Not His Chattel

Afternoon Musings

The chatter of Kagome’s friends failed to penetrate the concentration she had on her French fries. The deep fried sticks of potato weren’t different from any other day, they just happened to be the object her eyes settled on while her mind mulled over other things. These things that had nothing to do with greasy food, but everything to do with the recent changes in her life.

Her eighteenth birthday had been a little over a month ago. That special day had turned into a special night, or so it seemed at the time.

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Kagome left her house and practically skipped toward the well. The taste of her favorite desert was still sweet on her tongue. Her mother had made it as a special surprise. Before stepping down the stairs to the well, she removed her heeled shoes. The ground was soft on the other side, and she was afraid they would make her trip. The usual over- stuffed backpack was still in her bedroom. She did not intend on staying in the feudal era for long. She paused for a moment, sitting on the lip of the well.

The smile on Kagome’s lips faded a little. Perhaps she should go back and get the sac. It was never a far chance that some excitement might spring up while she was there. She might need it after all…

“No.” she spoke to herself almost in a whisper, “If I go to the house now, I won’t be able to talk myself into coming back. Not for this reason.”

After a deep breath, she pushed herself off the ledge. The pastel yellow dress she wore fluttered, then settled around her thighs as she left the in-between journey. A branch waved and stars twinkled over head where there once was a roof of aged wood. Kagome was extra careful climbing up the side of the well. This was her nicest dress, and she didn’t want it to get torn. “Not like this, anyway.” She murmured to her self, making her cheeks rosy with her own imagination.

Kagome, once again, found her self having second thoughts while sitting on the lip of the well. What if Inuyasha wasn’t in the village? What if he was off somewhere else? With someone else… She shook her head and refused to think any further in that direction. She stood up.

The grass was cool and slick beneath her feet, but she had only taken a few steps before new worries attacked her already wavering conviction. She crossed her bare arms and looked down at her toes, kneading the moist soil under them. If he turned her down, even gently (given this was Inuyasha she was thinking about, that was unlikely) it would hurt. It would also make things awkward for a long time afterwards. Her weight shifted from one foot to another. Even if he did accept her, but then changed his mind later, that would be even worse!

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“I should have turned around and jumped back into the well.”

“What did you say?”

Kagome almost poked the roof of her mouth with the straw. She blushed a little upon realizing that she had spoken aloud before picking up her soda.

Three pairs of curious eyes now tried to capture her own. She evaded them by looking out the window at the busy street. The flustered girl tried to think of a way to cover her strange little outburst. A way to reword the sentence so it would make more sense to her friends failed to present itself. So, she decided on her next best idea.

“I was just thinking about a Choose Your Own Adventure book my little brother gave me the last time I was sick. One of the options after climbing out of a well was to jump back in, instead of continuing down the path. I ended up running into wild dog, and had to start all over again.” Kagome looked back over at the other girls. Each of them had quirked their eyebrows in their own fashion to express the thought ‘Riiiiight.’

Kagome took a swig off her soda, and then changed the subject to their last chemistry exam. The other girls were happy to leave the odd moment behind.


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The second hand of the clock took an eternity to make its way around. Finally, the little red bar crossed the 12. Kagome sighed; still 32 minutes left to go before the bell rang.

When she had first heard of the Traditional Poetry class, she had thought it would be wonderful. She had envisioned herself memorizing ancient epics and romances, then reciting them with depth and feeling to her friends and family. Then she found out the first day of class that the object was not to read and discuss the old forms of poetry. The students were expected to study traditional poem structure, and to write works of their own in the same form. The first session, and every other since, had become a personal hell made up of boredom and headaches.

At first, Kagome thought it wouldn’t be so bad. She had so many adventures to draw upon for inspiration! After filling up her waste basket with all her attempts at the first assignment, the young woman had come to a painful insight. A large store of subject ideas matters little, if one lacks the talent to put them properly down on paper.

Thank goodness Sango was a natural at it! In the beginning, Kagome was reluctant to accept her help, it seemed like cheating. The youkai hunter finally convinced the girl after explaining her view on the situation. So long as Kagome was the one deciding what the content and feeling of the poem would be, all Sango would do was put them together. Kagome had heard of ghost writers before, and decided that if it was okay for publishing houses to employ them, then it was okay for her as well.

‘Besides, when I’m in the modern world, Sango really is a ghost.’ The smirk on her lips went away immediately. On this side of the well, her companions were dead. The first time she had stumbled upon this realization she had immediately returned to the feudal era. Inuyasha had been one to greet her, and was immensely embarrassed by the way she clung to his robes and sobbed. After prying her off, he’d guided her to Kaede’s hut. The old woman had succeeded in calming her, after finally discerning what had the girl so upset. Inuyasha just snorted and said it was stupid to worry about such silly things.

Later that evening Kagome saw him upon a high branch of the ancient tree. His eyes were fixed on a far away point that didn’t exist outside his mind. He was so lost in thought that he didn’t even notice her standing below. She had felt bad about passing such depressing thoughts on to him.

Thinking of him turned her focus to what had transpired that morning, and she blushed. Her brow furrowed, and she laid her head on her folded arms. Inuyasha’s behavior was becoming ever stranger with each encounter. She turned over different reasons why this was happening. In the end, Kagome went back to that first night.


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Warm wind caressed her body, blowing back toward the direction of the well. She almost followed it, when the feeling of another’s presence stopped her.

“Did you forget something?”

She looked up, and her eyes found the face of the hanyou that had taken her heart. He was smiling at her; though his countenance made it plain that he wondered why she was there, dressed as she was. When she had left the other day, she had told them not to expect her back for at least a week. Kagome had said this because Miroku and Sango rode Kirara back to Sango’s old village when Kagome was away for extended periods. Sango took the time to care for the graves of her people, as well as repair her armor and sharpen her weapons. Miroku accompanied her because the two had come to an intimate understanding –as Sango phrased it- last year. Miroku did not curb his lecherous ways, so much as focus them entirely upon the youkai hunter.

Kagome didn’t like fibbing to her friends, but she’d wanted to lessen the chance of an interruption of her plans. Her teeth pressed into her bottom lip as she contemplated the person her plans encompassed. His soft, white ears were perked to attention as he regarded her in turn. She extended a hand, trembling slightly with nerves.

“Will you walk with me, Inuyasha?”

He took her hand in a firm grip. Kagome hesitated for a moment then chose a destination. They walked away from the village, deeper into the trees. After a few minutes they entered a small clearing. Kaede had shown her this place when Kagome gathered medicinal plants with her. The breeze was weaker here, the trees acting as a buffer against it. The scent of the leaves on the forest floor moldering back into soil was thick, but not unpleasant.

Heart pounding against her ribs, Kagome tried to remember all the things she’d wanted to say at this moment. She turned toward Inuyasha and opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. A clawed finger brushed a few strands of hair behind her ear. The gentle touch was enough to throw her off course. She gave up trying to find the words again, and placed her free hand on his cheek. Her eyes closed and she rose up onto her toes to reach his lips with her own.

An agonizing moment passed before his mouth responded to the tender kiss. He released her hand and wrapped his arms around her body. She put her hand upon his shoulder, using it as leverage to deepen the kiss. Her fingers slipped from the side of his face into the silken strands of his hair. Palm pressing against the back of his head, she opened her mouth and slipped her tongue between his lips. This time he did not hesitate. His tongue slid against hers eagerly, swirling around it once before stroking up and down the sides.

Inuyasha shifted the position of his arms around Kagome’s slender form. Without breaking the kiss, he lifted her up then knelt onto the thick mat of dead leaves. He settled her upon his lap and held her close. They had done this several times in the past, kissing each other senseless for what seemed like hours on end. The pair had gotten as far as leaving marks upon the neck, and she had allowed him to massage her breasts through her clothes. Usually she would push his hands off her thighs when she felt his claws brushing too far up under her skirt, and that would be the end of it. There were a couple times when he had been the one to stop, forcing her to let go of him and disappearing into the night, walking swiftly, slightly hunched and with a pained expression on his handsome face.

The resolve Kagome had been struggling with became strengthened. She ended the kiss and pushed softly on Inuyasha’s shoulders. The hanyou let go of her with great reluctance, and watched as she slipped from his lap and stood. Kagome reached down and took hold of her dress. She lifted the soft yellow cloth over her head, and then let it fall next to her. Thick dark hair swished against her bare skin, tickling her back. She reached around and unhooked her bra. Inuyasha’s mouth gaped open, his golden eyes looking ready to burst from his skull at the sight of her exposed breasts.

“K-Kagome!” his strangled voice made her pause. Her thumbs were at the sides of her hips, hooked into the elastic of the white lacy panties that were now the only barrier between her and total nudity.

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Was that the moment where she had gone wrong? Had she been so wanton that night that he thought she would be like that all the time? Kagome remembered surprising herself with her own forwardness.

The ringing of the school bell broke Kagome from her reverie. She jotted down the assignment written on the blackboard, then shoved all her materials into her backpack.

Kagome slowly walked alone. She had waved her friends on ahead of her, wanting to be on her own for the moment. The path home was so well written in her memory that her feet moved of their own accord. All her conscious thought processes were occupied with the same problem.

She huffed with aggravation. How should she have acted then? If she had gone slowly, she would have lost her nerve! If she had given in to his pleas instead of throwing off her underwear and straddling him, she would at this moment still be a bundle of sexual frustration!

The cement stairs bore the brunt of her temper while she stomped up toward her home. Her mother’s presence in the front room prevented Kagome from slamming the door.

Kagome set down her heavy bag and took off her shoes. Mrs. Higurashi waved her daughter over to her.

“Honey, I think it’s time you told me what is going on.”