Work Text:
“Aaaah!!” Kagome screamed in fright as the giant bird yokai’s claws clutched at her and yanked her into the air with a dizzying whoosh.
Her vision swam and the world tilted oddly. Kagome closed her eyes tightly, bracing for pain.
For a short time fear was everything to the young priestess. She was sure the huge bird would either toss her or try to shred her with its claws. Any moment was about to be her last.
When no horrific pain greeted her, she opened her eyes only to find the giant bird seemed far more interested in carrying her off somewhere than killing her right away. She would guess to its nest to feed its young.
Great, just great.
She was being kidnapped.
Again.
How many times this was now? 15? 20?
Sometimes she wondered if she had a big neon sign flashing over her head that said “Hey Stupid! Kidnap me!”
Looking around Kagome was relieved to find herself still low to the ground, a river rushing under her conveniently. After all the experience riding Inuyasha’s back she wasn’t particularly afraid of heights anymore. Judging distance she decided she would be better off falling.
She had no wish to join the bird for dinner. She had a strong suspicion the first course would be ‘Kagome served al dente’. The musical accompaniment would be ‘screams of agony of a teen aged girl.’
Wishing to avoid said scenario Kagome started thrashing and yelling.
“Let me go you overgrown chicken! I am not food! Let go! Drop me.”
Kagome hit the bird yokai again and again in an effort to get it to drop her. The bird squeaked as she wriggled to free herself, she felt its claws loosen.
‘Yes! Just a bit more!’ She thought.
Maybe for once in her life she could rescue herself without her dog eared protectors assistance. Then there wouldn’t be any shouts from Inuyasha. No calling her a ‘stupid girl’ or ‘weak and pathetic’. If she could just dry off before Inuyasha found her he wouldn’t even need to know! If she didn’t, well she could say she went for a swim! That would totally work! He was always complaining about her bathing habits.
Really it should be her complaining. Inuyasha smelled like dirty gym socks. She wished he would bathe more often- or like ever.
With the cheerful thoughts of not becoming ‘Kagome sashimi’ and also escaping Inuyasha’s wicked tongue - of oddly equal importance in her mind - Kagome kept hitting the bird as hard as she could, pulling out handfuls of feathers, scratching at the rough skin on its legs, hitting it on the head.
The bird, not expecting such spirited prey squawked in alarm. Its flying became increasingly erratic. Finally it started to let go.
Kagome smiled in triumph. She looked down at the river below her so she could land effectively.
‘River?’
‘River? Wherefore didst thou go my beautiful river!’
(They might have been studying Shakespeare in class)
Panic surged inside of her as she looked below.
Because… there was no river…
Oh wait! She was wrong! There it was! How could she have missed it! How silly of her.
There was a speck of blue so far in the distance below, it was nearly invisible.
Kami help her.
Kagome had been so caught up in her getting the bird to drop her she hadn’t noticed the river had long since dropped into a waterfall as the bird had flown right off a shockingly deep cliff.
The river was now incredibly far below her. Didn’t she once hear that falling in water from too high up is no better than falling on cement? Kagome was not eager to learn if she was remembering right.
She called out to the bird in a new kind of panic.
“Wait! Hold on! Change of plans!! Don’t drop me! Please! Take me to your nest for an all you can eat Kagome buffet or whatever! Just don’t let go!” She pleaded.
The bird, shockingly, was entirely unsympathetic to the pleading of the young girl who had been beating it senseless.
It let go with a loud squawk that sounded like it was laughing at her.
She took it back. It wasn’t just an oversized chicken. It was clearly JERK chicken.
Kagome’s hands flailed, trying to grab hold of said jerk chickens feathers, or claws, or anything.
All she got was a whole lot of nothing.
“Aaaahh! Save me!!!” She screamed as she entered a free fall.
She was totally going to die this time.
Maybe on her tombstone they would write ‘Here lies Kagome Higurashi. Inuyasha was right. She was completely helpless without him. She foolishly tried to save herself and this is what it got her. Flattened like a tortilla.’
This was so unfair! She didn’t want to die! She was still just a teenager! She wasn’t even old enough to drink! She hadn’t even had her first kiss!
Hell, she hadn’t even been born yet! Wasn’t that some sort of time paradox or something to die before you were born? Shouldn’t it be impossible?
Somehow, she was pretty sure that no matter how much she tried explaining paradoxes to the ground that was racing toward her it was still going to splatter her body like a crushed egg.
She wondered if Kikyo and Inuyasha would be pleased. His undead lover would get her soul and get to live in her beautiful clay body. They could live happily ever after.
Kagome, quite selfishly, could not find it in her to feel happy for them. Not when her own perfectly good living body was about to resemble ground beef.
So what if the fact that her corpse was going to look ugly was not what she should be caring about! She was a teenage girl and she was allowed to think about weird things in the last minute before her death!
She would die on that hill- not that she would have time.
Speaking of death. Shouldn’t she have hit the ground by now? Why did her backpack feel like it was tugging on her?
“Could you please stop screaming beautiful. It’s starting to hurt my ears.” A smooth, husky voice said from above her.
Was she suffering an auditory hallucination due to the stress of her impending future career as a pancake impersonator?
After thinking about it briefly she decided to stop screaming anyway.
Figment of her mind or not, the voice had said please! It was bad manners to refuse. No one would be able to say at her funeral that her mama hadn’t raised her right.
Also maybe people with good manners don’t go down below. Well even farther down below- you know, the bad place.
“Much better.” The voice said appreciatively at her silence.
Maybe she was already dead. She tried to think of what religion would have a god with a drop dead sexy voice that call teenage girls beautiful.
Was it too late to convert?
Kagome opened her eyes. Better late then never right?
Instead of careening at breakneck speeds toward her death, or seeing the pearly white gates of heaven, (she absolutely refused to imagine the fires of hell- she was a good girl!), Kagome found herself slowly and gently gliding toward the ground, which, quite terrifyingly, was still really far below her.
Her gentle decent was thanks to a stranger (presumably the source of the voice) who was rather precariously holding her up by her backpack.
No need to convert religions spur of the moment then. Which now that she thought about it was probably something that would get her sent to the bad place.
Oops.
Hysterical jokes aside, Kagome’s immediate response was to grab those backpack straps for dear life. She was suddenly glad she insisted on getting the extra duty premium bag when her gramps wanted her to buy the cheaper version to save money.
It was totally because she thought of this exact situation and not because the other bag was a hideous shade of baby poop brown.
At least that was her story and she was sticking to it.
She didn’t need to be some almighty miko of legends to identify the stranger as a yokai. Which sure was nice because Kagome wasn’t any such thing.
Nope, in this case the long silver hair, huge fluffy ears, tail and claws were too obvious for even her to miss.
She could even see the tips of a fang peaking out from an all too charming smile.
Kitsune, Kagome guessed. The ears were her biggest clue, but also few demons could charm quite like a kitsune. Shippo sometimes had a similar look when he was trying to be cute- though the adorable kit didn’t look so damn… ahem… ah let’s just say she hoped she wasn’t drooling.
His species was a relief, Kitsune were tricksters, but they were not evil.
“How—“ she said confused.
“You appeared to need a bit of assistance.” He supplied.
Kagome looked again at the sight around her in wonder.
The kitsune who had saved her no more had wings than she did. Instead, it appeared giant leaves had attached themselves to his back, and the large fronds were acting as a sort of glider supporting both of their weight.
“…I did.” She said still a bit stupefied.
His expression seemed friendly and disarming. He rearranged things so he could offer her a hand. She reached for it and he pulled her into his arms. Soon the painful pressure of her bag straps digging into her shoulders lessened as he shifted to holding her instead of her bag. Kagome sagged in relief as the threat of her bag ripping was no longer an issue.
Premium bag it may be, but she wasn’t being paid enough to test the companies quality control. Rather she wasn’t being paid at all for this harrowing situation.
Too bad, she sure would be rich if she was paid for all the times she nearly died. It seemed to happen almost daily.
She soon found herself in the arms of the handsome male.
Actually, now that she looked at him more closely, ‘handsome’ did not even begin to do the kitsune justice. He was drop dead gorgeous. Perhaps her earlier thought about god was right, because this male was beautiful enough to be a god.
An incredibly sexy god.
Long flowing silky silver hair, warm golden eyes and a handsome face that could just as easily be called beautiful.
It wasn’t just his face either. The arms wrapped around her rippled with defined muscles and his chest was firm.
Inuyasha also had long white hair, golden eyes and fluffy ears, but this male made Inuyasha look like a weak little puppy in comparison.
Kagome felt a bit light headed and dizzy between the height and stress, but the stranger held her close, so much so that she could even smell him.
Maybe this was a dream, because no man could possibly smell so good.
Whereas Inuyasha smelled of dirty gym socks, this yokai smelled of roses.
She had to consciously stop herself from burying her nose into his body to get a good wiff and coming off as a total creep.
Trying to keep her mind off the good smelling yokai who she totally didn’t want to smell, Kagome looked around to try to see where he came from, but there was nothing near.
“How did you possibly save me?” She asked.
“I saw you struggling with the bird. It was a simple matter to jump off the cliff and catch you.” The smooth voice rumbled.
Kagome gaped at him, looking at the cliff that towered above them now. This person must have nose dived off the cliff just for her. A person who, once again, did not have wings. Even if he trusted those leaves, it was a lot for a stranger.
“Thank you.” She said.
“Who could resist saving such a pretty girl?” He said with a wink.
Kagome blushed at the handsome male. Yep, definitely a kitsune, Shippo warned her they were all flirts.
Having nothing else to say she watched the ground grow closer.
It wasn’t long before they completed their short flight and drifted peacefully to the ground.
Not quite trusting her feet yet, Kagome found herself stumbling, but the kitsune held her steadying her.
“Alive! I’m alive! Oh my god I could kiss the ground I’m so happy! Oh thank you! If you ever need anything in return just ask!” She told him enthusiastically.
So long as it wasn’t the jewel shards she would gladly give him anything! She was alive!
“Kiss the ground? That would be entirely a waste.
The ground would get absolutely nothing from being kissed by such a pretty girl.” He told her flirtatiously.
Someone must have flipped a switch, because the previously warm gaze heated up to smoldering. She shivered as one of those clawed hands gently caressed her cheek drawing her gaze up to his.
Kagome’s breath hitched, she found her heart beating hard in her chest.
“I on the other hand would truly appreciate such a gesture.” He purred.
Before her brain could catch up to the words, his warm lips were on hers.
The kiss was soft, warm and tender. It was so passionate, so heady, that Kagome’s knees went weak. Thankfully, she was in no danger of falling, not after one strong arm wrapped around her waist pulling her to his hard body.
As they kissed one of his skilled hands brushed the back of her neck where the ticklish sensation pleasantly tingled as his warm hands caressed her heated skin.
When his tongue licked her lip she gasped in surprised as he deepened the heady kiss. Tasting the sweetness of his tongue as it caressed the inside of her mouth hungrily.
By the time he broke the kiss Kagome was breathless and felt drunk on giddy sensations.
So much for never been kissed.
Oh boy, and what a kiss it was!
“Now, I do believe I have been suitably rewarded. While I wish I could stay, I’m afraid I do have other business to attend to. However, if we ever do meet again beautiful, I shall respectfully demand a repeat performance.” He said with a playful wink.
Kagome lifted a hand to her lips, plump from kisses and blushed bashfully. She was still in a daze.
That… was an amazing kiss.
As the kitsune was leaving Kagome realized she forgot something.
“Wait! Can I at least know your name?” She called out.
Unfortunately, he was already gone.
At least that’s what she thought until she heard the name whispered in her ear. “Yoko Kurama, I’m sure you shall remember it.”
Kagome whirled turning around quickly, but there was no one there.
She felt so dazed and tingly all over. It felt like a piece of her heart had been stolen and was drifting away….
…..
….
….Tingling….
….Stolen…
…. Going away…
…That way specifically…
Ok dear Kami please no!
Kagome’s hand flew to her neck to the necklace that held the shards.
Correction, to where there should have been a necklace with shards.
Her hand gripped a whole lot of nothing for the second time today.
The tingling feeling was the shards that she and her group had worked so hard to collect moving away from her.
Kagome groaned.
Kuso! He should have left me to the damn bird, because Inuyasha is going to completely murder me!
Well, time for a change of plans. She needed to hunt down a thieving Kitsune.
Thief or no, she had to admit, it was a damn fine first kiss.
She totally wasn’t hoping for that repeat performance when she saw him.
That was her story and she was sticking to it.
For now.
-Fin-
***
A/N This work was made for r/Kagomecrossovers for their air travel prompt using ‘change of plans’ for inspiration.
If you like this pairing you may want to check out my other works, either Miko’s & Kitsunes (long fic complete), Thorns of betrayal (long fic in progress), or Directionally Challenged (another prompt one shot).
Kudos and comments always appreciated.