An alternative fanfic created by Phlie.
Disclaimers: I don’t own Inu Yasha but I do own Yojin (Japanese for smoldering fire). He makes a good slave…lol.
Chapter 12 – Fire
It had been a few weeks since Kagome had been duped and she was still feeling the effects. It wasn’t so much
that the boy hadturned into someone who merely lusted after her, it was that he had originally acted just as Inu
Yasha was acting now. It was almost as if the two boys had switched, and that was just too unsettling. Inu Yasha
had been picking her flowers, bringing her fruit, and had wanted, on several occasions, to take long walks with
her. On these walks they did nothing but commune with nature. He even sometimes held her hand, acting all the
while like he was the shy school girl. Kagome had wanted someone to like her for herself and not just her body,
but Inu Yasha was acting like he was her servant, not an equal who would love and respect her. This had to stop.
They had been wandering the countryside, trying to find any type of clues as to where shards were. At this point
they probably would have gone off on a wild goose chase, anything to get some adventure back in their lives.
They were passing over simi-familiar grounds and Kagome suggested that they take a break. She knew that there
was a cool spring nearby and she had the need to be clean and relax. Usually Inu Yasha would have thrown a fit,
telling her that she was lazy and that they were not stopping. To everyone’s surprise, he readily agreed and
walked towards the girl, about to reach out his hand to her.
Kagome knew he wanted to go on another one of those now so pointless walks. First off they had just stopped
walking. Secondly, she needed some time to talk to Sango, alone. She ignored Inu Yasha’s hand as she brushed
past him, grabbing Sango’s arm and dragging her along towards the spring. Miroku was almost as upset as Inu
Yasha was; he had been planning on spending some ‘quality’ time with his lady love again. Inu Yasha looked
over to him and smirked. ‘Those two have been busier than rabbits lately’, he thought to himself. ‘Can’t wait til
Kagome finally comes around.’
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
“You don’t have to drag me, you know” griped Sango. “I need a bath and was going to join you.”
“I’m sorry. I just had to get away from him.”
“Him? Do you mean Inu Yasha?”
“Yes! Oh, Sango…if I had known that life could be this horribly boring I would have stayed asleep after
attacking Kikyo.”
Sango’s eyes got wide and she suppressed a giggle. “Inu Yasha is boring?” She couldn’t believe what she was
hearing.
“Well, he wasn’t at first. He started being really, really nice to me and doing nice things for me. But the longer
this has gone on, the more boring it has become. I thought that I wanted someone like that mystery guy, not like
Inu Yasha. The more I think about it, though, I really wish I could find someone that was more a healthy
combination of the two.”
Sango thought about what her friend was saying. She knew that Inu Yasha was really what Kagome wanted.
‘Inu Yasha the way he used to be’, she thought. If only he would quit playing games, he would have her faster
than you could say Shikon shards. She was gonna have to tell him to stop pulling this shit. She was about to
remind her friend of how Inu Yasha used to be when they heard a rustling in the bushes.
“Oi, who’s there”, Sango called out as she silently made her way over to the bushes in question. It was a good
thing they had just made it to the spring instead of being nearly defenseless in the water.
A tall, dark haired man stepped out from behind a tree. He noticed the two girls and smiled slightly before diving
into the bushes in front of him. There was a loud rustling of leaves as the man apparently fought for control of whatever
was in there. Finally triumphant, the man stood and pulled out a startled kitsune.
“Shippo, what were you doing in the bushes”, cried out Kagome. The child just shrugged, which looked really
funny since he was upside down. “Inu Yasha told me to watch out for you two. Something about having an
uneasy feeling.” Shippo looked up at his captor, glaring at him.
“You ladies know this youkai”, the stranger asked. Sango and Kagome simply nodded. “In that case I shall have
to release you”, he said as he turned to look at Shippo. “You are very lucky to have such beautiful friends,
otherwise I would have destroyed you.” He set the kitsune down and turning back to the girls he bowed slightly
and then smiled broadly at the pair. “My name is Yojin; I am the defeater of youkai and protector of nature.”
Sango rolled her eyes. She thought she was gonna get sick from all the lines he was feeding them. She turned to
look at her friend, expecting to find the same look of disgust on Kagome’s face. The girl was sorely disappointed,
though.
‘Smoldering fire is right’, thought Kagome. She looked at the man standing in front of her. He had dark eyes, so
dark that you knew you could get lost in them. One step into their depths and you would be pulled under, locked in
an eternal embrace.
His hair was shorter than hers and was the color of his eyes. He had a tanned color to his skin, as if he spent a lot
of time outdoors. ‘Well, he did say he was the protector of nature’, she thought to herself. Her eyes trailed down
to his muscular body. He was wearing formal attire and it enhanced his figure, unlike Inu Yasha’s clothing. He
didn’t look as if his body was just hulking, bulging muscles, but he was well defined.
He noticed that Kagome was looking him over and he shot her a look of amusement. He was used to the reaction
he got when telling females his name. That’s usually when they realized that his name fit him. He didn’t think he
was being full of himself. He took it as a fact that women wanted him. He was about to say something terribly
clever and seductive to the girl when he felt something hitting him on the head. He looked around and spotted the
kitsune hiding behind the other female, the child was throwing rocks at him! He yelled out and reached for the fox,
managing to knock Sango over in the process.
Kagome looked up suddenly. It was as if she had been in a daze. She saw Yojin running after Shippo, ignoring
the fact thathe had knocked down her friend. She went over to help Sango up. Both girls ran after them, trying
to keep up. By the time they did, Inu Yasha and Miroku had saved the life of their furry little friend. Inu Yasha
was livid. He didn’t know who this guy thought he was, but he wasn’t gonna hurt any of his friends. It was
written all over his face.
Seeing the look on the hanyou’s face actually made Sango feel better. Maybe now the fool would wise up and
be the man Kagome wanted and needed. She went over to where Miroku was and whispered in his ear, “Don’t
object if the man wishes to accompany us in our journey. We need to make Inu Yasha snap out of this before
he looses Kagome.” The monk nodded slightly and looked over at Sango. She had a sly look on her face and
Miroku thought she looked good when she was plotting.
“Inu Yasha, you haven’t gotten to meet our new friend”, began Sango. “He rescued us from the ever dangerous
Shippo-chan!” She couldn’t help it, this guy REALLY got on her last nerves.
Inu Yasha backed down and looked over at a star struck Kagome. He didn’t like what he saw and resolved to
get rid of this guy as soon as possible. There was no way he was going to be able to court Kagome with this
goon hanging around.
“Oh, Kagome! I just remembered that we didn’t take our baths! I really need to go get cleaned up.” Sango
turned to head back towards the spring, but Kagome wasn’t following. She was just standing there, staring at
Yojin. This time she was the one dragging a friend to the water
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
When the girls returned from their bath, they began to heat some water for the ramen that the group would eat.
Sango needed to talk to Inu Yasha and so asked him to please look for some herbs with him. Miroku was at first
hurt, but then he remembered that his love had been scheming and decided this must be part of her plan.
Once they got out past the camp, Inu Yasha and Sango both turned towards each other and in hushed voices
began questioning each other.
“What the hell is that guy doing here”, began Inu Yasha.
“He claims he’s a killer of demons, but I don’t think that he knows the first thing about it. It took him long
enough to catch Shippo!” She just knew that Yojin was lying about that, if not everything else. He seemed so
false. “Besides, what you really need to worry about is Kagome.”
“Yah, I saw how she was looking at him. What’s so wonderful about that creep?”
“I don’t think it’s what’s so wonderful about him, as much as what’s not so ordinary. She thinks you only
want to be her friend. You need to ditch the act and be yourself. The guy she could argue with and yet at the
end of the day trust enough to watch over her. She needs balance. That’s why she hasn’t responded to the
hanyou or human you. It’s one extreme or another. Quit tryingto pretend and just be yourself!” Oh, he was so
thick headed!
Sango grabbed up a few wild onions and walked back to the campsite, refusing to answer any more of Inu
Yasha’s questions. She just hoped like hell that he had listened to her.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
After dinner the group just sat around the campfire. No one spoke for the longest time. Everyone was looking
at Yojin, just waiting to see what he would do. He only seemed interested in Kagome. He flashed his sexiest
smile every time he caught her looking towards him. She was having a hard time concentrating on anything
after one of his smiles, but one thought that managed to creep through was the fact that he wasn’t being nice,
or even just friendly, to anyone but her. She started feeling guilty, though and looked over towards Inu Yasha.
He was watching her protectively. That wasn’t what she had expected. The way he had been acting lately she thought he would just lay down and die, letting the other man win her over. She looked at Inu Yasha closer and
saw a glint in his eyes, something she had missed for a long time now. He turned for a moment to survey Yojin.
The human just sat there, trying like hell to get Kagome to look at him again, as if she would just by him willing it. ‘Yojin may think he’s a hot fire, but he doesn’t have anything on me’, thought Inu Yasha.
He turned back to look at Kagome. She saw power in the eyes that looked upon her now and the thought made
her shudder with delight. It was almost too much to bear, however and she got up and walked away from the
fire. She hadn’t gone far before she felt two strong hands grabbing her shoulders to spin her around and she
turned with a smile to greet Inu Yasha, but instead found the boringly perfect Yojin. He was handsome, but
he was dangerous, more dangerous than Inu Yasha could ever be. She recalled hearing someone tell her ‘don’t
play with fire, you might get burned’ and she believed it. He reached his hands up to caress her throat and even though she didn’twant to be with him, she had to admit that to finally be touched was marvelous.
Inu Yasha had turned to get some more wood for the fire and when he turned back Kagome and the new guy
were gone.
“Go after her you fool”, hissed Sango. “Don’t leave them alone together!”
Inu Yasha didn’t need further prodding. He ran towards Kagome’s scent and reached her just in time to see
Yojin start to strangle the girl. Inu Yasha screamed out and leapt into the air, ready to pounce on the man that
dared to hurt his Kagome. Just as his claws were about to slice into Yojin, there was a bright light that almost
exploded in front of him.
Yojin had burst into his flames, just as his name had implied he would. It was at that moment that Naraku
attacked.
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Okay, okay…I know that DemonBlade is out there, somewhere, cursing me. Tough. It’s better this way…lol
Let me know what you think!
Chapter13