InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Shrine Prostitute ❯ Revelation ( Chapter 5 )
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
By: FlameTwirler 
Some surprise information doesn't sit well with our little heroine.
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Hentai / Drama / Romance | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 12.21.2006 | Updated On: 03.14.2013 | Pages: 4 | Words: 5.3K | Visits: 6.8K | Status: Work In Progress
Some surprise information doesn't sit well with our little heroine.
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Hentai / Drama / Romance | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 12.21.2006 | Updated On: 03.14.2013 | Pages: 4 | Words: 5.3K | Visits: 6.8K | Status: Work In Progress
Shrine Prostitute by FlameTwirler
~ ~ ~
Chapter 5: Revelation
----- an enlightening or astonishing disclosure
~ ~ ~
Kagome woke up with the bright orange glow from the sunset streaming into her eyes between cracks in the blinds. What made no sense at all to her sleep-muddled mind was how on earth that was possible; the only window facing west was adjacent to the door, so therefore should plausibly make it impossible for it to be stabbing into her eyes like it was currently doing.
Taking stock of her current situation Kagome discovered the problem – she’d somehow moved herself to the bed sometime during the day, though she didn’t remember it in the least. Now that her mind was clearing she also became sharply aware of the awkward crick in her neck, courtesy of the bag she was still clutching to her body and using as an ungainly pillow.
She smoothed her hand back through her bangs, flipping onto her back to stare at the colors rippling on the ceiling as trees outside waved in front of the beams of light, trying valiantly to keep visions of the previous night and early morning from playing in her mind.
Muttering, she blew a stray strand of hair away from her face. Unfortunately, it also all came streaming back to-this morning she’d all but declared war on the anti-hanyou faction, striking herself the valiant heroine who would free the oppressed, namely Inuyasha, from his odious and woeful state. She pictured the make-shift heroine in an environment completely immersed in smoke, wearing an armored bustier with a leather skirt, an oversized Viking helmet with small wings to either side, one leg resting on an outcropped rock as she pointed her sword forward, inciting her men toward victory knowing that nothing could stand in their way.
Only problem, she realized heavily, was she was lost and didn’t know which way was forward. In her mind’s eye her war-princess immediately wobbled a bit, still not losing an ounce of determination as she and all her men ran hill-nil in circles while the enemy sat on a neighboring cliff laughing down at them.
Gah, what was she supposed to do?! How on earth could she fight something like the kind of situation Inuyasha was in? She and her stupid big mouth!
She rolled over, stuffing her face into the pillow, and muffled a scream.
No, she realized, her muscles relaxing her body further into the bed. No, she would have wanted to do something anyhow. Something – anything! She didn’t know how anyone with any shred of decency could allow a system like this to work, how a world so utterly devoted to ending all racism and genocide and promoting peace between demon and human faction could at the same time have such a dark secret, skulking away in the corners, hidden away from the rest of the world.
The irony of it more than just stung.
There was no way now that she knew what went on that she’d be able to live like she had before, be the same person she was before. Knowledge was a dangerous thing: it increased responsibility. It would be impossible for her to walk away now.
Restless, she tossed a bit before turning over to her back again, flailing her extremities out as far as they could reach.
But still…what could she do? One insignificant human girl? Where could she even start?
Wait a minute…she thought, sitting up suddenly. Where can I start? That’s IT!!
With a small yell of triumph she launched herself off the bed, through the kitchen, and into the bathroom to start getting ready.
Granted, this wouldn’t end her the war, but at least it was a starting place and a step toward getting there. Besides, anything would be more beneficial than sitting here twiddling her thumbs.
~ ~ ~
Kagome waltzed into Inuyasha’s room, shirking off her monstrous backpack into the corner before sinking onto the bed. For his part, Inuyasha was trying to refrain from rolling his eyes at her groan even as he sat himself behind her without a word, reaching around to unzip her sweatshirt and sliding it off her shoulders beforetowork the knots in her back.
He was used to the ritual by now. Ever since that night a week ago when she’d marched in with a triumphant smirk he’d been badgering her about the weight of her bag, but she’d kept mum. All he’d been able to gather so far was that it was full of books as she'd finally let slip she was spending most ofdaylight hours at the library. Of course sincedidn't supply any further informationthis meant he teased her endlessly, claiming she mustuse of the public library's extensive sex section, still being fairly new and all. What intrigued him even further was that she never rose to the bait and blabbered out what she was really up to, only muttering vague complaints on how visiting the library was the only way she could occupy her time anymore,with the lack of other ‘suitable entertainments’ to be found in the area
She felt all the tension of the day leave her as she sank against him, his fingers soothing her as his hands warmed her wind-blown skin. Pulling down the straps of her tank top so they weren’t in the way of the massage, he dug his thumb deeper into a particularly vicious knot, earning a grunt in reply.
“What do you carry all those books for?” he tried again, nodding to the bag even though she couldn’t see him. “What’s so interestin’ or important you give yourself a backache over it?”
She shrugged noncommittally.
Since the day after she’d found him like…that…she’d been spending almost all of her free timeup books onhistories, exposés on politics, and anything else at all she could find relating to hanyou, their treatment, and the set up of the respective human and demon societies. She’d never felt so uninformed in all her life.
There were just so many things she’d never known about human society and its interaction, let alone demon society and all the nuances there. Hanyou were most conspicuous for their absence in almost all resources. They were mentioned here or there only rarely and even then in the vaguest of ways.
It all made her want to tear her hair out! How was she supposed to find out how things worked if there was absolutely no information to be found?
Still, she kept trying. Kagome was nothing if not stubborn, and now that she had her task in mind she’d stick to it until she’d read through every dusty book (which meant almost every one not in the vaunted and highly popular ‘sex section’) in the library. Unfortunately, many of the books she needed were in the reference section and thus she was not allowed to check them out, meaning long hours pulled at the library and precious funds going into the copy machine.
She had to admit though that despite her grumblings she really was learning a lot. There were so many laws regulating demon and human interaction that she was surprised they were actually willing to live together and put up with all of it. She had new eyes for the demon community that bordered hers, and again wondered why it was that there was so littleexchangebetween the two suburbs. Granted, it was a royal pain in the rear to know which laws applied where and what toes not to step on, but that didn’t make it impossible.
She made a mental note to ask around about that when she got home.
Home, huh. The thought filtered through her mind with warmth. She’d been so consumed the past couple days she hadn’t been able to spare much thought for it there. I wonder how everyone’s doing? If the shrine’s doing well?
“Hey!” a loud voice said, right against her ear. “I ain’t doing this so you can fall asleep on me, you hear?” At that moment his touches changed, from strong and relaxing, to overpowering and demanding, from warming to heating, from soothing to creating an ache in her so powerful she was always perilously close to losing herself completely in it.
That night there was a sense of desperation, of urgency to their time together. It had been like for the last week, ever since that, but she knew tonight was different, could feel it in his fingers, all the way down to her gut.
The past nights he was always either in physical contact with her, even just in simple touches like the back of a knuckle trailing down her arm, or he was staring at her so intently she wondered if he could devour her with his eyes. Tonight the force behind it was multiplied, to the point where Kagome wondered if she’d survive the onslaught or, even if she did, if she’d be the same person as before.
It was as if he were trying to drink her in by osmosis or wrap himself up completely inside her and disappear in her flesh, as though he wanted to learn her in every way possible and imprint himself just as indelibly in her mind.
The fact was Inuyasha was trying to do just that. He wanted to ingrain her onto himself, to remember exactly how she tasted, how she responded, all the faces she could possibly make; he wanted to crystallize her image in his brain so that her memory would never fade, so that when she was long gone fromShrinewould still have something to cling to, some sort of lifeline to bring him back from the brink anytime one of his usual clients would bring him too close to the breaking point.
He would know that once, a long time ago, someone had treated him with respect, with kindness…as an equal. He couldn’t ever hope for the same thing to happen again, but he could remember, and it would be sweet.
As the sense of desperation reached an all time high that night Kagome had to force herself not to gasp at the ruthlessness of his perusal of her body. She might have said something if not for the serious determination she saw on his face, the sheer intensity in his gaze.
Something was different about this night; she knew it. She meant to ask him, she really did, but then he moved against her, inside her, and suddenly nothing in the world was more important than responding to him, making him feel as good as she felt, and everything else was forgotten, nothing existing aside from the two of them, their bodies, and their friction.
An eternity later, which felt like no time at all, Kagome looked up from where she was snuggled under Inuyasha’s arm and groaned to see her time was up.
She was getting more and more reticent to leave every night. It was chill in the early hours outside and he was warm and comfortable, plus she was getting highly annoyed with having to rouse herself, get dressed and at least somewhat fix her bed-head, head outside to engage in her nightly fight with the wind just to wind up at her apartment, throw off the same clothes she’d just put on, and get into a bed when she’d just left one. Where was the justice in that?
Glancing down at what appeared to be a peacefully snoozing Inuyasha she griped to herself. Nope, no justice in the world at all. She had to brave the elements while he got to sleep in – lucky jerk.
She poised her hand, ready to flick an ear, when the irony of her statement came crashing down on her – along with a nice dose of sardonic reality. She really had no clue what happened to him after she left. Lucky? Inuyasha? Ha, not likely.
When it was just the two of them it was so easy to forget that he was a hanyou, that outside these doors he was treated as a being without rights, with no feelings nor desires of his own. Heck, within these doors – when she was not here – he was treated even worse.
She shuddered again at memories of the night she’d found him so cruelly battered. It still boggled her mind that there were people out there who not only thought they had the right to act that way against someone else, but that they actually got their jollies from doing it too. It was unfathomable.
The marks had been mostly gone the next night when she’d come to him, but because she knew what she was looking for she’d seen the small lines that indicated where he’d been slashed, the tiny pock marks all that was left of the gaping holes from where he’d been whipped.
She hadn’t been able to bring herself to look at anything below his chest for fear of breaking into tears. Inuyasha was proud; she knew he’d hate seeing any sort of sympathy or pity, even compassion. He’d construe it as her thinking him weak, when she thought he was anything but.
Since then she hadn’t noticed any other markings on him and when she'd cornered Ryu about it later the only thing she’d been able to wheedle out of him was that, since Kagome had now shown a preference for staying with Inuyasha, he could claim her as the primary client and say he was completely booked during his time with her. Normally a tetsudai might have multiple clients a night but given the tendency toward certain proclivities of Inuyasha’s clients he usually only had one a night, with breaks of a day or two between to allow for full healing.
When Kagome questioned why Ryu hadn’t said the same thing to the other client, the one who’d bloodied up Inuyasha so badly the week prior, he’d explained that when she’d arrived he’d had no idea Kagome would choose Inuyasha as a tetsudai, since she didn’t make any specific appointments before she came. The other client had called in for him about a month earlier so he’d been unable to turn her away. Realistically he should have canceled Kagome’s appointment for that evening with the other client having priority, but they both knew why he hadn’t done that. And now, despite the fact that Kagome wasn’t doing anything to Inuyasha to keep him from being able to keep up with having the physical demands of another client in the same evening, since no one knew he didn’t need extra time to recover she was able to get away with it.
Kagome came back to the moment as she noticed that instead of flicking his ear her hand had somehow become tangled in his hair and was now gently stroking down the back of his head.
She glanced pointedly at her bag. No, there was no justice in this world at all. But maybe she could do something about that? After all, her presence here was protecting him a little bit already if Ryu was anything to judge by.
One other upside of her presence though was that she’d helped in the ‘death-glare-matches-of-all-evil’ between he and Kazuma. She wasn’t sure what caused it, after all Kazuma had seemed nice enough when they’d first met, but she saw the fire that spit out of his eyes whenever he encountered the hanyou, and Inuyasha had a tongue to match.
She could only assume it was prejudice and racism on Kazuma’s part, which made her sad because now she was obliged to dislike the man, at least a little, even though otherwise he still seemed a decent human being.
He, somehow though, had taken a liking to her, perhaps even a shining. That annoyed Inuyasha to no end and at first Kazuma had not slacked on rubbing it in, until he noticed how much it annoyed and hurt Kagome too. He may be a jerk to those he didn’t like, but he knew not to push it with people he wanted to befriend.
So he’d called a peace with Inuyasha, as much as he could anyway, but they had too much history to just smooth it over and be all chummy.
Inuyasha, though,at a loss as to why Kagome would defend Kazuma and hold him back when he wanted to lay a good jibe on the arrogant bastard. He saw how Kazuma looked at her and was suddenly struck by the fear that they had secret assignations but one look at Kagome’s face proved otherwise. While she may be nice to the cretin, she certainly didn’t fancy him.
Besides, he chortled, how would she have the chance to go to such secret dalliances when she barely had the stamina to keep up with him – he knew he left her drained every night and that’s the way he liked it, fitting compensation for the glowing look of satiation that graced her face whenever the two of them were done.
Aside from that, he grumbled to himself, she was the kindest soul he’d ever met, the only one besides his mother and Ryu to treat him as anything more than scum, so he supposed he could overlook this one small – glaring – defect in her. If she wanted to be chummy with Kazuma he could stand to at least try to not fight as much. Just trying was enough, right? Well, just so long as she didn’t get toowith the dweeb…
Inuyasha stirred under her hand and Kagome wondered when it was she’d gotten so absentminded. That was the second time she’d spaced out in the last ten minutes, and she was supposed to be getting dressed to leave.
“Inuyasha…” she ventured. Silence.
“Inuyasha? Are you awake?”
She heard some inventive cursing coming from the direction of the pillow. “No.”
This time she did flick his ear. Hard.
“Owww!” he yelled, turning toward her while cupping the offending ear. “What the hell did you do that for?”
“That was for lying to me. I don’t appreciate it you know,” she mocked, sticking her tongue out at him. She quickly pulled it back in when she saw the smirk on his face as he stared at it.
“I’m not lying,” he replied, turning back over so his voice was muffled by the pillows and blankets. “I am still sleeping and so are you. You’re just dreaming, so you should lie back down before you fall out of bed.” Somehow by the end of this statement she’d ended up doing exactly that, lying down, her front plastered against Inuyasha’s back, her arm thrown over his side and cradled against his chest, held in place by the clawed hand that gripped it.
She expected a snicker from him, a smirk thrown over his shoulder, anything to acknowledge his slight victory, but there was nothing – and that seemed stranger than anything.
Kagome sighed and snuggled in closer to him. As much as she hated to admit it she’d love to stay there, but her time was up. Actually at this point she was probably already late – she only hoped Ryu didn’t dock her for it, she was living short on funds as it was – so she grudgingly pulled herself upright again, Inuyasha’s grip going slack as soon as he felt her start to slip away.
“I have to go,” she said, glaring at the clock and wishing for it to spontaneously combust.
She slid out of the bed and slipped on her simple sweater and skirt, balancing against his closet as she attempted to get her shoes on. “But I’ll see you tomorrow, ne?”
Inuyasha sighed and Kagome furrowed her brow at the sound – it was so…so un-Inuyasha-like. She looked up at him, smiling slightly in victory from finally getting her first shoe on.
“No,” he stated simply.
Kagome paused halfway into her second shoe, standing on tip toe, looking cuter and more confused than he’d ever seen her.
“What do you mean?” she asked. “Are you going somewhere?”
“Am I - ?” he blustered. Now he was the one confused. “It’s our 14th night together, it’s been two weeks,” he said, indicating this had some external significance, but it was lost on Kagome.
“And…?” she pressed.
“And…two weeks is the limit…” He suddenly burst into anger. “Damn that Kazuma, didn’t he tell you anything?!” He looked at her but her look of loss was answer enough.
“Damn it,” he seethed. “I’ll kill him.”
Kagome stood stock still. “Inuyasha?”
“There’s a two week limit, Kagome. No client and tetsudai can spend more than two weeks together at a time.” He lifted his head to look at her, ears flattening to see the shock written on her face, and he saw her questioning, why, before it even formed on her lips.
“I already gave you the speech about kissing, right?”
Suddenly it dawned on her, that if there was an unofficial rule about that to prevent a client and tetsudai from getting too close, too emotionally involved, then of course the Shrine would have an official rule to prevent them from getting too chummy by to omuch time spent together. Gradually Kagome nodded her head, knowing that it made sense, that it was the safest way to run a Shrine that made a form of worship out of sex, but she didn’t know why it hurt so much. Was it just the lack of foreknowledge and being slapped in the face with it? Just the fact that she hadn’t had a chance to properly adjust to the idea of having to say goodbye to the person who’d featured most prominently in the last two weeks of her life?
Slowly she made her way toward him, reaching out to him and wrapping her arms around him, hugging him like it might be the last time they’d ever touch. She wanted it to last forever, but the seconds were ticking.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, her breath stirring a few stray strands of his hair. “I wish I’d known.”
“Don’t bother,” he replied, gently running his claws up and down her back, sending shivers all through her body. “Maybe it’s for the best; this way you didn’t have to worry about it beforehand.”
Bit by bit he pushed her back from him, hands bracing against her shoulders until finally that was the only contact between them.
“I’d say ‘see ya ‘round,’” his smile to counteracting her own watery one, “but well, you know…” He shrugged.
Yes, she did know. He avoided the otheras much as possible, not wanting to put up with their disdain or insults, and so pretty much stayed in his room or other private areas while in the shrine, so there was not much chance of running into him there. When out of the Shrine…she wasn’t sure if he ever left, if he was ever even able to leave, at least safely.
“Yeah, I know,” she echoed, copying his shrug in a forced semblance of nonchalance.
“Don’t worry about it,” he admonished, kneeling on the edge of the bed and pushing her up to stand straight. “Now you’ve just got one less annoying, though devastatingly handsome hanyou to ruffle you up.”
She glared at him, mocking indignation, putting her hands on her hips and cocking her head. “You’re not annoying.”
“So…you agree I’m devastatingly handsome?” he teased.
“Okay, so maybe you are annoying,” she agreed.
He suddenly got a smirk on his face, the one Kagome had learned to be wary of. “Plus, I do enjoy getting to mess up your hair every night.” With that he leaped at her, throwing his hands into her hair as he pulled her against her into the typified ‘noogie-position', headlocked under one arm while the other mercilessly undid all the straightening she’d just done to her sex-hair, adding amore than a few extras and knots just for good measure.
Kagome used every dirty move she’d learned from years of fighting with a brother, elbowing his ribs, scratching his arms, pulling his nose (too bad his ears were too high, pulling on Souta’s ears had always been most effective), finally winning her freedom and careening to an undignified halt halfway across the room.
Huffing she glared at him. “Agreed,” she declared. “You are definitely annoying.”
Inuyasha wasn’t sure whether to smirk in victory or be disheartened by her proclamation.
“But I’m still going to miss you.”
He stopped cold. Miss him? She said she’d…miss him? Him? He couldn’t remember anyone ever saying that.
Kagome decided enough was enough. She hated long goodbyes and this one had dragged out long enough. Hefting on her backpack she dashed him a quick peck on the cheek, leaving him stunned as she rushed to open the door. Then she paused for a second and turned to face him, already standing with one foot out in the hallway.
“I know you don’t hear this enough so I’m just going to say it: you’re a good guy. I’m glad to have met you, although I wish it had been under different circumstances so we could have remained friends. I’ll miss you, so maybe I’ll have to come visit you again someday, ne?”
With a quick smile and wave she didn’t wait for a response but slipped out of the door and into the night.
Inuyasha sat in shock. She’ll come visit, huh? Yeah right, when pigs fly. She’ll find some nice, boring country boy to settle down with, have a kid, watch the house, go to school – she’ll have to do some more school if she likes carrying around that many books while on ‘vacation,’ – he slumped. There was no way she’d ever be coming back here once this tour was done – not for him, but thankfully not for anyone else either.
Even after two weeks she was still more pure than anyone else he’d met in the place; she deserved different, she deserved to remain as far away from thisShrine as possible, keeping its disillusioning realities from corrupting her kind of thinking. He shook his head. Only she could have said such things.
Would she really miss him?
Pondering this Inuyasha lay back on his bed, playing through the scenes of the night in his head. He was bound and determined to commit every moment of it to memory, just as he’d been doing the last week. He knew every curve of her body, every taste of her skin, every sensitive spot that could make her gasp. He’d learned how she responded to him, that she could actually make him smile, or even on occasion – laugh. Tonight he’d seen a few more precious expressions those features could make and he’d be damned if he’d forget any of it.
The future looked bleak for him. The best he could hope for was still shit, but somehow this one blessing had been blown into his life. He’d never thought to know such kindness, but now that he did he would hold on to it to sustain him through the beatings, through the physical and emotional torture, through the gaping loneliness that sometimes threatened to swallow him whole.
He would remember that once, for one time in his godforsaken life, somebody had been kind to him.
~ ~ ~
Kagome marched away from the room with a determined air about her. Two week limit, eh? She hadn’t even known! How could they keep something like that from her?!
Of course, they meant Kazuma.
There were many people she would visit tonight, but she meant to make him the first.
There was no way she was going to let it end like this.
~ ~ ~
Reviewer notes:
Suelias ~ Kagome doesn’t pray per se, the act of sex is the act of worship and prayer. (Maybe it somehow transmutates on its way to heaven? Haha, that’s funny to think about.) If you want to know more you can check out ancient Green and Roman mythology, especially anything about Bacchus, Aphrodite, Cupid, etc. So essentially she ‘prays’ every time she’s with Inuyasha or any other tetsudai.
Redbutterfly21 ~ You’re right, it would be awkward for Inuyasha to be falling in love with her immediately, which is why he’s not. (Hopefully I haven’t made it seem so too badly I can’t rectify it!) The reason he acts the way he does with her and is so mystified by her is because she treats him differently. If anyone in his situation, where everyone treated him like crap, suddenly had someone acting nice then he’d definitely think of her differently, but it’s more of an ‘in awe’ type of feeling so far. I’d almost say bordering on hero worship, but we know our hanyou would never do that ^_^
Aside from that, I actually think Kagome is rather naïve and innocent regarding many things but that she’s marked for her ability to not blink in the face of change and adapt to it.
Also many thanks to all reviewers who let me know they’re there and I’m not writing for thin air. ^_^
Once again, thanks to my wonderful betas Akihana and Seren1tystar01. You guys rock, and thanks for your patience and careful prodding.
~ ~ ~
Original posting: December 21, 2006
~ ~ ~
Chapter 5: Revelation
----- an enlightening or astonishing disclosure
~ ~ ~
Kagome woke up with the bright orange glow from the sunset streaming into her eyes between cracks in the blinds. What made no sense at all to her sleep-muddled mind was how on earth that was possible; the only window facing west was adjacent to the door, so therefore should plausibly make it impossible for it to be stabbing into her eyes like it was currently doing.
Taking stock of her current situation Kagome discovered the problem – she’d somehow moved herself to the bed sometime during the day, though she didn’t remember it in the least. Now that her mind was clearing she also became sharply aware of the awkward crick in her neck, courtesy of the bag she was still clutching to her body and using as an ungainly pillow.
She smoothed her hand back through her bangs, flipping onto her back to stare at the colors rippling on the ceiling as trees outside waved in front of the beams of light, trying valiantly to keep visions of the previous night and early morning from playing in her mind.
Muttering, she blew a stray strand of hair away from her face. Unfortunately, it also all came streaming back to-this morning she’d all but declared war on the anti-hanyou faction, striking herself the valiant heroine who would free the oppressed, namely Inuyasha, from his odious and woeful state. She pictured the make-shift heroine in an environment completely immersed in smoke, wearing an armored bustier with a leather skirt, an oversized Viking helmet with small wings to either side, one leg resting on an outcropped rock as she pointed her sword forward, inciting her men toward victory knowing that nothing could stand in their way.
Only problem, she realized heavily, was she was lost and didn’t know which way was forward. In her mind’s eye her war-princess immediately wobbled a bit, still not losing an ounce of determination as she and all her men ran hill-nil in circles while the enemy sat on a neighboring cliff laughing down at them.
Gah, what was she supposed to do?! How on earth could she fight something like the kind of situation Inuyasha was in? She and her stupid big mouth!
She rolled over, stuffing her face into the pillow, and muffled a scream.
No, she realized, her muscles relaxing her body further into the bed. No, she would have wanted to do something anyhow. Something – anything! She didn’t know how anyone with any shred of decency could allow a system like this to work, how a world so utterly devoted to ending all racism and genocide and promoting peace between demon and human faction could at the same time have such a dark secret, skulking away in the corners, hidden away from the rest of the world.
The irony of it more than just stung.
There was no way now that she knew what went on that she’d be able to live like she had before, be the same person she was before. Knowledge was a dangerous thing: it increased responsibility. It would be impossible for her to walk away now.
Restless, she tossed a bit before turning over to her back again, flailing her extremities out as far as they could reach.
But still…what could she do? One insignificant human girl? Where could she even start?
Wait a minute…she thought, sitting up suddenly. Where can I start? That’s IT!!
With a small yell of triumph she launched herself off the bed, through the kitchen, and into the bathroom to start getting ready.
Granted, this wouldn’t end her the war, but at least it was a starting place and a step toward getting there. Besides, anything would be more beneficial than sitting here twiddling her thumbs.
~ ~ ~
Kagome waltzed into Inuyasha’s room, shirking off her monstrous backpack into the corner before sinking onto the bed. For his part, Inuyasha was trying to refrain from rolling his eyes at her groan even as he sat himself behind her without a word, reaching around to unzip her sweatshirt and sliding it off her shoulders beforetowork the knots in her back.
He was used to the ritual by now. Ever since that night a week ago when she’d marched in with a triumphant smirk he’d been badgering her about the weight of her bag, but she’d kept mum. All he’d been able to gather so far was that it was full of books as she'd finally let slip she was spending most ofdaylight hours at the library. Of course sincedidn't supply any further informationthis meant he teased her endlessly, claiming she mustuse of the public library's extensive sex section, still being fairly new and all. What intrigued him even further was that she never rose to the bait and blabbered out what she was really up to, only muttering vague complaints on how visiting the library was the only way she could occupy her time anymore,with the lack of other ‘suitable entertainments’ to be found in the area
She felt all the tension of the day leave her as she sank against him, his fingers soothing her as his hands warmed her wind-blown skin. Pulling down the straps of her tank top so they weren’t in the way of the massage, he dug his thumb deeper into a particularly vicious knot, earning a grunt in reply.
“What do you carry all those books for?” he tried again, nodding to the bag even though she couldn’t see him. “What’s so interestin’ or important you give yourself a backache over it?”
She shrugged noncommittally.
Since the day after she’d found him like…that…she’d been spending almost all of her free timeup books onhistories, exposés on politics, and anything else at all she could find relating to hanyou, their treatment, and the set up of the respective human and demon societies. She’d never felt so uninformed in all her life.
There were just so many things she’d never known about human society and its interaction, let alone demon society and all the nuances there. Hanyou were most conspicuous for their absence in almost all resources. They were mentioned here or there only rarely and even then in the vaguest of ways.
It all made her want to tear her hair out! How was she supposed to find out how things worked if there was absolutely no information to be found?
Still, she kept trying. Kagome was nothing if not stubborn, and now that she had her task in mind she’d stick to it until she’d read through every dusty book (which meant almost every one not in the vaunted and highly popular ‘sex section’) in the library. Unfortunately, many of the books she needed were in the reference section and thus she was not allowed to check them out, meaning long hours pulled at the library and precious funds going into the copy machine.
She had to admit though that despite her grumblings she really was learning a lot. There were so many laws regulating demon and human interaction that she was surprised they were actually willing to live together and put up with all of it. She had new eyes for the demon community that bordered hers, and again wondered why it was that there was so littleexchangebetween the two suburbs. Granted, it was a royal pain in the rear to know which laws applied where and what toes not to step on, but that didn’t make it impossible.
She made a mental note to ask around about that when she got home.
Home, huh. The thought filtered through her mind with warmth. She’d been so consumed the past couple days she hadn’t been able to spare much thought for it there. I wonder how everyone’s doing? If the shrine’s doing well?
“Hey!” a loud voice said, right against her ear. “I ain’t doing this so you can fall asleep on me, you hear?” At that moment his touches changed, from strong and relaxing, to overpowering and demanding, from warming to heating, from soothing to creating an ache in her so powerful she was always perilously close to losing herself completely in it.
That night there was a sense of desperation, of urgency to their time together. It had been like for the last week, ever since that, but she knew tonight was different, could feel it in his fingers, all the way down to her gut.
The past nights he was always either in physical contact with her, even just in simple touches like the back of a knuckle trailing down her arm, or he was staring at her so intently she wondered if he could devour her with his eyes. Tonight the force behind it was multiplied, to the point where Kagome wondered if she’d survive the onslaught or, even if she did, if she’d be the same person as before.
It was as if he were trying to drink her in by osmosis or wrap himself up completely inside her and disappear in her flesh, as though he wanted to learn her in every way possible and imprint himself just as indelibly in her mind.
The fact was Inuyasha was trying to do just that. He wanted to ingrain her onto himself, to remember exactly how she tasted, how she responded, all the faces she could possibly make; he wanted to crystallize her image in his brain so that her memory would never fade, so that when she was long gone fromShrinewould still have something to cling to, some sort of lifeline to bring him back from the brink anytime one of his usual clients would bring him too close to the breaking point.
He would know that once, a long time ago, someone had treated him with respect, with kindness…as an equal. He couldn’t ever hope for the same thing to happen again, but he could remember, and it would be sweet.
As the sense of desperation reached an all time high that night Kagome had to force herself not to gasp at the ruthlessness of his perusal of her body. She might have said something if not for the serious determination she saw on his face, the sheer intensity in his gaze.
Something was different about this night; she knew it. She meant to ask him, she really did, but then he moved against her, inside her, and suddenly nothing in the world was more important than responding to him, making him feel as good as she felt, and everything else was forgotten, nothing existing aside from the two of them, their bodies, and their friction.
An eternity later, which felt like no time at all, Kagome looked up from where she was snuggled under Inuyasha’s arm and groaned to see her time was up.
She was getting more and more reticent to leave every night. It was chill in the early hours outside and he was warm and comfortable, plus she was getting highly annoyed with having to rouse herself, get dressed and at least somewhat fix her bed-head, head outside to engage in her nightly fight with the wind just to wind up at her apartment, throw off the same clothes she’d just put on, and get into a bed when she’d just left one. Where was the justice in that?
Glancing down at what appeared to be a peacefully snoozing Inuyasha she griped to herself. Nope, no justice in the world at all. She had to brave the elements while he got to sleep in – lucky jerk.
She poised her hand, ready to flick an ear, when the irony of her statement came crashing down on her – along with a nice dose of sardonic reality. She really had no clue what happened to him after she left. Lucky? Inuyasha? Ha, not likely.
When it was just the two of them it was so easy to forget that he was a hanyou, that outside these doors he was treated as a being without rights, with no feelings nor desires of his own. Heck, within these doors – when she was not here – he was treated even worse.
She shuddered again at memories of the night she’d found him so cruelly battered. It still boggled her mind that there were people out there who not only thought they had the right to act that way against someone else, but that they actually got their jollies from doing it too. It was unfathomable.
The marks had been mostly gone the next night when she’d come to him, but because she knew what she was looking for she’d seen the small lines that indicated where he’d been slashed, the tiny pock marks all that was left of the gaping holes from where he’d been whipped.
She hadn’t been able to bring herself to look at anything below his chest for fear of breaking into tears. Inuyasha was proud; she knew he’d hate seeing any sort of sympathy or pity, even compassion. He’d construe it as her thinking him weak, when she thought he was anything but.
Since then she hadn’t noticed any other markings on him and when she'd cornered Ryu about it later the only thing she’d been able to wheedle out of him was that, since Kagome had now shown a preference for staying with Inuyasha, he could claim her as the primary client and say he was completely booked during his time with her. Normally a tetsudai might have multiple clients a night but given the tendency toward certain proclivities of Inuyasha’s clients he usually only had one a night, with breaks of a day or two between to allow for full healing.
When Kagome questioned why Ryu hadn’t said the same thing to the other client, the one who’d bloodied up Inuyasha so badly the week prior, he’d explained that when she’d arrived he’d had no idea Kagome would choose Inuyasha as a tetsudai, since she didn’t make any specific appointments before she came. The other client had called in for him about a month earlier so he’d been unable to turn her away. Realistically he should have canceled Kagome’s appointment for that evening with the other client having priority, but they both knew why he hadn’t done that. And now, despite the fact that Kagome wasn’t doing anything to Inuyasha to keep him from being able to keep up with having the physical demands of another client in the same evening, since no one knew he didn’t need extra time to recover she was able to get away with it.
Kagome came back to the moment as she noticed that instead of flicking his ear her hand had somehow become tangled in his hair and was now gently stroking down the back of his head.
She glanced pointedly at her bag. No, there was no justice in this world at all. But maybe she could do something about that? After all, her presence here was protecting him a little bit already if Ryu was anything to judge by.
One other upside of her presence though was that she’d helped in the ‘death-glare-matches-of-all-evil’ between he and Kazuma. She wasn’t sure what caused it, after all Kazuma had seemed nice enough when they’d first met, but she saw the fire that spit out of his eyes whenever he encountered the hanyou, and Inuyasha had a tongue to match.
She could only assume it was prejudice and racism on Kazuma’s part, which made her sad because now she was obliged to dislike the man, at least a little, even though otherwise he still seemed a decent human being.
He, somehow though, had taken a liking to her, perhaps even a shining. That annoyed Inuyasha to no end and at first Kazuma had not slacked on rubbing it in, until he noticed how much it annoyed and hurt Kagome too. He may be a jerk to those he didn’t like, but he knew not to push it with people he wanted to befriend.
So he’d called a peace with Inuyasha, as much as he could anyway, but they had too much history to just smooth it over and be all chummy.
Inuyasha, though,at a loss as to why Kagome would defend Kazuma and hold him back when he wanted to lay a good jibe on the arrogant bastard. He saw how Kazuma looked at her and was suddenly struck by the fear that they had secret assignations but one look at Kagome’s face proved otherwise. While she may be nice to the cretin, she certainly didn’t fancy him.
Besides, he chortled, how would she have the chance to go to such secret dalliances when she barely had the stamina to keep up with him – he knew he left her drained every night and that’s the way he liked it, fitting compensation for the glowing look of satiation that graced her face whenever the two of them were done.
Aside from that, he grumbled to himself, she was the kindest soul he’d ever met, the only one besides his mother and Ryu to treat him as anything more than scum, so he supposed he could overlook this one small – glaring – defect in her. If she wanted to be chummy with Kazuma he could stand to at least try to not fight as much. Just trying was enough, right? Well, just so long as she didn’t get toowith the dweeb…
Inuyasha stirred under her hand and Kagome wondered when it was she’d gotten so absentminded. That was the second time she’d spaced out in the last ten minutes, and she was supposed to be getting dressed to leave.
“Inuyasha…” she ventured. Silence.
“Inuyasha? Are you awake?”
She heard some inventive cursing coming from the direction of the pillow. “No.”
This time she did flick his ear. Hard.
“Owww!” he yelled, turning toward her while cupping the offending ear. “What the hell did you do that for?”
“That was for lying to me. I don’t appreciate it you know,” she mocked, sticking her tongue out at him. She quickly pulled it back in when she saw the smirk on his face as he stared at it.
“I’m not lying,” he replied, turning back over so his voice was muffled by the pillows and blankets. “I am still sleeping and so are you. You’re just dreaming, so you should lie back down before you fall out of bed.” Somehow by the end of this statement she’d ended up doing exactly that, lying down, her front plastered against Inuyasha’s back, her arm thrown over his side and cradled against his chest, held in place by the clawed hand that gripped it.
She expected a snicker from him, a smirk thrown over his shoulder, anything to acknowledge his slight victory, but there was nothing – and that seemed stranger than anything.
Kagome sighed and snuggled in closer to him. As much as she hated to admit it she’d love to stay there, but her time was up. Actually at this point she was probably already late – she only hoped Ryu didn’t dock her for it, she was living short on funds as it was – so she grudgingly pulled herself upright again, Inuyasha’s grip going slack as soon as he felt her start to slip away.
“I have to go,” she said, glaring at the clock and wishing for it to spontaneously combust.
She slid out of the bed and slipped on her simple sweater and skirt, balancing against his closet as she attempted to get her shoes on. “But I’ll see you tomorrow, ne?”
Inuyasha sighed and Kagome furrowed her brow at the sound – it was so…so un-Inuyasha-like. She looked up at him, smiling slightly in victory from finally getting her first shoe on.
“No,” he stated simply.
Kagome paused halfway into her second shoe, standing on tip toe, looking cuter and more confused than he’d ever seen her.
“What do you mean?” she asked. “Are you going somewhere?”
“Am I - ?” he blustered. Now he was the one confused. “It’s our 14th night together, it’s been two weeks,” he said, indicating this had some external significance, but it was lost on Kagome.
“And…?” she pressed.
“And…two weeks is the limit…” He suddenly burst into anger. “Damn that Kazuma, didn’t he tell you anything?!” He looked at her but her look of loss was answer enough.
“Damn it,” he seethed. “I’ll kill him.”
Kagome stood stock still. “Inuyasha?”
“There’s a two week limit, Kagome. No client and tetsudai can spend more than two weeks together at a time.” He lifted his head to look at her, ears flattening to see the shock written on her face, and he saw her questioning, why, before it even formed on her lips.
“I already gave you the speech about kissing, right?”
Suddenly it dawned on her, that if there was an unofficial rule about that to prevent a client and tetsudai from getting too close, too emotionally involved, then of course the Shrine would have an official rule to prevent them from getting too chummy by to omuch time spent together. Gradually Kagome nodded her head, knowing that it made sense, that it was the safest way to run a Shrine that made a form of worship out of sex, but she didn’t know why it hurt so much. Was it just the lack of foreknowledge and being slapped in the face with it? Just the fact that she hadn’t had a chance to properly adjust to the idea of having to say goodbye to the person who’d featured most prominently in the last two weeks of her life?
Slowly she made her way toward him, reaching out to him and wrapping her arms around him, hugging him like it might be the last time they’d ever touch. She wanted it to last forever, but the seconds were ticking.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, her breath stirring a few stray strands of his hair. “I wish I’d known.”
“Don’t bother,” he replied, gently running his claws up and down her back, sending shivers all through her body. “Maybe it’s for the best; this way you didn’t have to worry about it beforehand.”
Bit by bit he pushed her back from him, hands bracing against her shoulders until finally that was the only contact between them.
“I’d say ‘see ya ‘round,’” his smile to counteracting her own watery one, “but well, you know…” He shrugged.
Yes, she did know. He avoided the otheras much as possible, not wanting to put up with their disdain or insults, and so pretty much stayed in his room or other private areas while in the shrine, so there was not much chance of running into him there. When out of the Shrine…she wasn’t sure if he ever left, if he was ever even able to leave, at least safely.
“Yeah, I know,” she echoed, copying his shrug in a forced semblance of nonchalance.
“Don’t worry about it,” he admonished, kneeling on the edge of the bed and pushing her up to stand straight. “Now you’ve just got one less annoying, though devastatingly handsome hanyou to ruffle you up.”
She glared at him, mocking indignation, putting her hands on her hips and cocking her head. “You’re not annoying.”
“So…you agree I’m devastatingly handsome?” he teased.
“Okay, so maybe you are annoying,” she agreed.
He suddenly got a smirk on his face, the one Kagome had learned to be wary of. “Plus, I do enjoy getting to mess up your hair every night.” With that he leaped at her, throwing his hands into her hair as he pulled her against her into the typified ‘noogie-position', headlocked under one arm while the other mercilessly undid all the straightening she’d just done to her sex-hair, adding amore than a few extras and knots just for good measure.
Kagome used every dirty move she’d learned from years of fighting with a brother, elbowing his ribs, scratching his arms, pulling his nose (too bad his ears were too high, pulling on Souta’s ears had always been most effective), finally winning her freedom and careening to an undignified halt halfway across the room.
Huffing she glared at him. “Agreed,” she declared. “You are definitely annoying.”
Inuyasha wasn’t sure whether to smirk in victory or be disheartened by her proclamation.
“But I’m still going to miss you.”
He stopped cold. Miss him? She said she’d…miss him? Him? He couldn’t remember anyone ever saying that.
Kagome decided enough was enough. She hated long goodbyes and this one had dragged out long enough. Hefting on her backpack she dashed him a quick peck on the cheek, leaving him stunned as she rushed to open the door. Then she paused for a second and turned to face him, already standing with one foot out in the hallway.
“I know you don’t hear this enough so I’m just going to say it: you’re a good guy. I’m glad to have met you, although I wish it had been under different circumstances so we could have remained friends. I’ll miss you, so maybe I’ll have to come visit you again someday, ne?”
With a quick smile and wave she didn’t wait for a response but slipped out of the door and into the night.
Inuyasha sat in shock. She’ll come visit, huh? Yeah right, when pigs fly. She’ll find some nice, boring country boy to settle down with, have a kid, watch the house, go to school – she’ll have to do some more school if she likes carrying around that many books while on ‘vacation,’ – he slumped. There was no way she’d ever be coming back here once this tour was done – not for him, but thankfully not for anyone else either.
Even after two weeks she was still more pure than anyone else he’d met in the place; she deserved different, she deserved to remain as far away from thisShrine as possible, keeping its disillusioning realities from corrupting her kind of thinking. He shook his head. Only she could have said such things.
Would she really miss him?
Pondering this Inuyasha lay back on his bed, playing through the scenes of the night in his head. He was bound and determined to commit every moment of it to memory, just as he’d been doing the last week. He knew every curve of her body, every taste of her skin, every sensitive spot that could make her gasp. He’d learned how she responded to him, that she could actually make him smile, or even on occasion – laugh. Tonight he’d seen a few more precious expressions those features could make and he’d be damned if he’d forget any of it.
The future looked bleak for him. The best he could hope for was still shit, but somehow this one blessing had been blown into his life. He’d never thought to know such kindness, but now that he did he would hold on to it to sustain him through the beatings, through the physical and emotional torture, through the gaping loneliness that sometimes threatened to swallow him whole.
He would remember that once, for one time in his godforsaken life, somebody had been kind to him.
~ ~ ~
Kagome marched away from the room with a determined air about her. Two week limit, eh? She hadn’t even known! How could they keep something like that from her?!
Of course, they meant Kazuma.
There were many people she would visit tonight, but she meant to make him the first.
There was no way she was going to let it end like this.
~ ~ ~
Reviewer notes:
Suelias ~ Kagome doesn’t pray per se, the act of sex is the act of worship and prayer. (Maybe it somehow transmutates on its way to heaven? Haha, that’s funny to think about.) If you want to know more you can check out ancient Green and Roman mythology, especially anything about Bacchus, Aphrodite, Cupid, etc. So essentially she ‘prays’ every time she’s with Inuyasha or any other tetsudai.
Redbutterfly21 ~ You’re right, it would be awkward for Inuyasha to be falling in love with her immediately, which is why he’s not. (Hopefully I haven’t made it seem so too badly I can’t rectify it!) The reason he acts the way he does with her and is so mystified by her is because she treats him differently. If anyone in his situation, where everyone treated him like crap, suddenly had someone acting nice then he’d definitely think of her differently, but it’s more of an ‘in awe’ type of feeling so far. I’d almost say bordering on hero worship, but we know our hanyou would never do that ^_^
Aside from that, I actually think Kagome is rather naïve and innocent regarding many things but that she’s marked for her ability to not blink in the face of change and adapt to it.
Also many thanks to all reviewers who let me know they’re there and I’m not writing for thin air. ^_^
Once again, thanks to my wonderful betas Akihana and Seren1tystar01. You guys rock, and thanks for your patience and careful prodding.
~ ~ ~
Original posting: December 21, 2006