A Lesson in French by Tiegrsi
A Lesson in French
A/N: Before I begin, I think it's necessary that I say that I do NOT speak French. So, to avoid errors and confusion, you will have to pretend that anything BOLDED in this story is actually in French, not English. Since there is a lot of 'French' dialog, I wanted everyone to be able to read it easily without interrupting the flow of the chapter with translations.
Also, humor is not my best subject when it comes to writing, but I am trying. Thanks for reading! Please leave a review on your way out. ;)
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Inuyasha cursed, annoyed at the idiotic rambling of his miko companion.
“Would you stop that?!”
Kagome huffed indignantly. “I need to work on it! Just because I have no one here to hold a conversation with doesn’t mean I can slack. My final exam is coming up-“
“There you go again with that ‘exam’ shit!” he complained. “Every time I turn around you have to go running back to school to take another damn test! What’s so great about learning French, anyway? Do you know anyone here who speaks French?”
Kagome stopped short, stomping her foot in aggravation. “Just because you don’t speak anything but your native language doesn’t mean I shouldn’t learn it if I want! I had a lot of languages to choose from, and I like FRENCH! It’s the language of love.”
“Keh! Love shmove.” He turned his back, attempting to get moving again. They were pretty far from Edo, and Sango and Miroku had left with a head start the previous morning. “C’mon, damnit! Go ahead and mumble if you want, but move your feet. We’ve got shards to find. It’s already been three years since you shattered that stupid stone and we still haven’t found them all!”
Kagome began walking, unhurriedly, in the hanyou’s wake. Did he have to continuously remind her of her poor markmanship? Seriously, she had improved a great deal! She immagined a target on her companion's back as he strode away, then pulled an imaginary string taught and let fly.
"Bullseye!"
Inuyasha stopped short, but Kagome had dropped her head to snicker into her hand. She collided with his back just as she looked up, her nose flattening painfully between his shoulder blades.
“Ow! Why’s you stop, Inu-“
The hanyou growled lowly, reaching a hand out behind himself to hold Kagome in place. A moment of concentration with her powers told her why he was suddenly on the offensive. Somewhere in the woods off to their right, hidden in the dense vegetation, Sesshomaru was approaching.
“Dummy,” Kagome complained. Even though Sesshomaru and their group had been experiencing a sort of uneasy truce for the past year and a half, Inuyasha still bristled every time the daiyoukai appeared. “You know he wont hurt us. Besides, he’s better company than you most of the time, and more pleasing to look at.”
Near the tree line a stark form appeared, looking like a negative shadow against the dark flora. Sesshomaru had finally made it to the party. Kagome peeked out from behind her ‘savior’ and stared for a moment before casting her eyes downward, afraid to get caught looking.
“Too sexy for his own good. Too bad he’s such a snob,” she whispered to herself.
“Brother,” the taiyoukai greeted. “Miko.”
“Don’t ‘brother’ me, jerk. What do you want?” Inuyasha’s hand went to the hilt of his sword as he spoke, ready to whip out his colt revolver to face down the bazooka that was Sesshomaru.
Kagome shook her head. She would never understand why the brothers had such a hard time getting along. Sure, she and Souta had had disagreements over the years, but these two took sibling rivalry to a whole other level, namely, murder 1! At least Sesshomaru never bothered to draw his blade against them anymore, unless he was provoked by an idiot hanyou, of course.
“Just leave,” Kagome grumbled to herself. “The longer you stand around, the more unmanageable he’s going to get.”
Sesshomaru cast an icy glare at his younger brother. “This Sesshomaru has no reason to explain his location to the likes of you,” he said before turning back the way he came.
“What? Wait!” Inuyasha stammered before taking a few steps in the daiyoukai’s direction. “Don't you turn your back on me!”
“Hn. And what purpose does my being here serve?” he wondered, sounding bored as he made for the tree line.
Kagome looked up again, giggling internally over the expression she just knew must be on Inuyasha’s face. Sesshomaru, however…
“Alright, so tell him why you’re here before you go,” she relented. “Then maybe he will shut up and we can all pretend you never came. Or at least, maybe he can. I could never forget you.”
“I was tracking a wolf that had trespassed on this Sesshomaru’s lands,” he said after a moment, tunring back to the approaching hanyou. “However your foul scent has managed to obscure his. Have you seen any stray ookami?”
Kagome blinked. Did Sesshomaru just do as she asked, twice? In French? ‘Nah…it was just a coincidence.’
Inuyasha’s stance relaxed slightly. “You mean Kouga?” he asked, ignoring the barb about his own scent. “That asshole just left a couple of minutes ago. He was only here to see Kagome, anyway.”
The taiyoukai’s head tilted to the left. “What business would a wolf have with your miko?”
“I’m right here, you know!” Kagome bristled. “You don’t have to act as if I don’t exist!”
Inuyasha spun on his heel, his nose scrunched up in annoyance. “Well maybe if you weren’t babbling to yourself as if you were off in another land we would know you were paying attention, wench!”
Kagome huffed and crossed her arms. “Stupid. Maybe some day you will learn something other than how to hack an enemy to ribbons with that overgrown glow stick you carry around. Kouga liked my French, not that he understood it.”
Inuyasha sneered. “What did you just say about that wolf turd?” he demanded. “And why do you keep talking like that? It’s starting to get on my damn nerves!”
“I told you, Inuyasha, I have to-“
Sesshomaru shifted his weight from one foot to the other, drawing the miko’s attention away from Inuyasha and back toward the daiyoukai. She quickly cut herself off lest she give away too much information about her origins. Although the youkai was no longer someone she considered an enemy, that didn’t mean he was privy to such information. “Just shut up, Inuyasha,” she finished lamely. “Sesshomaru, I’m sure Kouga didn’t mean to trespass. He just-“
Before she could finish, she found herself standing eye to…uh…rather broad and armor clad chest, with a very large demon. “Heheh…I mean…”
“Miko, the wolf certainly knew who’s land he was crossing. It is not the first time this Sesshomaru has scented his tresspassing.”
Kagome stammered a moment before her silly mouth started moving again, her nervousness at his proximity causing her to speak when she probably shouldn’t. “You’ve never been this close to me before. Unnecessarily intimidating, don’t you think?”
“Get away from her Sesshomaru!” Inuyasha howled moments before he found himself upside down against a tree on the far edge of the clearing.
“Miko,” the daiyoukai said quietly as he turned back to her, deliberately crouching to bring his face even with hers. “It would be wise for you to tell this Sesshomaru why the wolf would be interested in finding you.”
Kagome faltered again. What did it matter to Seshomaru? “He…uh…he thinks I’m his woman,” she finally said. “He has this crazy notion that I’m going to someday mate him.”
Sesshomaru sniffed, the only sign of his incredulousness. “Is that so? Interesting that one would sink to such a level as to find that match appealing.”
“Hey!” she suddenly spat, backing up a couple of paces. “I know I’m nothing special, but that doesn’t mean you should insult me like that!” Kagome’s head drooped, her mind catching up with the fact that she was yelling at Sesshomaru, of all people. He probably didn't like that very much. “I’m not interested in him, anyway. I'd be much more interested in you, but you would never give me a second glance.”
Sesshomaru reached out a hand, gripping Kagome's jaw to force her eyes back to him. “I meant that the wolf would not be worthy of one such as yourself. Perhaps after this day you will better understand this Sesshomaru.”
Without another word, the tall Inuyoukai spun and disappeared from sight. Kagome's hand rose to her chin, touching the area where his hand had been. His grip had been surprisingly gentle, his fingers soft and warm against her skin.
“Shit! Was he speaking French?!”