Just Speak Your Mind! by Asanobara

Zap

Title: Just Speak Your Mind!

Genre: Romance, Angst, Humor

Rating: PG-13

Summary: When Kagome gets angry, really, really angry... Sesshoumaru suddenly is forced to say exactly what he thinks in every situation imaginable? She'd always wanted to know what was going on in that head of his, but this is just awkward! The fact that he's now joined the group demanding her to remove an accidental curse is decidedly NOT helping.

Review Policy: I love them with all my heart and soul! They make me feel greatly appreciated (makes content face). If you want to flame me, go ahead. I tend to respond well to yelling, swearing, and the occasional jab at my over usage of the words “she narrowed her eyes”, “she blinked”, and “she took a deep, calming breath”. Please do be as specific as possible, preferably down to the exact scene. Thanks! HOWEVER, there are some things I don’t want to hear. They are as follows: “Why did that have to happen?!” “You’re so horrible to the characters!” “Kagome’s so mean!” Trust me: everything will work out in the end, so there is no need to worry about such insignificant details. Also, if you think Sesshoumaru (or any of the characters really) are OOC, please tell me.

Updates: I’m posting chapters 1 – 19 today and tomorrow since they were already written, but after this I’ll be posting bi-weekly, probably on Fridays.

Disclaimer: I don’t own Inuyasha, but I do own this story, and if you steal it I will get really pissed off at you.

-oOo-

Chapter 1: Zap

"Inuyasha, can we stop for a few minutes? Pleeeease?" Kagome said. They'd been walking since sun-up with no breaks, and it was already at least an hour past noon.

The hanyou gave her an annoyed look, but the fact that he'd even bothered to glance over was an improvement. "Feh," he mumbled, his eyes returning to the road in front of them.

"Pretty pretty please?" she begged. When he looked at her again she pressed her hands together as if she was praying and continued, "Only for a few minutes, I promise."

"No."

When he looked away again her eyes narrowed, and a spark of anger lit in her chest. "Inuyasha," she said, straining to keep her voice calm. "Please, may we stop?"

"No."

Somewhere deep inside her yet another string snapped. She stopped short. Inuyasha kept going, but she ignored him, turning back to Sango, Miroku, and Shippou. Kirara was currently in her small form, collapsed on her mistress's shoulder. The four were in a state similar to hers. They looked at her wearily as she tossed her hair over her shoulder.

"We're stopping for lunch," she announced. Somewhere behind her she heard the crunch of Inuyasha's footsteps cease, but she paid him no mind and stepped off the dusty road they'd been following and into the trees to their right. With a few last apologetic looks at their hanyou companion, the rest of the party followed suit. Inuyasha glared at them for a few moments before grudgingly plodding after them.

Kagome took deep, calming breaths as her companions followed her deeper into the forest. Remain calm, remain calm, remain calm… The fact that it was the hottest day of, like, her entire life up to this point wasn't exactly helping. It was a bit cooler in the shade of the trees, but not by much. She watched as a squirrel walked across the deer-trail in front of her. She'd never seen a squirrel walk before. Didn't they usually bound or something?

She sighed, adjusting her battered yellow backpack, and looked around. She was currently in a clearing, large enough for everyone to sit down and eat comfortably but small enough that the whole thing was still shadowed beneath a canopy of deciduous leaves. She let her backpack slide off her back to the leafy forest floor and stretched before taking a seat on a big rock and rooting through the faded monstrosity for food. By the time the others had caught up to her she had already pulled out a few bottles of water and set them on the ground in front of her.

Inuyasha paced in circles around the clearing as she began preparing food, muttering about how useless humans were. Kagome pointedly ignored his rudeness. She'd been doing a lot of that lately. She found it was actually more effective than the "S word" most of the time. Not that she didn't get some use out of a good healthy "sit" once in a while—she just didn't feel the need to make him even angrier at the moment.

"Stupid humans…" he grumbled. "We've only been walking for a few hours…"

Just shut up, Inuyasha. She winced internally at her thoughts. Since when was she this rude? She'd have to have a talk with him tonight, when she was less hot and significantly less exhausted. But then again, when wasn't she hot and exhausted these days? It was the dead of summer. Even the nights were sweltering. Her classmates in her own time were on summer vacation now, holed into their respective homes and under-appreciating the true value of air conditioning. And it seemed like the very moment the weather had heated up Inuyasha had decided if they didn't get the shards right-this-very-moment something awful would happen.

She snorted. Like what? What could happen that hasn't already? It had been three years since the start of their little "adventure". Naraku probably had all the other shards now. She thought of the four measly shards in the bottle around her neck and touched it delicately with her fingertips. Maybe that was why Inuyasha was so anxious to keep moving ahead. He wanted to be certain all the shards possible had been discovered by either them or Naraku before they tracked down the evil hanyou for the final battle.

She had been so engrossed in her thoughts that she hadn't noticed the low growl building in Inuyasha's throat. When Shippou asked him what was wrong Kagome looked up from her task. The hanyou was growling loudly now, squinting into the trees and sniffing the air simultaneously. "Inuyasha?" she asked, confused.

"Sesshoumaru," he snarled and promptly dashed off into the trees.

The camp remained frozen for a few seconds, staring after the disappeared hanyou, before springing into action. Kagome jumped to her feet, taking up her bow and quiver, and Sango and Miroku stood. Kirara transformed and everyone crawled onto her back, Shippou taking his place on Kagome's shoulder. As soon as everyone was aboard the youkai cat she took off in a streak of flame.

-oOo-

"BASTARD!" came the inevitable roar as Inuyasha brandished Tessaiga at his brother, sweeping it in a massive arc and bringing it down in front of him. Sesshoumaru jumped neatly out of the way. The dust cleared to reveal several scratches in the earth's surface, like a huge demon had reached down and scraped his claws along the ground.

Kagome groaned. This was bound to be long and painful and extremely annoying. Especially since Inuyasha hadn't eaten since breakfast. No matter what he said, his human side was more prevalent than his demon side when it came to food.

Kirara landed swiftly a few yards from the scene just as Inuyasha aimed another strike at Sesshoumaru. Kagome dismounted quickly, flanked by Sango and Miroku. Shippou remained with Kirara as they retreated a bit. The brothers disregarded their appearance and continued to duke it out in bright flashes of youki and clouds of dust.

Kagome sneezed. Gosh, it was so dusty today…

"Kagome-neechan!" She turned her head to see Rin waving enthusiastically at her from across the battlefield. Jaken was frowning at the tiny girl, most likely spouting something about how she should be more respectful to Sesshoumaru-sama, but the taiyoukai's young ward just grinned at Kagome.

The older girl's face lit up and she waved back at Rin. Over the past couple years since the girl had started tagging along after Sesshoumaru they'd become fast friends. How could they not, after all? Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha had a run-in at least once a week. The routine got boring after a while. Rin found her way over to the group and she and Kagome joined Kirara and Shippou at the tree line, taking shelter beneath a large tree. Rin chattered happily as Sango and Miroku followed them, ignoring Jaken's squawking protests.

"DIE, DAMN BASTARD!" Crash!

"So, Rin, have you and Sesshoumaru come across Naraku lately?" asked Kagome, offering the thin girl a slightly melted chocolate bar from her backpack, along with a water bottle of her own. She took a mental not to fill them up soon.

Rin bit into the chocolate eagerly. After a few moments she responded. "No. Naraku's left Sesshoumaru-sama alone for a while." She took another bite.

"No Shikon shards, either?" asked Kagome.

"COWARD! STOP DODGING, DAMN BASTARD!"

Rin shook her head just as Jaken hurriedly told her to lie. Kagome rolled her eyes at the toad and glanced back at the fighting brothers. Inuyasha was, as usual, swinging his sword around like an idiot, and Sesshoumaru was, as usual, giving him a look that said very clearly he thought the hanyou was beneath him as he dodged every blow with practiced ease. Y'know, Inuyasha, you'd probably actually hit him every once in a while if you could cool your head a bit.

"But we did hear about a demon that way"—she pointed to the south—"that has a shard. That's why we were coming to get Kagome-neechan."

Kagome looked back at Rin, her brow creasing. "You mean Sesshoumaru was looking for us?"

Rin nodded vigorously. "Sesshoumaru-sama didn't tell Rin or Jaken where we were going, but I think he was looking for Kagome-neechan."

That's weird, Kagome thought, leaning back against the tree trunk.

"DIE! DIE YOU FUCKING ASSHAT! AHHHHH!" Smash!

Okay, this has gone on long enough. Kagome frowned and stood up, hands on her hips. Fighting she could deal with, but neither Rin nor Shippou should be hearing such foul language. Her glare fixed on Inuyasha, she squared her shoulders and strode purposefully out onto the battlefield.

"Inuyasha," she said dangerously, tapping her foot on the ground.

"SHUT UP KAGOME! CAN'T YOU SEE I'M IN THE MIDDLE OF SOMETHING?! DAMMIT!" He swung his sword around again.

Kagome gritted her teeth. "Don't make me say it!"

"YOU'RE DISTRACTING ME! GO WAIT IN THE WOODS OR SOMETHING!"

There. That was it, right there. Every offhanded comment about humans and their weakness suddenly came back. Every time Kikyou had shown up and Inuyasha had gone all goo-goo-eyed flashed through Kagome's mind. It was as if every pent-up anger and complaint for the past three years had been leading up to this one point. Her eyes burned. "Sit, Inuyasha! SIT!" The hanyou immediately crashed to the ground, but she wasn't done there. "SIT! SIT! SIT! SIT!"

She stomped forward to the edge of the Inuyasha-shaped crater. "Oh my God, Inuyasha, could you be less mature?! SIT!" Smash! "Go 'hide in the woods'? What am I, made of glass? SIT! We walk all day, every day, and yet you still get pissed off every time we ask for the shortest break! Don't even think about getting up yet! SIT! SIT! SIT!"

Her friends gaped at her. Even Jaken had stopped needling Rin long enough to stare in shock at the girl. Sesshoumaru watched with mild interest as his half-brother was pounded over and over again into the hard earth.

"What were you thinking? SIT! Swearing like that in front of Shippou and Rin?! Do you EVER think about what you say? SIT! SIT! SIT! SIT! SIT! And picking a fight with your brother every chance you get? Did you ever think that maybe you could, I don't know, ACT LIKE AN ADULT FOR ONCE?! SIT! AND ANOTHER THING! From now on, I decide when we stop and when we go! SIT! There will be no more walking for hours on end, not on MY watch. SIT! AND ANOTHER THING! From now on, you are NOT to go looking for trouble with Sesshoumaru for ANY reason! Next time you need to go relieve some male hormones go find Kikyou. I'm sure she'd be all too happy to help. SIT, INUYASHA! SIT-SIT-SIT-SIT-SIT-SIT-SIT-SIT-SIT!"

Kagome panted, staring down at Inuyasha, who was now thoroughly bruised and lying at the bottom of a hole that was at least twenty feet deep. Her friends watched, all holding their breaths, as she took a step back from the crater and struggled to breathe normally.

She glanced over to where Sesshoumaru was standing, his sword still held in his one hand, giving her a look that could only be described as monotonous. How was that possible anyway? How could a look be monotonous? She glared into his golden eyes. "And you," she said. "What the hell is wrong with you? If you had something to say you should just say it, smart one." He merely narrowed his eyes a half millimeter at her. She hadn't thought it was possible for another string to snap, but it did right then.

"Oh my gosh, would you show some emotion for ONCE IN YOUR LIFE, SESSHOUMARU?!" she screamed, jabbing a finger at him. She didn't even notice the pink energy that was swirling through her, concentrating in her hand—the one she had pointed straight at him. "I WISH YOU'D JUST SPEAK YOUR MIND FOR ONCE!"

Zap!

Kagome's jaw dropped as suddenly the energy that had been collecting in her hand was released, arcing through the air so quickly even Sesshoumaru didn't have time to dodge. It hit him square in the chest and he flinched backward a couple steps before regaining his footing. Kagome faltered, shocked. "Uh… I…" Before she could utter another word she found herself suddenly pinned about three feet off the ground to a tree with Sesshoumaru's hand pressed around her throat. His fangs were bared and his eyes were tinged blood red.

"You smell weird, human wench."

-oOo-

Thanks for reading!