Work Text:
It was too early for whatever woke her up. Far, far too early.
And yet here she was. Awake. Before dawn. Propping herself up on her elbows, Kagome groggily glanced around at her friends who had all passed out in the usual way. Shippo curled up like a kitten at the bottom of her sleeping bag. Sango and Miroku sprawled out on Kilala with a respectable distance between them like that fooled anyone with eyes. Inuyasha defying physics and somehow balancing on a tree branch with his long hair reaching towards the earth.
Inhaling deeply, she turned her gaze to the empty meadow around them. The trees that were giving no auras. No immediate signs of danger anyway. There were a few not so powerful blips on her spiritual radar but they weren't close and weren't getting closer. Clearing her throat and stretching her arms above her head, Kagome rolled her neck and felt the pops that came with sleeping on the ground.
Well, if she was up, she might as well get started on making another dozen arrows since she was officially and completely out. She'd made some headway last night but not nearly enough. Rubbing at her eyes a few times, she tried to stifle her groan of pain because her fingers were still sore from affixing the arrows last night. Littered with tiny cuts because she hadn't...
She opened her eyes and blearily turned her attention to...
Her fully stocked quiver. Not just the dozen she'd planned on making but so many arrows that she'd likely have to toss a few to make it easy to pull out one. She rubbed at her eyes again and pouted when they opened to the stocked quiver that she definitely wasn't imagining. What made the entire situation more weird were all the unused supplies she'd collected. Piles of promising stones and branches.
"Wha..." her breathy question trailed off as she properly sat up and slowly extracted herself from her sleeping bag to better inspect the handiwork. Sango had helped her plenty of times in the past so she knew what knot Sango preferred. Same went for Miroku. She knew...
She quietly removed an arrow and glanced it over from point to perfectly manicured feathered tip. Honestly, she didn't think she could've cut the feathers that cleanly with her scissors. The nock was impeccable too. She picked up another and another. All pristine. All perfect. All uniform. Well, save the six or so she'd managed to throw together last night which were...ugly but would get the job done.
"What the heck?" she breathed before glancing over at the two potential culprits who were sleeping away then turned her gaze to frown into the forest. There was a distinct possibility she'd had a visitor last night who was probably OCD enough to gift her some things and who had plenty of borrowed time to make this many. Probably watching them. Probably cursed every single one of these arrows too.
Sighing heavily, Kagome got to her feet and began wandering into the forest to get the cat fight Kikyo clearly wanted over with before Inuyasha woke up. She really didn't want to deal with yet another hurtful fight over that woman today. Every fight was humiliating because she shouldn't care. She would technically be the other woman. She...
"Come out, come out, wherever you are," Kagome called tiredly as she passed the threshold of the trees, "I know-"
Something, or rather somebody, was suddenly at her back and clapping a hand over her mouth.
"The hell are you doing?" Inuyasha hissed as he began hauling her back toward camp like a very annoyed tow truck. Kagome wasn’t just being dragged either. She was being reverse yeeted across the forest floor with her feet scrambling over roots, rocks, and what she seriously hoped was a log.
“Why would you do that, idiot? You trying to get killed?” he growled, still moving forward while pulling her backwards, because of course he could walk blind and still avoid every branch. Meanwhile, she was collecting leaves in her hair like a discount woodland fairy.
Kagome clawed at the hand clamped over her face until he finally loosened his vice grip on her chin.
“Inuyasha, I was just—”
The palm was back and Kagome fought the impulse to simple lick it if only to prevent herself from vomiting. Who knew where that hand had been? Did he even wash the guts off yesterday? Probably not.
“You walked into the forest intent on committing suicide. Come out, come out?! The hell was that?!” he hissed, “What is wrong with you?"
She cursed herself. Of course he heard it. He heard everything. Probably heard her entire thought process. They hit the meadow and finally, finally he pulled his hand back only to whirl her around looking pissed as hell.
"No, seriously, what is wrong? Because that," he pointed angrily at the forest, "That was so dangerous. You didn't even bring a weapon."
Kagome chewed the inside of her cheek as a possibility occurred to her.
"I'm out of arrows," she replied simply, "And I can use my hands-"
"You think I'm stupid? You know damn well you're not out of arrows," Inuyasha countered irritably, "Try again."
"I only have one or two," she feigned just to see how he'd react and Inuyasha looked like he might strangle her.
"Do you not have eyes?!" Inuyasha snapped so loudly a few birds in the tree line woke up and rustled out of their nesting places, "It's full! It's-"
"No it's not. I can't waste-"
"I PERSONALLY MADE SURE YOU HAD ENOUGH! WHY DIDN'T YOU TAKE THE DAMN BOW?!" Inuyasha screamed with such force that Kagome's hair fluttered in the accompanying breeze.
“Oh, so that was you then?” she replied with a bit of smugness and Inuyasha froze like he’d accidentally confessed to murder.
The tips of his ears twitched. Once, twice, then they flattened in full panic mode.
“I mean...” he sputtered as he waved his hands like he was trying to shoo the confession away, “I just," he squirmed and gestured at her general person, "Your knots sucked and you kept cutting your fingers and," he visibly panicked more and blurted out, "It was annoying, okay?! So I fixed it.”
Kagome blinked at him and smiled coyly.
“So you made all those arrows?”
Inuyasha’s face was doing something fascinating. His expression kept cycling between rage, embarrassment, and catastrophic regret.
“It’s not like it's hard,” he muttered as he fidgeted and looked off to the side like the trees had suddenly become very interesting, "You need them. I don't see why it's a big deal."
Kagome smiled.
"Well thank you," she offered. Inuyasha flushed pink as he scratched at his nose.
And then his face abruptly morphed into anger again.
"Wait, is that why you just tried to kill yourself?!"
Kagome's smile turned strained.
"I wasn't trying to kill myself. I just thought maybe someone...else might've brought them," she admitted, "So..."
Understanding clicked behind golden eyes.
"Holy shit, you thought it was Kikyo, didn't you?" he breathed in horrified disbelief, "YOU THOUGHT IT WAS KIKYO AND YOU WENT TO FIND HER?!"
Kagome cringed.
"I mean...yes?"
Inuyasha looked even more murderous.
"You seriously thought it'd be a great idea to go confront her?!" he snarled as he jabbed a finger at the trees, "What if she wanted to kill you, huh? She'd make damn sure I couldn't get in to save you. You'd just be dead and there'd be nothing I could do! Why would you do that?!"
Kagome pursed her lips in silent accusation.
"Oh really?" she scoffed sarcastically, "You'd come save me from her?"
Inuyasha stared at her like she was the one who'd just committed the ultimate betrayal.
"YOU THINK I WOULDN'T?!"
Kagome winced.
"I mean...technically speaking..." Kagome groaned before blowing out her cheeks, "You do pick her over me. A lot. Even, um, when she's tried to kill me. In the past."
"EXACTLY! SHE TRIED TO KILL YOU! SHE ALMOST DID! BELIEVE IT OR NOT, MURDER'S A DEAL BREAKER FOR ME!" Inuyasha bellowed, "THE ONLY REASON I ANSWER HER AT ALL ANYMORE IS TO HEAR HER LATEST BATSHIT SCHEME! SO I KNOW TO PREPARE AND TO-"
Kagome blinked at him and her heckles started rising.
"Now wait just one second, you-"
“No! YOU wait!” Inuyasha barked, throwing his hands up so dramatically a squirrel bailed out of a nearby tree, “Do you seriously think I’m out here having fun dealing with her?! Like I go, ‘Oh boy, can’t wait to listen to my homicidal ex describe her new murder plot!’”
Kagome’s mouth opened. Closed. Opened again.
“Well—”
“NO,” he stabbed a clawed finger at her chest in time with each correction, “No well. No technically. No in the past. No anything. She is out of her damn mind. Every time she shows up she tries to either kill me, kill you, kill someone adjacent to us—”
Kagome bristled.
“That’s not fair—”
“Oh it’s VERY fair. Remember last time? She didn’t even speak. She just materialized out of the fog like ‘surprise bitch, time to die.’”
Kagome winced.
“…Okay, that did happen.”
“YES IT HAPPENED!” He threw both arms toward the forest in an outraged flail, “And yet you just strolled in there at dawn like a willing sacrifice!”
“I wasn’t—”
“You WERE! I saw you march in like ‘la la la, guess I’ll go die now," he mocked.
Kagome spluttered.
“I wasn’t marching to my death, I was going to talk—”
"WITH WHO?!” he roared, “You want tea next time? Should I pack you a snack?!”
“That’s not—”
“And that's another thing,” he snapped, pivoting back on her like he’d been waiting years for this moment, “When have I ever picked her over you? EVER?”
Kagome threw her hands up.
“Um, I don’t know, maybe the DOZEN TIMES you vanished after her?" she scoffed acidly, "Or all those times she asked you to accompany her into the woods and you said yes without even LOOKING at me?”
“That was reconnaissance!”
“That was STUPID!”
“WELL, YOU ARE TOO! You went in there with no weapon! Not even a stick! A STICK, KAGOME! THEY’RE EVERYWHERE!”
"How would a stick help?!" Kagome shot back.
“It's better than nothing!” Inuyasha snapped before jabbing a thumb at the trees again, "Same shit. Different day. Just marching into the murder forest unprepared.”
Kagome’s hands went to her hips.
“I was investigating!”
“You were skipping off to die!” he corrected, “There’s a difference!”
“Oh please,” she scoffed, “you act like I can’t handle myself.”
Inuyasha’s face did something violent and involuntary like every muscle tried to form a new emotion at once.
“HANDLE YOURSELF?! KAGOME, YOU CAN'T! YOU TRIPPED OVER AIR LAST WEEK TRYING TO AVOID A SQUASH!”
“It wasn't a squash. The rock was just camouflaged!”
“It was GREEN and SQUASH SHAPED!”
“NO IT WASN'T!
“It was a squash, Kagome!”
She gasped.
“It was NOT a squash!”
“It was...” he took a massive breath, hands balled into fists, “A squash.”
Kagome’s eyes narrowed and her face flushed crimson.
“Well, well that has nothing to do with this!”
“It has EVERYTHING to do with this!” he barked, “You trip around gourds but suddenly you’re skilled enough to negotiate with the undead?!”
“I wasn’t negotiating! I thought she left the arrows! I was trying to find out why!”
“Oh my god,” Inuyasha groaned before dragging a hand down his face so hard his claws left tiny furrows in his cheek, “You really thought Kikyo woke up this morning and though I'm going to craft Kagome some beautiful arrows made with love. That, to you, was more likely than me doing that."
“I don’t know!” Kagome threw up her hands and completely missing the not so subtle declaration, “Maybe she was feeling generous!”
“Kikyo isn't generous anymore. She's psychotic!”
Kagome sputtered.
"Well how was I supposed to know you could make arrows?! You never-"
“THIS ISN'T ABOUT ME!” Inuyasha thundered, genuinely offended, “Your suicidal ass just walked into a demon infested forest ALONE and WITHOUT SHOES ON.”
Kagome blinked then looked down at her socks.
“Oh,” she muttered sheepishly. Inuyasha flung an arm skyward like he was appealing to the gods for strength.
“DO YOU SEE THE BULLSHIT I’M DEALING WITH?!”
Her cheeks burned.
“Okay, so I'll admit today was my bad," she cleared her throat, "But that doesn’t mean you don’t pick her sometimes...”
“I DON’T PICK HER,” he growled as he took a menacing step closer and his ears flattening in frustration, “I do not pick her. Not anymore.”
Kagome's temper faltered again. Just a fraction. Just enough.
“Then why?” she said quietly.
Inuyasha froze like she’d swung a blunt emotional weapon straight into his ribs.
His voice dropped, rough around the edges.
"If anyone needs to ask why, it's me. You see me go after her," he exhaled sharply through his nose and gestured helplessly, "But you never see me come back because of you. If I wanted to leave with her, I would. Fully capable of doing that and I don't want to."
The silence that followed wasn’t awkward.
It was dangerous.
It was toeing a line neither of them had the guts to acknowledge.
Kagome opened her mouth to say something, anything...
Inuyasha panicked and did what he did do.
“EITHER WAY, YOU’RE STILL AN IDIOT FOR GOING IN THERE!” he blurted at maximum volume, “A COMPLETE SOFT, SQUISHY, EATABLE IDIOT!”
Kagome’s jaw dropped.
“Are you kidding me!?”
“ME?! WHAT ABOUT YOU?! I’M OUT HERE DOING MY BEST TO PROTECT YOU FROM DEATH!” he shouted, looking wildly betrayed by his own feelings and lack of communication skills, “YOUR FAULT FOR MAKING THIS SHIT HARD!”
Chest heaving with all sorts of emotions, Kagome narrowed her eyes then glanced around. She picked up a nearby pinecone and threw at him. For what reason she wasn't even sure.
He didn't dodge.
It bounced off his forehead.
He looked at the pinecone.
Then at her.
“…Did you just throw a pinecone at me?”
Kagome folded her arms across her chest and nodded.
"Yeah because you're annoying too."
His lips twitched upwards and he looked oddly touched.
“…You’re such an idiot,” he muttered. His voice was soft.
And his ears were very, very pink.
