How Kagome Got Her Groove Back

*Oh man, that was getting long, so I decided to split it up and give you two chapters! I’m a champ. And don’t worry, our favorite supa hot demon lord will be making his appearance before you know it. Without further ado-do, here’s chapter THREE!*


“KAGOME! WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?”

Inuyasha was fuming as he headed for Kaede’s small hut, and Shippou yelped as he was plucked from Kagome’s lap and flung against the nearest wall.

“Inuyasha, Kagome’s only just arrived, we saw her come out of the well, and I doubt she could have done anything to make you upset in that small window of time,” the monk said sagely, earning himself a quick punch in the shoulder from the hanyou, who was presently panting in fury.

“I…UGH, MIROKU THIS ISN’T ANY OF YOUR DAMN BUSINESS TO BEGIN WITH, BUT I’M TALKING ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED BEFORE SHE JUMPED IN THE WELL. SHE PUSHED ME OVER, AND I BET SHE CAN’T EVEN GIVE ME ONE DAMN REASON!”

Kagome gulped. She was in deep doo-doo on this one. Inuyasha was positively irate, and while seeing him sitting there had certainly pushed her off the edge, which resulted in her pushing HIM off the edge (so to speak), she rationalized that it wasn’t exactly his fault she had gone off the deep end.

The priestess weighed her options. She could yell back, but she didn’t really have any right to, so that wouldn’t work. She could sit him, but she didn’t have any actual justification for doing that either, so it was out of the question, as well. She could try to calmly and logically explain to him why she was so upset, and hope for his forgiveness, but that just didn’t sound fulfilling enough to be appealing at the moment, so Kagome opted for the next thing that popped into her mind. She cried.

She was tired and frustrated in more ways than one, so really, dissolving into tears wouldn’t have been something that happened entirely out of the blue, but Kagome was well aware her little melt-down was more for show. For the first time since they’d met, Inuyasha was perfectly justified in yelling at her, and try as she might, there was no way she could win this argument. So, she’d done what any self-respecting damsel in distress might do, and went completely off her nutter.

Heaving loud and dry sobs, she could faintly hear Sango and Shippou chastising Inuyasha for losing his temper yet again, and try as he might to convince them that her physical attack on him really had been entirely unprovoked, she could hear the concern in his voice and knew it worried him to see her hurting. A pang of guilt started eating away at her insides, so she took a dramatic and shuddering breath before wiping the semi-nonexistent tears from her eyes and smiling weakly at her companions.

“Sorry guys, I don’t know what’s up with me. I’m just super tired, I guess, it’s been a rough week.”

Her friends looked at her sympathetically, with the exception of Inuyasha, who looked as though he might want to question her temporary lapse of sanity, so she quickly reiterated that her week had just been really, REALLY stressful (complete with big doe eyes and a quivering lip), and Inuyasha held his tongue.

“Poor Kagome, you really do have so much expected of you, don’t you?” Sango cooed, and Kagome sniffed while nodding her head gratefully.

“Why don’t you go take a bath, Kagome?” offered the little orange fox demon, trying to do his part to be helpful. “You always say it calms you down.”

Kagome took a deep breath and tried to still her spinning head. It really would be nice to take some time to gather her thoughts and get some control over herself before she purified the six nearest villages. Come to think of it, the townspeople would probably be thankful for the help, but she’d feel pretty bad if she obliterated Shippou and Inuyasha. Yes, a bath was certainly a good idea.

“Thanks, Shippou, that’s a great suggestion, I think I will.” She started to gather her things together, but was interrupted by an annoyed grunt from the hanyou.

“You know she takes forever in there, and it’s gonna be dark soon! We’ll lose an entire afternoon of traveling!”

“Now Inuyasha, Kagome has kindly agreed to give us two uninterrupted weeks of her time, which leave us plenty of leeway in which we can travel wherever we want,” Miroku interjected kindly. Inuyasha gave an aggravated “Keh!” at his interference, which the monk quickly interpreted as forfeiting the argument. “Besides,” he continued, his hand rubbing Kagome’s shoulder and quickly traveling south, “Kagome really does work harder than we realize, and she’s earned a break.”

He finished his little sermon with a tight squeeze and a little pat to her rear end. But to everyone’s surprise, Kagome didn’t reward his lechery with a sharp slap to the face, but instead a sympathetic sigh and a look of understanding.

“Oh, Miroku, I finally get you. I totally, totally get you.” The priestess held his hands tightly in her own before giving a wistful little whimper and grabbing her soap and towel as she strolled out the door, leaving a very baffled looking group of her companions wondering when exactly their friend had become an absolute lunatic.


***


The soothing hot water did wonders on Kagome’s tense muscles, and she spent nearly twenty minutes just sitting there soaking, enjoying the fact that her mind was blissfully blank.

Noticing the sun was already starting to set, Kagome grabbed her soaps and began lathering her hair, each stroke of her hands long and deliberate as she mulled over her recent erratic behavior, and was able to come up with only one consistent answer to all of her problems.

Kagome needed to do the horizontal tango, and FAST. But the question remained, who could she possibly get to punch her v-card?

She briefly entertained the idea of sending out a mass invitation to a part in her pants, and just go with whoever showed up first, but quickly nixed it, deciding she wasn’t quite that desperate. Yet. So she went back to the drawing board.

The first question was of experience. Kagome had absolutely none. She’d been picking up a few handy pointers from some of the more graphic stories she’d read, but the fact remained that she’d never even seen a boy’s “quivering, steel-hard manhood” in real life, and to be frank, she was still left curious on most of the mechanics that allowed something to be both as hard as metal, but still somewhat wiggly. One of life’s greater mysteries, to be sure.

The fact remained that aside from Miroku “accidentally” letting his hands roam while helping her off of Kirara, the most she’d ever done was a few quick, soft kisses with Inuyasha.

She considered the two obvious candidates. Miroku was certainly good-looking, and she was ready to bet her life he’d be more than willing to help her out, but she wouldn’t dream of doing that to Sango. The monk was immediately crossed off of her mental list.

And then there was Inuyasha. Sweet, infuriating Inuyasha. He appeared to be the obvious choice, as he’d been the object of her affections for the majority of her time in the Feudal Era, but she couldn’t deny her romantic inclinations toward him had been steadily dwindling for the past few months, to the point where she felt nearly nothing of that nature for him now. There were only so many times a girl could be brought to the absolute angriest she could ever imagine being before her fondness would start to wane. The hanyou was still her dearest friend and she loved him with all her heart, but after she had so willingly given him her heart, only to watch in terror as he and an undead priestess (who shall remain nameless to protect her identity, *cough cough*) proceeded to do the Mexican Hat Dance all over it, it wasn’t unreasonable how she could have stopped being IN love with him.

Regardless, Kagome decided she didn’t have to be in love with someone to ask them for a night of raucous monkey sex, so Inuyasha was still a strong candidate. He was attractive, and had that rough yet gentle air about him, something she decided would be a good attribute in whomever she ultimately chose to rock her underwear drawer.

But there was the strong possibility Inuyasha would be awkward about the whole situation, or worse, misinterpret her hormones for romance and refuse because he still wasn’t ready to give up on Kikyo.

All in all, it was a very annoying process.

Still, Inuyasha seemed her best hope, and she figured if she pulled something wily, like, oh, pouncing on him while stark naked, she could convince him to take the bait. Kagome, however, continued to have reservations she could not put a name to.

She relaxed in the hot spring and thought about Inuyasha’s fighting style; his tenacity was always admirable, but he had a bad little habit of just swinging his sword at whatever was in front of him, regardless of whether or not it was effective, until it finally died.

Despite the hot water, Kagome shivered, she was not fond of the thought of Inuyasha swinging his “sword” at her blindly, especially not until she finally just died. No, not very desirable at all.

“Maybe I’m jut underestimating him,” Kagome thought fairly. “I mean, he at least deserves a chance….especially because he’s kind of my only option. Hmmph.”

In an effort to make herself feel more confident in her decision, Kagome tried to imagine exactly what “doing the deed” with Inuyasha would be like. She leaned back against a nearby rock and closed her eyes, imagining her hands running across Inuyasha’s bare chest, his claws raking against her shoulders gently as he slid off her top….and it absolutely wasn’t working. Kagome wasn’t the least bit turned on.

Annoyed, she scrunched her eyes up tight and really put her mind into it. She was going to ENJOY fantasizing, damnit, and that was that! Kagome chewed on her lip feverishly, willing herself to get even slightly excited by the thought of everyone’s favorite hanyou touching her in all the right spots, but she couldn’t help imagining him getting distracted half way through by some demon and hopping away into the trees.

DAMNIT. Kagome tried harder, even allowed Miroku to make a brief guest appearance to get things going, but nothing was working. Finally, ready to give up, she felt a soft tingle in the pit of her stomach, spreading sensuously throughout the rest of her body. Thrilled she was finally getting a reaction, she focused on Inuyasha again, but felt the image slip her mind as the delicious new sensation prickled her senses, and she felt her cheeks heat up with desire.

Wowwwww. She hadn’t even felt like this when Draco did Hermione on his broom in the Quidditch stadium. This was deeper, and almost dangerous, kind of how she felt when she was sensing a demon……………...Oh.

Kagome’s eyes fluttered open, her heart racing from excitement at what she’d felt and terror at what she might find. Her eyes searched the surrounding forest fearfully, finally stopping on a frighteningly tall silhouette emerging from the treeline. Night had fully settled, so the dark made it nearly impossible to see, but Kagome could make out a distinct white blob headed her way, and still unsure of its intentions, squinted to get a better picture.

All of her body’s normal functions came to a mind-bending halt as the realization of who the figure was hit Kagome like a ton of bricks. Thousands of incoherent thoughts raced through her brain at once, her lips finally set on uttering the only word it had been able to extract from the jumble her mind had been sending.

“Fuck.”

There, standing before her, gold-eyes flickering over the surface of the water, was the terrifyingly beautiful demon Lord of the Western lands, with the tiniest hint of a smirk playing across his normally emotionless face.

Well, at least she had another name to add to her list of the Feudal Era’s most eligible bachelors before she was, rather inconveniently, ripped to shreds.