to wake; unconsciously, she touched his head, then gently stroked the silky hair between his ears. By the time she noticed what she was doing, he had calmed, his ears drooping back down to sleepiness again. She blushed, but continued to slowly pet him to keep him from waking. He sighed contentedly in his sleep.

"All night has he been thus," Kaede said softly. "With you beside him, he sleeps like one dead. He did not stir save for one ear when I arrived late last night."

"He would be so angry if he knew what I was doing," Kagome said, red-cheeked. Her dog-demon barely twitched at her voice.

Kaede gave her a conspiratory smile. "But still, he likes it."

"I guess." Kagome, embarassed, saw his pleasant expression as he remained sound asleep beside her. His hair was so smooth and light; washed clean from yesterday, it was white silk, dove's feathers, softness itself. It made her fingers tingle to touch it, to run it between them. His face was so peaceful...almost angelic.

Her gaze focused on the one hand that she could see, emerging from his kimono near his face. It rested flat against the floor, almost touching her sleeping bag. It was a pale hand, like the rest of him, fine-boned and slim; oddly incongruous when one considered the grip and force that hand was capable of producing. Four long, thin fingers were surmounted by thick, curved fingernails that formed lethally sharp claws. The back of the hand was just a bit too long, the distance between knuckles and wrist just a tad greater than it should have been. The thumb was shorter and set further back, the fifth claw mounted on its tip. The hand blended smoothly into a strong wrist that flowed up to an arm...that disappeared into his kimono.

Kagome bit her lip and felt her cheeks heat, her mind supplying the images of what lay under the kimono. Memories of his slim, strong physique appeared before her eyes like a holographic overlay.

"I...I should get dressed," she quavered to no one in particular, her hand abruptly pulling back from him as though his hair were dangerous. She got up from her sleeping bag and headed for her pack, hoping to get dressed before Inuyasha woke up.

No such luck.

Her sudden movement and the lack of her close presence brought Inuyasha around quite quickly. Blinking and sitting up, he stared at the two women for a minute, looking sleepy and a bit stupid. "Um...is it morning?" he asked muzzily.

Kagome stared right back at him. He must have been under really deep! I've never seen him look so sleepy... "Of course it's morning, silly. Why else would it be light outside?"

Inuyasha blinked, apparently beginning to clear the cobwebs from his brain. "Oh."

Kaede chuckled, stirring the pot of porrige that stood near the fire. "Breakfast, anyone?"

"I'll have some of that, as soon as I'm dressed. Inuyasha?"

"Huh?" The half-demon missed Kagome's meaningful look entirely; instead, he gazed at her, puzzled.

"I'm dressing." Kagome gestured to the clothes she held in one hand. "D'ya mind?"

The dog-demon blinked for a second time. "Oh!" He popped up and scuttled over to face the corner away from her. "Sorry."

"God, now he's apologizing!" Kagome said, sounding at the same time amazed and exhasperated. "You're being really feebleminded this morning, Inuyasha."

"I am not--!" He nearly whipped around to yell at her, but halted his knee-jerk response at the last moment and remembered the Wrath of Sit that would fall upon him should he look while she was changing. "I am not being feebleminded!" he snarled.

"I know," Kagome giggled. He couldn't see her expression, whether she was joking or not. He was never sure with women; when did one know to take them at face value or go searching for hidden meanings?

"Can't I tease you a little?" she asked.

"Oh." Well, it sounded pretty lame, but that was all he could think of to say. Not very creative; it was the third time he'd used it.

"Okay, I'm done. You're safe."

Inuyasha carefully peeked first, just to make sure she wasn't trapping him. When he ascertained that she was sufficiently covered--if a skirt and a short-sleeved blouse was enough--he padded over to the fireplace and sat down beside her. He sat a lot closer beside her than usual, and didn't even realize it.

After breakfast, Kaede stayed to clean up and announced she was going to catalogue her herbs in preparation for the oncoming winter, when coughs, sniffles, and other ailments would increase in the village. Kagome excitedly volunteered to help, which left Inuyasha without company for the morning. He didn't dare stay--he found such things to be frightfully dull and worried that he'd fall asleep in the middle of it and make Kagome mad.

So instead he asked if Kagome felt like having fresh roast for dinner that evening. She gave him an odd look as if she wondered what grocery store he was going to pop in at. Kaede merely nodded and said that venison sounded nice to her, and would he mind snagging a doe instead of a buck because the bucks had a sour taste this time of year?

Kagome missed the point of the conversation entirely, and Kaede had to explain to her that the dog-demon was going to go hunting for them and bring back a deer for their supper. He had to leave early so they'd have adequate time to butcher out the carcass when he returned.

"Oh!" Now it was Kagome's turn to look a little stupid. "Well...be careful, I guess." She was surprised--here he was going hunting for her again! Well...she wasn't quite sure it was truly for her sake--or merely to get out of helping.

"I'll be quick," he said, stepping out the door.

Kagome merely watched him with large blue eyes until he was gone.

Inuyasha didn't have time to set foot in the woods before Shirokiba appeared out of nowhere almost on top of him the minute he left the confines of the village, ambushing him at the outer edge of the fields. The wolf-dog demon was panting and looking a little ragged around the edges, his eyes wild and focused. "Shirokiba!" Inuyasha rasped once his heart rate and breathing were under control. His friend had arrived so quickly that Inuyasha had barely registered his aura before he was there. "What's the matter with you?"

"Did you sleep with Kagome?" the demon demanded simply.

Inuyasha gaped at him. "What?"

Shirokiba's blue-gold eyes were hard and piercing. "You played in the water for hours, you fell asleep besde her on a towel; when she fell asleep and evening came, you carried her into Kaede's hut and did not come out until this morning--and even then you were late. You didn't...did you?"

Inuyasha's mouth worked for a minute. "No!" he finally yelled. "I-I slept with her; I didn't sleep with her."

Shirokiba cocked an eyebrow, puzzled. "I have no idea what you just meant."

"I said I didn't sleep with her!"

"But you just said you slept with her."

"Yes! But--"

"You're being confusing. I thought you said--"

"I said nothing happened!"

Shirokiba actually growled. "Let me be more specific: You did not mate with her?"

"No!" Inuyasha snarled, his face red.

For a minute they stood and glared at each other.

Finally, Shirokiba stood back with a sigh. "Thank you for clearing that up. Now you can go talk Ginnezu out of the jealous rage she's worked herself into before she does something we'll all regret."

"What's the matter?"

"Go find out," Shirokiba replied with a shrug. "I've babysat that petulant little she-dog all night, keeping her from busting in on you because she and I both thought you and Kagome were...busy."

"God, you're such a moron!" Inuyasha growled. "Kaede was there the whole time!"

"How would I know? I didn't see any of that!" Shirokiba shot back. "I already had an insane Silver Lady on my hands when you didn't come out after an hour and a half. I've been dashing through the woods since moonrise last night!"

"Couldn't you hear the silence, idiot?"

"Not with her whining in my ear."

"Fine...where is she?

"Down by the river near the place where you and Kagome swam. She took it hard."

"Stupid wench."

"Watch it, mutt--that's the Lady of the Silver Clan you're talking about."

"Why the hell should I care? If all this hoity-toity stuff is important, it doesn't matter what she is--I'm a White." Inuyasha fixed his companion with a glare. "You were watching yesterday, weren't you?"

Shirokiba shrugged. "I spotted her trying to lose the monk and the kitsune in the woods, so I looped around and got there first. I set up camp downwind across the river where I could see everything, and sure enough, I saw it all."

Inuyasha blushed. "You saw everything?"

"Yup." The wolf-dog looked positively smug. "All those cute little splash-and-dive games you were playing with Kagome...really, it was quite sweet."

"Shirokiba..." Inuyasha growled threateningly. "If you mention one word to anyone else about this, I will personally kill you."

"Hey, my lips are sealed--but no guarantees about Lady Ginnezu. She's in a serious fit right now."

"That little witch needs to catch a clue."

"No kidding. You're the one who needs to throw it to her."

"Keep an eye on Kagome, will you?" With that, Inuyasha dropped to all fours and headed for the river, leaving Shirokiba standing angrily behind him.

"You idiot mutt," the wolf-dog grumbled. "I don't need another babysitting job."

Ginnezu was crouched calmly and serenely by the water's edge, nothing like the raging, screeching female dog-demon that Shirokiba had had to deal with. When Inuyasha approached her, he expected a crying, begging woman to throw herself at his feet and howl about her true love and devotion and other such la-de-da.

He didn't expect her to completely ignore him.

So he stood behind her, warily, waiting for her to acknowledge him. He gazed at her back, her light silvery tail lying straight out behind her. As he looked at her, he found himself uncomfortably remembering the events of yesterday afternoon, especially her rude interruption of his swim with Kagome. Strangely, the image that most dominated his mind was the one of her striding out of the water after he'd yelled at her, just as calm and serene as she was now. He remembered how his eyes had focused on the dark, black-gray, tigerlike stripes that graced her thinly-furred ribs, upper arms, and thighs, three to a side, three to an area. He remembered how he thought those stripes looked familiar to him--but from where? And he remembered how Shirokiba's words had echoed through his mind--the words about Dogs with impure colors having "tainted" bloodlines.

So, Ginnezu...you're not as perfect as you'd like us to think, he thought grimly, still staring at her back. He noticed the very tip of her tail twitch once.

"Ginnezu, what the hell is your problem?" he growled, feeling that he'd waited long enough.

"I have no problem, my lord."

"Bull. Shirokiba told me you've been making a jackass out of yourself all night. I want to know what the deal is--because I really think that what's between me and Kagome is none of your business."

Ginnezu still did not look at him. Her posture did not shift. "I admit to some jealousy, Mashiro-Inu. However, it is your choice and yours alone to mate with the human female."

"Nothing happened, Ginnezu," Inuyasha snarled warningly. "Kagome isn't that kind of girl."

"I apologize. I must say I was...concerned." Ginnezu frantically hid her smile--he wasn't comitted to the human yet!

Inuyasha snorted. "Hell yeah--you've already made it abundantly clear you're supposedly in love with me. Which is a load of crock if I ever heard one."

For the first time, Ginnezu whirled--and Inuyasha could see tears welling up in her eyes. "My lord, I--!" She swallowed, then composed herself. "Mashiro-Inu...I am in love with you. I have been since I first laid eyes on you."

"And when would that be?" Inuyasha sneered. "When you came to the village or when you were following us around trying to spy on us?"

"Yes, I followed you for a time. And I began to fall for you from the first moment." Ginnezu stood up to face him. "It was I who came after you into the caves and killed the rats that would have slaughtered your friends. It was I who dug out most of the rockfall to let you escape when your friends arrived. It was I who used my own teeth and claws to pull Karasuhebi's weight off of your little boomerang-throwing friend in the middle of that fight."

"And how did you do all this without either Kagome or I sensing you? Or even scenting you?" Inuyasha demanded.

"I have my Amulet..."

"I guess that lets you be pretty sneaky, huh? Sneaky enough to try tricks to get Kagome and I to hate each other? I've been wondering..."

Ginnezu's eyes snapped up to his. "My lord--"

"Save it. I know you're not the little innocent you make yourself out to be. You're a demon, Ginnezu, and that makes you capable of anything in my book. That's why I don't believe you love me. Demons can't love."

Ginnezu nearly bristled and snarled at him--at that awful accusation--but she marshalled her willpower and managed to look hurt and stung. "Mashiro-Inu, how can you say that? I can love! I love you!"

Inuyasha didn't bat an eye. "You can also lie."

"My lord..." She allowed tears to leak from her eyes. Her voice grew shrill with emotion. "My lord, I am telling the truth! You speak of demons being unable to love--but I tell you this: Humans are the ones who cannot love! They are weak, stupid cattle who care only for themselves! Do you think that pretty little female you keep with you really loves you? She only wants the security of being close to you--you protect her from the demons humans fear, so she stays beside you! She doesn't love you! Not like I do!"

Inuyasha snarled, nearly blurting out that dammit, he did know Kagome loved him and she'd said it with her own lips in the middle of a dream, in which she could not lie. "Damn you, Ginnezu, how dare you say that about Kagome? She's faced death for me too many times to count! You know nothing about humans!"

Ginnezu abruptly subsided, startling him. "I suppose you're right, my lord." But I've planted the idea...haven't I? Word games...I'll put fear and doubt into him. Soon he'll hate that little wench.

"I don't really care what you think, Ginnezu," Inuyasha growled. "Neither you or your damn Dog Clans are going to decide what I do with my life, so stay out of it." Damn, she switches around so fast it's confusing. One minute she's furious, the next she's contrite. What's up with her?

Ginnezu bowed her head. "I am sorry, my lord, but I have a duty to my father's clan, and to the Dog Clans, and I intend to see it carried out."

Inuyasha stepped close to her, pinning her dark amber gaze with his piercing golden one. "Listen to me, she-dog: I am not bound by your stupid Dog Clans to do anything, no matter what any of you say. And even if I do choose to come back, I will not marry you. Do you understand? I will not marry you. Never."

Ginnezu gaped at him, stung and insulted. "My lord---what about your father's will? Do you hate him so much that you would throw away his duty to the Clans--the peace and unity of your people? Everything he worked for all his life?"

Inuyasha flinched almost invisibly. "My old man died years ago and left me alone with my bastard half-brother. Why should I care about him?" His voice cracked almost unnoticeably.

"I...I see." Ginnezu sighed, then stepped back away from him, turning to the water. "I apologize for yesterday, Mashiro-Inu. I am...entering my fertile season and sometimes I am...hormonal. I did not mean to make you uncomfortable."

"It was damn indecent, Ginnezu," Inuyasha growled. So that's why she smells so...enticing. She's coming into heat. This is bad... He was glad she couldn't see his blush. "It isn't proper for a naked woman to jump on a man--especially in the presence of others." God, I sound like my mother!

Ginnezu actually giggled. "Ah, I suppose you are not used to the way dog-demons do things, being raised by humans as you were. We do not wear useless clothing when we bathe and swim, alone or in groups. It is simply convenience."

Inuyasha wasn't sure if she was covertly insulting him or not, with her "raised by humans" comment, so he remained silent. But her statement made uncomfortable images arise in his head; dog demons wore nothing when they bathed and swam--and Kagome sometimes... Nope--don't even go there, idiot, he berated himself. Now's not the time for useless fantasies that will never come true.

"My lord," Ginnezu continued. "I know that...many of my actions have driven you away from me. But...I truly do love you. And...even if there is no chance that you would love me in return...I hope you might at least regard me as a friend. I have your best interests at heart; really, I do. But...I cannot leave until I see my duty done."

Inuyasha eyed her warily. "And what might that be?"

"I have told you."

He gazed at her back for a while. "You've promised not to harm any of my friends or the people in this village," he stated. "Does your word still hold true?"

Ginnezu looked at him over her shoulder. "I do not lie, Mashiro-Inu, especially when I have sworn on my family's honor. Your little female is safe." She returned her gaze to the river.

Inuyasha had one more pressing thought on his mind. "Ginnezu...it's only a week until the full moon. Is what you said about your Amulet true?"

"Perhaps. I have never tried."

Inuyasha stewed for a while. He didn't dare talk to Kagome about this--she'd be upset if she knew he was thinking about it. "If...if it works...I would be willing to go with you to the Howl-Gathering."

Score! Ginnezu was glad her back was to him--it hid her involuntary dark, eager smile. Got him hooked, now to reel him in... "I am glad, Mashiro-Inu," she replied, keeping her voice carefully under control. "Can you acquire a shard of the Shikon Jewel on that night?"

"I can."

Ginnezu said nothing, but merely smiled out at the water. The last-resort trick worked...

"Nothing strange had better happen, Ginnezu," Inuyasha warned with a growl, "or your head will be the first to roll."

The female demon did not reply. Inuyasha watched her for a little while longer, then turned and headed back into the woods with a snarl.

Ginnezu stood still for a long time, her smile broadening into a wide, fanged grin. I've got him now! I knew the temptation would be too much! He's mine!

To be continued...