Silent Treatment
She was ignoring him for more than a week now. But why?

.xx.

Snarling slightly, Inuyasha walked behind the priestess and demon slayer as they continued their journey, hunting for the sacred jewel shards. Besides the usual headaches of destroying bad guys and saving his companions, Inuyasha was especially stressed because it had been, precisely, one week, two days and seventeen hours since Kagome had last spoken to him. She had abruptly stopped talking to him and it had driven him crazy. His snarl heightened. Shippo and Miroku edged away from him, both of them getting rather annoyed.

What the hell is her problem? He asked himself, his anger and annoyance on the rise. One week, two days and—eighteen hours now since Kagome had spoken to him.

Inuyasha's patience was wearing thin.

Very, very thin—

It was practically non-existent now.

"JEWEL SHARD!" Kagome shrieked as a mole-demon crawled up from out of the ground. It had a contoured smile spread across its gnarly features, only to reveal rotten and unhygienic teeth.

"Give me your shards, human!" The mole growled. Immediately, it began racing towards Kagome. Her eyes widened and she was prepared to make a dash for it but Inuyasha jumped in front of her and pulled out the tetsusaiga. Summoning his wind scar, Inuyasha incinerated the demon.

Kagome sighed in relief and slowly inched towards the remainders of the demon, examining its body, trying to pinpoint where the shard was exactly.

"Here!" She pointed, just above its anal area. Shippo scrunched his face and made a gagging expression.

"I think he was probably wiping his ass with the shard or something…" The young fox demon mumbled, sitting atop Miroku's head. Kagome shot him a nasty glare.

"Picked up on Inuyasha's vocabulary, have you? Do not let me hear you speak like him, understood?"

Shippo nodded ruefully. Her statement had caught Inuyasha's attention, though. It was the first time in one week, two days, eighteen hours and fifteen minutes that she had made any reference to him.

Still, it was annoying him.

"Oi! Wench!" He called as he stood directly in front of her. Blatantly ignoring him, she walked around his body and continued walking northward, heading towards their next destination: the land of the arachnids. Inuyasha turned to Sango.

He bore his fangs, pure anger radiating throughout his body.

"Why the hell is she mad at me for?" He snarled.

Sango shrugged. "No idea. She hasn't spoken to us about it. It's really creeping me out."

"Creeping you out? Dammit woman Kagome is my fucking-"

A shriek from Kagome's part ended Inuyasha's sentence abruptly. Immediately he ran in the direction Kagome scream came from. Inuyasha was surprised that the wench had managed to walk so far in such a small time. Urging himself to go faster than he ever had in his life, his heartbeat quickened as he saw another mole assaulting her. Pulling back her arrow, Kagome attempted to shoot the mole but he had dodged it with great ease.

That had put a worry in Inuyasha's mind. If Naraku couldn't dodge Kagome's arrow a year ago, then how the hell could a puny mole do so?

"This thing has seven shards!" Kagome shrieked as Kirara flew low, with Sango on her back, allowing Kagome some time to mount her before Kirara flew high again. Inuyasha's eyes widened.

"SEVEN?'

"YOU HEARD ME!" Kagome roared, the first time directing something in his direction.

Well—I can start counting down again. Last record, one week, two days and thirty minutes without talking to me. New time: Two seconds.

"SNAP OUT OF DREAM LAND AND GET THAT THING!" Kagome snarled loudly as Kirara dodged a ball of dirt being thrown at them. Sango pulled back her bone boomerang and swung it at the direction of the mole.

"HIRAIKOTSU!" She roared, releasing it. The mole dodged to the left, but because Miroku was to the right, he released his seal and unleashed his wind tunnel.

"KAZANNA!" He commanded. The hiraikotsu flew at his direction but Inuyasha jumped up behind Miroku and gripped the boomerang. Running with quicklyback to Sango, Kirara swooped down low to allow Sango to retrieve her boomerang from Inuyasha.

The mole shrieked as Miroku released the wind tunnel. While the mole tried to recover, Kagome released a purification arrow, Sango released her boomerang and Inuyasha called upon his wind scar. The mole recovered just in time to see the attacks flying his way and it shrieked a blood curdling sound that echoed throughout feudal Japan. Seven shining shards spat out of its forehead as it disintegrated.

"Wow…" Miroku murmured as Sango directed Kirara to fly towards the shards. Catching them in mid-flight, Kagome sighed in relief as she dropped the shards into her bottle around her neck.

"Eight shards in five minutes from two moles," Miroku raised a brow, "did Naraku pawn off his shards to the mole people or something?"

Kagome shrugged. "I don't know, seems really weird, wouldn't you say so?"

"Weird? It's creepy." Sango shuddered. "The only time we ever held shards equalling to more than eight was when the jewel was split fifty-fifty between Naraku and us."

"Imitation shards can be a possibility." Kagome said as they all stood in a circle, Miroku between Inuyasha and Kagome. "I mean, wasn't it a few months ago that we found out that the Shikon no Tama had been replicated and can give the holder a huge boost in power."

"But the replicas can't grant wishes." Shippo added in and Sango nodded.

"True. But if the replica shards were mingling with the original shards, it would blacken the real Shikon no Tama."

Upon hearing what Sango said, Kagome pulled out the vial around her neck and all of them gasped seeing six shards that were slowly turning black and eight shards that remained pure.

"SHIT! Those were imitations?" Inuyasha roared as Kagome pulled out the eight shards. Instantly, their six original shards purified again. Clenching her fist, Kagome destroyed the imitation shards with her purification energies.

"Seems so," Sango murmured as Kagome sighed.

"Creepy mole things for nothing," Kagome shook her head as she yawned. Looking around their surroundings, she frowned slightly and then sighed.

Sango raised a brow. "What's up?"

"I want a bath."

"WHAT?" Inuyasha roared. "YOU JUST HAD A BATH LAST WEEK!"

Shooting him a cold glare, Kagome examined their surroundings. "Where do you think there's a spring?"

"I just saw one a little while back," Miroku offered, getting a dangerous look shot at him thanks to Inuyasha, "plus we need to rest."

"I agree." Sango nodded as Kirara jumped into her arms, back in her tiny feline form. Shippo launched himself onto Kagome's shoulder as they headed back in the direction they came from. Falling into pace behind them, Inuyasha crossed his arms, shoving his hands into his haori sleeve.

"You're dead monk," he snarled, causing a nervous chuckle coming out of Miroku.

.xx.

Soaking in the spring, Kagome let out a content sigh as Sango merely dipped her feet into the water, not wanting to fully submerge herself. Glancing at her friend, Sango tilted her head and began to speak.

"Why are you ignoring Inuyasha?"

Kagome's back stiffened as she lowered herself into the water further, not replying. Her hair was tied up in a bun, but a few locks had unravelled and was soaking in the water along with Kagome. Sango had expected an answer, but had given up after five minutes of silence.

Finally: "Because," she started, "he forgot the most important day of my life."

Sango frowned. "He forgot…" Her eyes widened. "No way… he didn't?"

Kagome nodded. "He did."

Sango's eyes were ablaze as she lifted herself up from the spring. "I'm gonna give that man a piece of my mind!"

"NO!" Kagome cried, looking at her best friend mortified. "Why do we have to remind him? It's been a year I would think that he would remember!"

Sango frowned. "But…but…"

"No. If he remembers then you can yell at him. Until then, act indifferent."

Sighing, but understanding the logic in Kagome's words, Sango excused herself and returned back to the camp grounds. Granted the privacy she was originally seeking, Kagome was now free to explore her thoughts and relax fully. Sure, Sango's company was great but Kagome sometimes wanted some time alone.

Her body ached. Not from the fight today. Her body ached because it had been one week, two days, twenty hours and forty five minutes since she had physically been with Inuyasha.

It was slowly killing her.

Seeing Sango return to the camp grounds, Inuyasha jumped from tree to tree, heading in the direction of the spring; Kagome had made sure camp was far enough from the spring so that she could get some privacy. A snort came out of his throat as he sat on a branch and saw Kagome sitting in the glimmering water, relaxing her body.

This woman is going to explain to me why she's fucking ignoring me! He thought as he jumped off the tree and ended up right behind Kagome. Crossing his arms, he knew she knew he was there, and much to his pleasure, her head shot around, anger radiating from her smouldering brown eyes.

"What're you doing here?" She asked in an icy whisper, "I'm trying to have a bath."

"Shit!" He cursed as he lifted Kagome out of the water, not caring if she was naked or not.

Kagome didn't care if she was naked or not, either, to be frank. It's not like her body was anything new to him. Crossing her arms so that it slightly covered her breasts, she raised an eyebrow, the aura of pure annoyance radiating off of her body.

"Do you mind?" She asked in a sarcastic tone, "I was taking a bath before you, oh so kindly, decided to interrupt."

"I demand answers!" He roared.

"For?"

"Why the fuck are you ignoring me?"

Kagome mocked surprise as her hand flew over her open mouth, her eyes still glazed over with anger. "You noticed? Oh, congratulations!"

"What the hell is your problem?"

"What the hell is your problem, Inuyasha?" She shrieked, her anger getting the best of her. "You expect me to still be perfectly fine when you fully forgot that last week was our-"

Both of their heads whipped to the left as Kagome sensed two shards speeding their way and Inuyasha smelt Kouga's scent approaching. Scrambling back into the water, Kagome's anger turned to something more reminiscent to annoyance laced with pity. Kouga was still after her…

"Kagome!" Kouga grinned as he came to a stop at the foot of the hot spring.

"Can't you see that she's fucking taking a bath?"

Kouga nodded. "Yeah, and?"

"GET YOUR EYES OFF OF HER!" Inuyasha roared, ready to box Kouga to the ground, but Kouga dodged his punch.

"Relax hanyou!" Kouga laughed as he jumped into a tree, "I just came here to inform you that we stumbled across grounds that Naraku might've had taken over a little while ago. His scent is still fresh so maybe your pack would like to explore it."

Before Inuyasha said anything, Kagome spoke. "Thank you Kouga. We appreciate it. Perhaps you could go to Miroku and tell him the exact locations so we can go there sometime soon. As you can see, I'm preoccupied right now."

Kouga laughed as he nodded. "Will do," and for a tease, he winked at Kagome before running to the direction of the camp grounds.

Whirling his head back to Kagome, Inuyasha scowled. "Why do you always do that?"

"Do what?"

"Favour him over me!"

"I wasn't favouring anybody over you; I was just trying to get him away from the hot spring." Kagome rolled her eyes in annoyance, "I dislike other men watching me when I bathe, thank you very much."

Sighing, Inuyasha, with the blink of an eye, stripped out of his clothing and jumped into the water. He swam up to Kagome and trapped her between his arms and the rock behind her. Her eyes widened as she looked up at him, confusion and a tinge of fear laced in her expression.

"What're you doing?" She asked as she splayed her hands out on his chest, a shock rushing through their body. It was the first time in one week, two days, twenty one hours and six minutes that their bodies came in direct contact.

It felt good.

"Trying to find out why the fuck you were ignoring me." He whispered huskily as he brought his lips to her ear and started nibbling. Suppressing the shudder, Kagome weakly tried to push him but failed miserably. She wanted this so bad and now that she was getting it, she was supposed to be mad at him.

"I'm not ignoring you." She said annoyed, "I'm just not talking to- ohh!" She squealed as his tongue started dancing around the base of her neck, his finger trailing up from her navel, between the naked valley between her breasts and landing right at her cheek. His tongue trailed over her lips before planting his lips onto hers. Kagome melted all over, feeling his lips on her once again and she wanted to bad to give in.

But she was punishing him. Though her body, mind, heart and soul screamed at her to kiss him back, some other part of her made her push him off of her, her eyes reflecting hurt as well as his.

"What the hell?" He hissed. Dunking deeper into the water, Kagome turned her head, not being able to look into his eyes. Moving towards her again, Inuyasha caught her chin and forced her to look at him.

"What the fuck is wrong with you? You fucking ignore me first for one whole damn week, and then you don't even let me kiss you! I'm your mate dammit!"

"That's exactly it!" Kagome shrieked. "You seemingly forgot that one week ago was the day that marked us being mates for one year! To you it may seem like it's no big deal but to me it is! In my world, the one year anniversary of when a man and a woman first bound together in holy matrimony calls for great celebration. Why else do you think I brought unnecessary amounts of ramen?"

Finally getting all that out, Kagome panted slightly, looking up at her mate. His eyes hadn't changed at all and Kagome felt like shooting him. Growling, exactly like Inuyasha did at times, Kagome made the move to push out of the water but hecaught her around the waist and tugged her back into the water.

"Stupid wench," He whispered, bringing his lips close to her ears again as his left hand toyed with her breast under the water, "what the hell gave you the impression I forgot?"

Kagome screwed her eyes. "Treating me the same on that day, not saying anything to me, not acknowledging the fact that we mated on that day…. hell, we didn't even have sex that day either! Not mating on the day that we mated? You know how- how… ugh stop kissing me when I'm mad!" She screamed as his lips kept on placing hot kisses around her neck.

"You look so sexy when you're angry and yelling." He smirked as his tongue licked her lips before continuing the same actions on the other side of her face. His left hand continued toying with her breast while his right hand didn't even come in contact with her body.

"Don't even try to wiggle your way out of this! You don't even acknowledge that we're mated on the day that we mated and then you say that you never forgot? You know that's a whole load of shit." She ended her statement fiercely and it elicited laughter from her mate.

"You swear just as much as I do." He chuckled as he pulled back and looked Kagome straight in the eyes. She raised a brow, her fury making her look more radiant.

"Honestly," Inuyasha rolled his eyes, "why is it such a big deal?" He raised a brow. "I know you love me; you know I love you- why do we need to celebrate?"

Kagome was exasperated. "Forget it," She murmured, "you wouldn't understand my customs and traditions. Just…- yeah, it was stupid of me to get mad at somebody who practices different traditions."

Just as she was about to move again, Inuyasha pulled her in a bone-crushing hug. Kagome, though taken by surprise, awkwardly moved her hands around his torso.

And then she felt something cold come in contact with her neck.

Gasping slightly, she pulled back from his hug and looked down, towards her neck. She found a thin gold chain hanging there with golden letters hanging from the base of the chain, spelling out one word…

Inuyasha.

Eyes widening, she looked up and saw her mate smirking with his fangs showing, holding up a matching gold chain in his hands. Except that chain said her name…Kagome.

"You see," he started to explain, "Totosai kind of took more time then we both had expected. He said that the necklaces wouldn't be done until a few days after our anniversary. It was my gift but I couldn't really say happy anniversary, sorry can't get your gift until a week later. That sounds so fucked. I figured I'd wish you happy anniversary as soon as I got the necklaces."

He lifted his name, which was plastered against Kagome's chest due to the moisture clinging to her body, and rubbed the water off with his thumb, "You'll wear my name, and I wear yours."

Kagome had tears in her eyes as she looked down at Inuyasha's name hanging off of her neck. Unable to contain herself, she flung herself at him, sobbing uncontrollably. He rubbed her back, holding her around her waist with his left hand.

"I'm sorry," She whispered, "I was thinking that you forgot and, well, it's such a big deal in my time and I forgot that you aren't used to my customs and I got carried away and I'm sorry and I love you so much!"

Inuyasha laughed as he hugged her back. "Shut up wench, stop rambling."

Instantly, Kagome shut her mouth and Inuyasha tilted her face up, smiling rather fondly. "You're you and nobody can change that. Sure you get mad over stupid things and yell at me over stupider things, but I'd have you no other way."

Kagome giggled slightly.

"I'd probably go fucking insane if I had a mate who was perfectly obedient. Imagine, Yes Inuyasha, No Inuyasha, Feed the kids Inuyasha for the rest of eternity. Oh god," Inuyasha shuddered, "the thought of it is giving me goose bumps."

Kagome snorted. "Yeah, be prepared for Duh Inuyasha, Are you stupid? NO INUYASHA and let's not forget the classic Feed the kids before I "it" you to hell Inuyasha! Now that is what you gonna be stuck with for the rest of eternity."

Inuyasha chuckled. "Well what can I say? It adds a little bit of adventure in my otherwise soon-to-be-boring-after-we-complete-the-shikon-no-tama life."

Kagome raised a brow. "That made no sense."

"Does it look like I give a shit?"

"Not really."

"Then?"

Kagome raised a brow. "Then?"

"Fuck that and just shut up while I kiss you."

Kagome couldn't even laugh as she felt her mates lips pressed tightly against hers. Wrapping her arms around her shoulder, a content sigh escape her parted lips that was pressed against his. Ok I got a bit too angry, she thought but that was a first timer thing. If he forgets next year, I'm gonna sic our, hopefully, kids on him. That'll teach him.

"I know what you're thinking." Inuyasha said, breaking out of the kiss, smirking mischievously at her.

"Huh?"

"Your scent alone speaks a lot. No woman smells like she's out for revenge when she's making out with her mate."

"Then I guess I'm special." Kagome giggled.

"No not really," Inuyasha grinned and she slapped his arm. Dipping her into another kiss, Inuyasha could only revel at how lucky he was. He couldn't wait to spend the rest of eternity with this woman.

Breaking away from the kiss, he caressed her cheek. "I love you…"

She smiled; leaning towards his lips once more...

.xx.

Edited: December 04, 2011