Bloodborne Duties

Bloodborne Duties

An ancient curse was placed upon the Inuyoukai family: if the youngest born heir does not produce an heir-apparent before his 205th birthday, the Dogs will surrender to the Panthers. Inuyasha is the youngest heir and it is his duty to avoid the curse.

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Awaking just at the crack of sunrise, Kagome and Inuyasha were both ready to depart from Sesshomaru's castle. The daiyoukai was not present for the departure of his brother and neither Kagome nor Inuyasha cared much. Rin ran by and bid them farewell and Daiki escorted them outside of the premises of the castle. Kagome had her backpack on and Inuyasha was walking two steps ahead of her.

"I hope that Lord Sesshomaru was able to resolve his problem by having your audience." Daiki spoke. Inuyasha didn't respond so Kagome took it upon herself to do it.

"I suppose," she murmured. "It's more complicated than you think."

Daiki nodded. "I would assume so—Lord Sesshomaru never draws an audience..."

Especially an audience with me, Inuyasha added in his mind. They were at the foot of the boundaries of the castle and just a short walk to the village.

"Thank you both." Daiki bowed. "Hopefully I shall see you in the near future." Abruptly turning, Daiki walked away.

Not bothering to watch Daiki trot off, Kagome turned and began walking her own path. She was still hurt from what Inuyasha did the previous night and she was even more shocked to find herself in his arms in the morning. She had managed to wrestle herself away from his grip and huffed off, straight into the room that Sesshomaru had assigned for her.

All the while, Inuyasha pretended to sleep. He knew if he cracked an eye open, she would sit him to something that was beyond hell. Although he was pretty sure that Kagome knew he was awake—a sound of a cricket normally woke him up, so the rustling of Kagome would be a definite wake-er upper.

"Kagome!" Inuyasha called. With three easy strides, he caught up to her. "Kagome!" he called again, poking her cheek.

She paid him no heed.

"Wench, answer me!"

"Why?" she responded coldly.

"You're overreacting! What if I wanted to sleep alone last night because of all the shit Sesshomaru threw at me?"

"You could've asked nicely. You told me to turn off your lamp and went right to sleep!"

"Maybe I was tired?"

"You're never tired."

"What if I was last night? Maybe the new moon took a toll on me."

"For the first time in three years?"

"Why the hell are you snapping, woman?"

"Why were you so rude last night?"

"Maybe because you sat me like a billion times yesterday!"

Kagome's eye ticked. "It wasn't a billion, Inuyasha, it was six. I have it you way more times, consecutively," emphasis on the word consecutively, "in the past. So I don't know why you're so angry now."

"Maybe because you haven't sat me in ages, and I find it fucking stupid you had to sit me over the fact that I didn't believe my brother summoned us to his castle! Wench," he crossed his arms, "you needed to be punished."

Kagome's nostrils flared. "Punished?" She poked his chest. "What am I, some sort of possession? You don't own me, Inuyasha—we're only friends and companions in this stupid hunt for the stupid shards so do not for a SECOND think you have the authority to punish me." She poked his chest again. Feeling his blood boil, Inuyasha grabbed her wrist and glowered at her intently.

"Say that again?" His voice was just audible—a low and husky rasp. "I dare you to say that again."

Kagome missed the look in his eyes. "You do not own me."

Despite the Tetsusaiga being strapped to his waist, Inuyasha's eyes flashed red momentarily as his demon blood overtook his senses. Kagome's eyes widened and her heart started accelerating in worry. "Inu—Inuyasha?"

"Never say that." His voice was raspy and hoarse. Kagome sensed his aura darken and felt his claws extend and sink into her skin. He pulled her closer to him and removed his grip from her wrist and repositioned his hands on her arms. Kagome was in fear but somewhere deep inside of her, she knew he wouldn't hurt her… She was more afraid that he would hurt himself.

"Bitch," he hissed, his eyes scanning her face, "you're mine." Kagome opened her mouth slightly but before she knew it, demon Inuyasha swiftly leaned forward and pressed his lips against hers. Kagome's eyes shot wide open and instantly, her mind flashed to when she and Inuyasha were in Kaguya Hime's castle and he had transformed into his demon self and she had to kiss him to bring him back to his senses.

Déjà vu.

Inuyasha pulled back and emitted a low and feral growl from the back of his neck. "You belong to me…" Almost instantly, his eyes snapped shut and Inuyasha fell backwards.

"INUYASHA!"

Kagome…

And he lost consciousness.

.xx.

Inuyasha groaned as he slowly opened his eyes. His vision was slightly blurry so he blinked multiple times before his vision cleared and he registered where he was. He was lying underneath a tree on top of a patch of soft grass with a blanket on covering him. He could acutely hear fire crackling close by and the smell of fish assaulted his nose. Pushing the blanket off of him, Inuyasha sat up and saw Kagome staring into the fire, unaware of her surroundings and slowly roasting a fish. Her bow was set to her left and her quiver of arrows was slung over her shoulder—she was prepared to take on enemies. Inuyasha had to hide a smile.

"Wench?" he called out hesitantly. He saw Kagome jump before she whirled around, a look of relief on her face. Quickly, she stood up and slipped her quiver off before approaching him apprehensively.

Does he remember what happened? she thought cautiously to herself.

"How do you feel?" she murmured, placing a hand on his forehead. No temperature.

Inuyasha let her do what she did and proceeded to answer her. "My head feels like shit… What happened?"

Kagome's eyes widened. "You—you don't remember?"

His ears drooped. "No..." he started slowly. "What happened?"

"Eat first." Kagome quickly said, turning around and mechanically going back to the campfire. Inuyasha's eyes narrowed but he decided to humour her. He sat down across from her and picked a skewer fish off of the makeshift stand that Kagome made with twigs.

"How'd you get these?"

"There's a stream close by," Kagome answered without looking at him. She was concentrating on her fish and Inuyasha could right away tell she was avoiding eye contact with him. "I had to harpoon a few fish with my arrows." Kagome had mastered harpooning fish. On occasion, when they still traveled with Sango and Miroku, Inuyasha would take her with him when he hunted for food and helped her learn how to properly harpoon animals and fish—just in case he wasn't close by to help get food. At the time, Kagome protested saying how he would always be close by but at that very moment she was glad he had given her lessons.

Inuyasha nodded and slowly bit into his fish. He couldn't really taste it as he was starving. He was craving ramen but he knew that Kagome would have to return to her time and restock and that was next on their list of things to do. Inuyasha watched Kagome not watch him and his anger started escalating.

What the hell happened that's causing her to avoid eye contact with me?

"Kagome," Inuyasha dropped the fish and shifted over to her. Kagome stiffened visibly and that ticked off the half-demon. "What happened?"

"Nothing." Her answer came a little too quickly. Inuyasha removed the stick of fish from her hand and dropped it to the floor. He didn't care if it got dirty, he could go skewer more fish with the blink of an eye. But as of the present moment, what happened prior to him passing out earlier was more important.

What did he do?

What did he say?

Why is Kagome avoiding me?

"Nothing nothing or nothing nothing?"

Kagome raised an eyebrow and finally looked up at him. I knew saying something dumb would get her attention.

"Just plain nothing. You passed out, no big deal."

"No big deal?" His anger flared. "I never pass out, not even when I'm human! How did I pass out while I was half-demon?"

"Because you weren't!" Kagome's voice rose. "You turned demon alright? No big deal, the energy got to you and you passed out. I ran back to the gate of the castle and screamed for Daiki and he came running back asking what happened. He helped me move you over here, because I know Sesshomaru would've been upset if we returned to the castle, and Daiki said that if I needed help, to just run back to the castle. That's it."

"But why would I turn demon with the Tetsusaiga on me?" Inuyasha frowned. Kagome sighed.

"Don't worry about it. Can we go? I really want to go home and take a nice long bath… and restock on food and supplies." Kagome was about to stand up when Inuyasha grabbed her wrist and pulled her back down to the ground.

"No," he stated. "First you tell me what the fuck happened and then we can go back to the Goshinboku village."

"It doesn't matter!"

"The hell it doesn't! If I can transform with the Tetsusaiga with me then I damn well want to know why because it could put your life at risk!"

"It won't put my life at risk?"

"Why the hell not?"

"BECAUSE you transformed when I said I don't belong to you and your demon said I was yours. There. Happy now?"

Inuyasha felt like he had cold water thrown at his face. He was beginning to vaguely remember his argument with Kagome prior to him passing out…

"Punished? What am I, some sort of possession? You don't own me, Inuyasha—we're only friends and companions in this stupid hunt for the stupid shards so do not for a SECOND think you have the authority to punish me."

"Say that again? I dare you to say that again."

"You do not own me."

"Never say that... Bitch, you're mine..."

"Oh shit…" he muttered as he let go of Kagome's wrist. She took the opportunity to get up, retrieve her bow and walk over to her backpack. She folded the blanket she used to warm Inuyasha up with and put it away.

"Let's get a move on," she whispered. Inuyasha nodded dumbly, not knowing what else to say. He stomped on the fire so that it was put out and both he and Kagome started walking in silence.

What the hell do I do now? he thought, inconspicuously glancing at Kagome from the corner of his eye. She seems so fucking awkward around me.

.xx.

It was close to nightfall and Inuyasha suggested running the rest of the way there. Without argument, Kagome got onto his back and he began running through the trees. They hadn't spoken a single word to each other besides the one or two sentences spoken about setting up camp, shards, and ramen. Kagome seemed to be in her own thoughts all day and Inuyasha was annoyed. What the hell could she be thinking about?

"Shards!" Kagome suddenly hissed and Inuyasha screeched to a halt. His senses were on heightened alert mode and he slowly dropped Kagome.

"Where…?"

Closing her eyes, Kagome sensed four jewel shards approaching fast—but she couldn't tell from where. She frowned and opened her eyes. "I sense five, I can tell its aura is here but I don't know where…"

Inuyasha pulled out his tetsusaiga and looked around his surroundings to try to pinpoint the jewel shards. Five was a lot considering it was possibly within one demon. Inuyasha took a step towards his rear, placing himself closer to Kagome. She was struggling hard to pinpoint where the shards could be—

"They're underground!"

Just as her words were spoken, the ground began to shake and rumble and a massive snake head emerged. Inuyasha quickly wrapped his arm around Kagome's waist and jumped out of the way and perched himself atop a tree.

"THERE ARE JEWEL SHARDSSSS WITH YOU, HALF DEMON. Ssssssss!" the snake demon roared; his tongue slithered out of his mouth and he reared his ugly head upon Kagome and Inuyasha in the tree.

"I am Hebi Yajuu, the ssssssssnake beasssssst. Give me your shardssss!"

"Where are they?" Inuyasha murmured. Kagome closed her eyes for a split second before seeing five dark shards embedded into the crown of the snake demon's head.

"The top of his head," she whispered to him. "Right at the crown."

Inuyasha nodded. "I'm gonna take you down, off this tree. Stay hidden, alright?"

"Hmm…" Kagome replied with as little words spoken possible. Snakes sensed what was around them with the vibrations in the air and ground so she didn't want her voice to reverberate off of the trees, potentially putting herself and Inuyasha at risk.

With a swift and fluid movement, Inuyasha jumped off of the tree; he wanted to put as much distance between the thing and Kagome as possible, so, he noisily ran in the opposite direction. His plan worked. Hebi Yajuu quickly turned its body around and began slithering towards Inuyasha.

Kagome frowned. The snake should be no match for the bakuryuuha and the holy arrow, but it's way too fast to let Inuyasha power up. Kagome removed an arrow from her quiver that poked out from out of her backpack and set it up on her bow. Closing an eye, she envisioned the shards that glowed from the snake's head.

"INUYASHA!" she roared. The half-demon stopped and turned around to see Kagome release her arrow. The snake was stunned momentarily which allowed Inuyasha to power up for a potential bakuryuuha attack. At the moment of time, Inuyasha felt that if he hurtled the holy arrow back at Kagome and caught Hebi Yajuu in the middle, both attacks would incinerate him, leaving nothing but the shards remaining. It was a long shot, but Inuyasha had a feeling it would work. If worst came to worst, he would just wind scar the life out of the snake beast.

"BAKURYUUHA!"

The backlash wave hurtled back towards the arrow and the snake demon was caught in between the two energies causing his body to disintegrate.

"HOW COULD YOUUUU!" Its voice echoed as its body flew off with the wind as tiny particles. Inuyasha caught the shards and, before they could turn black from impurity, he ran to Kagome who was still standing on top of the branch he left her. Wordlessly, he handed the shards to her.

They purified right away.

"That makes it fifteen shards we have?" He inquired and Kagome nodded.

"We're making progress…" Inuyasha muttered as he crouched down low. "Get on; we're almost at the village."

Without a word, Kagome did as she was told.

.xx.

They arrived at Goshinboku village rather quickly and Kagome said hi to Sango, Miroku, Shippo and Kirara before hurtling down the well back to her own time. Inuyasha greeted his friends too before walking off towards the Goshinboku tree to take a quick nap.

Miroku and Sango, who had seen the lack of interaction between the two friends, exchanged wondrous glances.

"Something happened," Sango murmured as she rubbed her belly.

Miroku smirked. "Shall I go have a talk with our little half-demon friend?"

Sango raised an eyebrow. "Let the poor guy think. Obviously something happened and he doesn't need your stupidity to confuse him. Lord only knows how I do it every day!"

Miroku put a hand to his heart, but his eyes danced with laughter. "You pain me, Sango dearest."

"Yeah, yeah. Let's go to sleep. My back hurts from walking around all day with your baby in me."

.xx.

Kagome sunk into a tub of relaxing bubbles shortly after she returned back to her time. Her mom had already stocked up on ramen and other necessities from the previous time she returned to her own era. Greeting her grandfather, mother and brother, Kagome ran upstairs, stripped down and soaked in a warm bubble bath.

So what happened earlier? It was her time to think and think was what she was intending to do. He turned demon with the Tetsusaiga around his waist… all because I refused the fact I belonged to him?

Kagome felt her heart rate speed up slightly. But why did it bother him so much, I mean he still has feelings for Kikyo so why should it matter if I belonged to him or not?

The entire situation was confusing her. She knew she loved him, more than anything else in the world but what happened earlier had her shook. The way Inuyasha acted… it made her feel like he really did want her more than just a friend and definitely more than just a shard detector.

Maybe he likes me? She shook her head slowly. No… he loves Kikyo. You're just wishfully thinking now, Kagome. Don't be stupid… you're just a friend, if not just a shard detector. You come from a different time and you piss him off more than you can imagine.

She felt tears cloud her vision. I wish he could love me though…

Pulling the plug in the tub, Kagome got out of the bath and wrapped herself up in a towel and tiptoed to her room. It was almost close to midnight now and she knew her entire family was asleep. Her only problem was that she didn't know how she was going to sleep without Inuyasha there.

Dilemmas, dilemmas, she inwardly groaned as she donned her nightdress. Wringing her hair with a towel, Kagome sprayed some leave-in conditioner in her hair before crawling into bed.

How am I ever going to fall asleep…

.xx.

Inuyasha snarled. He couldn't sleep—he couldn't even nap.

Fucking wench…

He didn't care if everything was awkward. He didn't care if his demon claimed Kagome and he damn well didn't care if she sat him a couple hundred times…

Okay he cared if she did but that was beside the point. He wanted to sleep and he needed Kagome to sleep.

He needed to feel her heartbeat, to smell her scent… to feel her soft hair against his face… to have her in his arms. DAMMIT! he cursed. He hated this feeling, he hated that he felt so vulnerable around Kagome and he hated the fact that he loved her so much it hurt when she wasn't around.

And that she'd never love a half-demon. Filthy, dirty, impure half-demon…

But right now Inuyasha didn't care. He wanted to feel her—needed to be around her. Swiftly, he jumped through the well and welcomed the familiar blue aura.

.xx.

Kagome's window was open so Inuyasha took the liberty of jumping right in. Almost right away, Kagome shot out of bed, her eyes wide as she saw him standing in her room. He crossed his arms in front of his chest and attempted to look tough…

"Keh," he shot. "Just came to see if your ass was alright. Looks like you made it here in one piece."

Kagome smiled; she knew he was acting. "Liar," she murmured as she got back into bed and scooted to the side, still facing Inuyasha, "I couldn't sleep without you either."

Inuyasha had to hide his smile as he crawled into bed beside her. As Kagome turned around to have her back face his, he wrapped his arm around her waist and inhaled her scent deeply.

Dear Lord…

"Hey, Inuyasha?" she whispered. He tightened his hold on her.

"Yeah?"

"About what happened earlier…"

Inuyasha remained silent.

"Can we talk about it… later? Maybe, when we're both ready?"

Kagome felt Inuyasha nod.

"I'm ready whenever you are..."

Kagome smiled. "Thank you…"

"'Night, wench."

"Goodnight, Inuyasha."

.xx.

Beta-edited: Sakura-chan Master of the Clow