InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A Fool's Redemption ❯ Autumn's Shifting Winds ( Chapter 10 )

Chapter 10 - Autumn's Shifting Winds

She was exhausted, and her head was beginning to hurt. All she wanted to do was drag herself into bed and stay there for a while. But there wasn't any time for naps, and there hadn't been for a few days now. The gentle music floating up from the stage below did nothing to ease her throbbing head. Rather, it was threatening to put her to sleep. If she hadn't been in pain and so tired she would have been enjoying the evening. She sat with Inuyasha, high along the curved inside of a large amphitheater that sat nestled within the eco-dome. Tonight the theater was packed to capacity. Every spare inch of seating was taken. Long strings of lanterns hung overhead, providing more atmosphere than light, and higher up, just beyond the lanterns, hovered the branches of overhanging trees and the invisible barrier of the dome. Far above that was the night sky, filled with stars. This was the last night of the Autumn Festival, and Kagome couldn't be happier.

At the end of her third month in service to Inuyasha, the week long festival had begun. The city held two festivals every year: one in the fall that celebrated the arts, and another in the spring for sports competitions. The entire city had been transformed for the occasion. The atriums of all three towers had been turned into grand exhibition halls in which nearly every manner of artistic medium had been presented: painting, photography, sculpture, even some architecture. By day there were events held for the display of each gallery, and by night there were concerts for the performing arts, held not only in the amphitheater of the dome, but also in the theater that sat off to one side of the underground hall. Orchestral concerts, plays and musical performances were all part of the festivities. Being the red prince and an important figure within the city, Inuyasha had been invited to almost every event, and as his assistant, it was Kagome's job to accompany him.

During the festivals, all unnecessary work—work that wasn't required to keep the city running from day to day—was shut down. Unfortunately for Kagome, her job monitoring the delicate balances of the soil in the domes was a position that required constant, daily attention. Even though her morning hours were cut back significantly for the holiday week, she still had to stay at her job long enough to complete all the soil testing that was her responsibility for each day. Once she was done, it was off to accompany Inuyasha through the festival for the rest of the day and on into the night. Working for him during a normal week was exhausting enough, but with the arrival of the festival, she had found herself with very little time for rest, and absolutely no time to herself.

One thing that bothered her just as much as her lack of rest was her lack of time to spend with Sango. It had been nearly two weeks since she and her friend had shared any time together. Since her nights were spent with Inuyasha, she and Sango rarely had any time together in the evenings anymore, but on the days Kagome had off from her morning job, they always tried to at least have breakfast together. But the festival had robbed her of that now as well. Not only was Sango helping to run the festival, she was also performing in it, and had about as much free time as Kagome. Which was none.

Kagome had seen her for the first time in days earlier that afternoon, as she and Inuyasha had been leaving one of the sculpture displays. Sango had approached them and, after exchanging a friendly hug with Kagome, had turned to Inuyasha.

“My performance is tonight,” she said. The comment sounded a bit pointed. “You're coming, aren't you?”

Inuyasha had stared off into the crowd, ignoring the question.

Sango had grabbed a handful of his hair and yanked. “Aren't you?” she repeated irritably.

“Ow! Jesus, yes! Fine!” He smacked her hand away. Kagome didn't understand why he was putting up a fight.

“Good,” Sango smirked in triumph.

Kagome remembered her friend had mentioned that she was going to be singing in a small concert during the festival, but hadn't gone into detail about it. “What are you singing?”

Sango turned back to her and smiled. “It's a love song, actually.” She blushed a bit. “ It's a song about longing to see the one you love, even though they're out of reach. The lyrics are in Italian, so you won't be able to understand the words, but hopefully the emotion of the song will be understood.” She had turned back to Inuaysha with an imploring look. “I wish you'd reconsider performing it with me. You should be the one to play it, it's your—“

“I already told you no,” Inuyasha cut her off, snapping out of his bored state. He gave her a glance that said he didn't want to discuss it further.

Sango had sighed. “Whatever. Do what you want. At least come, okay?”

“We'll be there,” Kagome had assured her. “Even if I have to drag him, we'll be there.”

Her friend gave her a grateful smile, and opened her mouth as if to continue their conversation, but then a deep voice had called to Inuyasha from behind, and they had turned to find Naraku approaching with that perfect, engaging smile that never seemed to leave his face.

She had felt Sango touch her arm and heard her whisper, “I'll see you later.” By the time she'd turned back to her friend, the girl had already taken off into the crowd. Naraku had only paused to ask Inuyasha a quick question, and as she stood waiting for them to finish their conversation, Kagome gazed up at the handsome black-haired man, wondering what it was about him that seemed to make her friend so skittish. He'd caught her stare and flashed her a brilliant smile.

Now, as the performance on the stage below came to an end and the audience around her gave their applause, she found herself still wondering why Sango seemed to act so strangely when it came to Naraku. The more she thought about it, the more it confused her: the evening Sango had made the comment about loving someone from afar while looking up at Naraku's terrace, the night he had approached their table, and the way her friend always seemed to take flight when he approached. Was it Naraku she loved? And if so, why did she always avoid him? Any attempt she had made to get an answer from her friend had been cleverly dodged, which only frustrated her more.

As the people on stage began gathering their instruments, a gentle mummer rose up from the audience as they waited for the next performance. Kagome let her eyes wander over the crowd that spread out below her, searching. It didn't take long to find him. Naraku and his two assistants sat in the middle of the crowd a couple rows down to her left. With the curve of the theater, she found she had an almost full-on view of him as he talked with the people around him, charming as ever. He looked completely in his element, surrounded by people eager to share his company. It was a sharp contrast to her own companion. While Inuyasha often looked as if he were merely tolerating the attention he received, Naraku seemed to bathe in it.

She shifted in her seat and pulled her light jacket closer to her body. There was a chill in the air tonight, a promise of the winter ahead.

“Are you cold?” Inuyasha's voice drifted over to her. It was the first thing he had said to her since they sat down. He'd been acting strangely over the past few days. While he wasn't nearly as cross with her anymore, he was still very standoffish, as if not quite sure how he should interact with her. And even though she still got the feeling he was uncomfortable around her, she felt as if, for the last week at least, she was becoming less of a subordinate and more of a companion.

She shook her head. “I'm fine.”

He moved as if to take his coat off, but she held up a hand.

“I'm okay, really.” She gave him a grateful smile. “Thank you, anyways.”

He shrugged the coat back on and looked as if he was about to say something, when they both noticed Sango walk out onto the stage.

She was dressed in a long black evening dress that flared out from the knees down, her hair piled in an elegant twist on top of her head. Three musicians accompanied her: a cellist, a saxophonist, and a pianist. The audience applauded lightly as they appeared and took their places on stage, the murmur of the crowd fading to silence.

Sango took her place at the microphone stand as the musicians took up their instruments. Her hands were clasped together at her stomach, and she turned her eyes to the floor for a few seconds. Kagome knew her friend had been nervous about this performance, and silently prayed the girl had found some way to calm her nerves. When Sango raised her head once again, her eyes held a strangely heavy look, as if a sudden weight had come over her. With a nod to the pianist, she took hold of the microphone on its stand and turned her eyes up to the crowd.

The gentle notes of the piano floated up from the stage as the song began, and as Sango parted her lips to accompany the music, Kagome suddenly found herself struck by the voice that drifted up to meet her ears. She'd had no idea her friend possessed a singing voice that was so… captivating. There was no other word for it. As the other two instruments rose to accompany the piano, Sango's voice was gentle as a bell, and just as clear, a tender lilting sound that was immediately filled with the weight of emotion she remembered her friend had been hoping for. The words, while in a language foreign to Kagome's own, didn't need to be in her language to be understood. The longing, the sadness of lost love was painfully and beautifully apparent, in the sound of the instruments, and the sound of Sango's voice.

Kagome realized she had been holding her breath, and let out a sigh as the music floated through the amphitheater around her. She glanced down to where Naraku sat a few yards away. She was curious to know if the music was having the same effect on him as it was on her. He sat looking forward, watching quietly, but while his face still held that easy smile, his eyes were dull, as if his mind was someplace far away. He looked completely uninterested in what was going on around him. Someone leaned over and whispered something in his ear, and they shared a quiet laugh before he turned back to the stage with that dull gaze.

Kagome frowned. Was she wrong about the feelings between the two of them? Or, if Sango did have feelings for him, was he simply unaware… or didn't care? And if it wasn't Naraku she cared for, then who was this mystery lover whose memory made her voice so sad? Was he here somewhere in the audience tonight? She let her eyes sweep over the crowd once before turning her attention back to the stage, the music swelling gently around her. Sango's voice was so fragile, and yet so strong, full of sorrow, but also of determination, and certainty. Certainty to see that lost lover once again.

A slight movement in Inuyasha's lap caught her eye, and as the song began it's final verse, she looked down to find his hand resting in his lap, the fingers of which moved faintly in time to the song. She realized they were moving as if playing the notes of the song on a piano. She glanced up at his face, propped in his other hand. His lips were a thin line, and his eyes stared down at the stage with a look she couldn't quite read. Was it sadness? Or regret? Maybe it was both.

You should be the one to play it. It's your—, Sango's words from earlier that day echoed in her head, and her eyes widened. It's your song, she finished the sentence in her head. She stared at his moving fingers from the corner of her eye. He must have written it. That's why Sango had wanted him to perform it with her. Knowing how shy he was about his playing, his quick response to her urging made sense now.

The song finished with a chorus of instruments, rising in a gentle crescendo, then fading softly to silence. The audience wasted no time in rising to their feet in applause, the sound thundering through the bowl of the amphitheater. The performers on stage bowed deeply and waved their appreciation. Kagome cheered along with the rest of them, and noticed that Inuyasha was standing along with her, clapping and smiling faintly. It surprised her at first, but then she thought about it. The song was his creation after all. Even though he hadn't been the one to perform it, she was sure he was still proud of it.

As the concert ended and they were leaving the amphitheater along with the rest of the crowd, Kagome considered wandering off to find Sango to congratulate her, but the mass of people was so thick she doubted she would ever be able to find her friend in it. Deciding to wait for another day, she fell into step next to Inuyasha. He looked tired, but had announced that they were going down to his terrace for a while, anyway. She had reluctantly agreed, and now she felt her headache, which had subsided a bit with the distraction of Sango's performance, once again beginning to resurface, worse now than before. The pain caused a faint wave of nausea to pass through her, but she swallowed it down.

As they walked through the dome along the dimly lit path, she looked up at Inuyasha. His face was once again devoid of emotion, that familiar bored expression had returned.

She hesitated for a minute, then said, “You wrote that song, didn't you?”

Inuyasha's expression stiffened. “Did Sango tell you that?”

“No, your fingers were moving during the song, as if you were the one playing the piano.”

She noticed him flex his hand, as if angry at it. He didn't respond.

“It's a beautiful song,” she said, hoping the praise wouldn't make him even more uncomfortable. She wasn't expecting a response this time. It was enough that he heard the compliment. He never turned away anymore when she offered one.

A minute went by, and they continued walking in silence, until she heard him grumble, “She wrote the lyrics, I just wrote the melody.”

She was surprised by his response, and smiled brightly up at him. “Then you both did an amazing job.”

Inuyasha glanced down at her, and appeared to stiffen even more, his eyes going wide for a moment, and a slight blush covering his cheeks. He looked away just as quickly, but he didn't seem upset. She drew in a breath of crisp air. Progress. Now if she could just get some rest and make this headache go away.

The festival ended the following day. After a week of brilliant displays all over the place, the city seemed strangely dull and colorless. Her headache did not go away. She rose too quickly in the morning to swat at her alarm, and a jolt of fresh pain stabbed through her head. It was enough to send her back onto bed to bury her face in her pillow, but she took a few deep breaths and willed herself to fight through it. There just wasn't any time to rest, she had a job to do. Or rather, she had jobs to do. Either way, she would just have to work through the pain.

She only lasted until 10am. When she returned to the lab after running the soil tests in the eco-dome, her face must have shown how much pain she was in. Her coworker, the blonde, sent her home without hesitation, and Kagome didn't argue.

“You look like you haven't slept in days,” the girl said.

Kagome smiled weakly, pulling off her lab coat.

“Are you getting enough sleep? I know you have two jobs now, but don't you get any days to yourself at all?”

Kagome started to shake her head then thought better of it. She shrugged instead. “Inuyasha's a busy man.” And with that she excused herself, heading out the door and into the atrium, toward the elevators, and toward the sanctuary of her room.

*****

Inuyasha had been sitting on top of the iron framework of the new greenhouse when he noticed Kagome walking through the conservatory, toward the atrium, without her lab coat. It had been odd. She never took that thing off while she was at work. When her blonde coworker came around to do the soil testing in her place, he frowned and climbed down from where he was working. Kagome never had anyone else do her work for her. He knew, because he would watch for her every day to begin her rounds in and out of the greenhouses. As long as she had been working for him, she'd never missed a day of work.

As the blonde headed into the grain house, he called out to her, stopping her. She was a little flustered at first. The women who weren't used to talking to him were like that. Shy but eager, like they would be if they met a celebrity.

“Where's Kagome?” he asked.

Her expression fell for a moment, no doubt disappointed that he hadn't stopped her just to chat. “I sent her home a little while ago. She wasn't feeling well. I think she had a headache,” she replied, her disappointment fading into concern.

Inuyasha frowned again. Kagome had been moving a little slower than normal when she woke him that morning, but he hadn't thought anything of it.

The blonde looked up at him and said in a small voice, “She's been working a lot lately, and… I don't think she's getting enough rest. She's mentioned to me before that she gets headaches when she's really worn out. She gets days off here, but I don't think she does when…” The girl trailed off and didn't finish the sentence.

She didn't need to. Inuyasha knew what she was implying. When she's working for me, he thought. He stared off through the glass doors leading from the conservatory into the atrium. It was almost time for his shift to end. He was nearly done with his work for the day, he could leave a little early if he wanted to. He nodded his thanks to the blonde and headed back to where his team was working in the new greenhouse. A few minutes later, after letting them know he was leaving for the day, he was headed back up to his apartment, the glass elevator carrying him quickly up the inside of the tower.

He opened the door of the apartment quietly, and stepped inside. It was dark; the long shades had been lowered over the windows, at least on Kagome's side of the loft. The air was cool on his skin as he walked on silent feet up the stairs leading to her room. At the top, peering through the sheer curtains, he saw her lying in her bed, quiet and unmoving. He stilled his own breath and listened for hers. When he heard it rise and fall softly, he let out a sigh of relief. It was slow, and he knew that she was fast asleep.

Pushing past the curtains, he stepped into the room and walked over to her bed. She slept on her back, her head leaning to the side, a hand resting next to her cheek on the pillow. A cloth lay beside her face, a dark, wet spot in the pillowcase beneath it. He reached over to pick it up and found it cool and damp in his hand. She must have laid it on her forehead to take the edge off the pain, but turned in her sleep, causing it to slip off.

He considered replacing it, but decided not to. He didn't want to risk waking her. As he folded the cloth and placed it on the nightstand, his attention was drawn to a pill bottle sitting there next to a glass of water. He picked it up and read the prescription label. Loradrine. Good stuff. She would be out for hours with that in her system. He set the bottle back on the nightstand and looked down at her sleeping face.

He was still treading lightly around her, still unsure about the best way to interact with her. And still too tempted to give her a hard time just for the hell of it. He'd been selfish with her time lately. The whole week of the festival he'd insisted she follow him everywhere. He hadn't considered that it would be so tiring for her.

It really wasn't very fair either, asking her to work so much without any time off. He'd decided not to give her nights off back when he had still been angry with her, and hadn't given it a second thought since then. She was always there when he needed her for something, and he had taken it for granted. He sighed and walked around to the other side of her bed, to the opposite nightstand that held her alarm clock. With a push of a button he saw it was set to wake her at the normal time he woke every evening before he went out. She had always been faithful to attend to him whenever he wanted, and even now, when she was in pain, she had still taken the time to set her alarm to make sure she would be ready to go when he was.

Determination. He used to hate that about her. Now he admired it.

With a flip of his finger, he switched off the alarm. He glanced back down at her, then turned and headed through the curtains to his side of the loft. It was time they both got some rest.

Hours later, he awoke in his bed to find the entire apartment dark. Good, he thought. She slept through the afternoon. He climbed out of the bed and switched on his bedside lamp, illuminating his side of the loft with soft light. It was bright enough to get dressed by, but hopefully not enough to wake Kagome on the other side. He washed and pulled on his clothes quietly, and was sitting on the chaise in his dressing area, sliding on his shoes, when he heard movement in the shadows from across the apartment.

Kagome came hurrying over to him, her face apologetic. “I'm so sorry,” she said. “I don't know why, but my alarm didn't go off. I'll be ready in a minute.” She turned to head back to her side of the loft.

“Wait,” he called out, and she stopped, turning back to him. He sat in his chair, staring down at the ground, feeling strangely nervous all of a sudden. He swallowed and asked, “How's your head?”

She looked confused. “I'm sorry?”

“You left work early today because your head hurt, right?”

She nodded. “Yeah. How did you know?”

“How are you feeling now?” He dodged her question with one of his own.

“Better,” she replied, looking a bit suspicious at his sudden concern for her.

He stood. “Good. I'm going out on my own tonight. You're going to stay here and rest.”

She blinked at him. “You want me to… rest?” Now she looked very suspicious. It made him suddenly irritated. He was trying to be nice.

“Yes. You wanna fight about it?” he almost growled.

“No, I… it's just that…” She appeared to be too shocked to find the words she was looking for, and finally she shook her head and smiled. “Thanks.”

He snorted. “Whatever. Just stay in bed, you got that?”

“Alright.”

“And,” he turned toward her, but averted his eyes, a little embarrassed by what he was about to say. “I want you to think about what two days during the week you want off. Tell me tomorrow what you decide.”

Kagome stared at him in silence for a long time, and he found that, for once, he actually enjoyed it. He had shocked her into silence. See? I can be a nice guy after all.

“Okay,” she replied softly.

He could hear the relief and happiness in just that one word, and his smugness was quickly wiped away by embarrassment once again. He turned to head downstairs.

“Wait a minute,” she called out and moved toward him, picking up a brush from a table as she approached. He paused as she walked up behind him. “Your hair is still tangled in the back.” She reached up and began to run the brush through his long hair.

From the corner of his eye, he could see her reflection in the large three-paneled dressing mirror, and he watched as she smoothed his hair carefully. Without thinking, he grumbled, “It's just gonna get messed up again, anyways.”

She stilled for a moment, the pleasant look sliding from her face as easily as if someone had wiped it away, replaced with a look of sudden sadness and… something else he couldn't immediately identify. He silently scolded himself. They didn't talk about things like that. They didn't even hint at it. It just seemed to be too uncomfortable for both of them. But he'd never seen a reaction like this from her. She looked genuinely upset. All he had done was alluded to his night's normal pleasures.

“Ah, right,” she said softly.

He studied her face in the mirror. She was still brushing his hair, but much more slowly now, running the fingers of her free hand through the strands alongside the brush. It was something she did once in awhile. Normally he found it soothing, but this time he found it troubling. Sadness, and what else? What else was it he saw in her eyes as she stared at his back? Her lips parted slightly and she turned her eyes downward, as if she were tearing them away from the sight of him.

It hit him suddenly with enough force to suck the breath from his chest. Sadness, and longing. It was longing. He felt his heart leap into his throat, and he had to force himself to swallow it back down. He stepped away suddenly and half-turned to look at her, and his eyes widened at what he found.

The look was gone from her face, just as quickly as it had appeared. In its place was that gentle smile she always gave him. It was just Kagome, same as ever. Had he imagined it? No. She's hiding it. She doesn't want me to know. A surge welled up inside of him. He was angry suddenly, angry that she was hiding something like that from him. He wanted to yell at her, shake her, force her to be honest, force that look back onto her face.

“All done,” she said cheerfully.

He turned away quickly before his emotions could spill onto his face where she might notice them. “Go to bed,” he said, struggling to keep his voice calm, and then headed quickly down the stairs. As he got to the door and opened it, he glanced back over his shoulder to the landing at the top of the stairs. She was still standing there, watching him. “Go to bed!” he barked, and then walked out, slamming the door behind him.

Once out in the silence of the hallway, he leaned back against the apartment door and stared out across the atrium. Unbelievable. Had she been hiding this from him the whole time? Or was it something that had developed recently? He swallowed nervously, trying to make sense of all the different threads of emotions tangling in his head. If he had been unsure about her before, he was confused as hell now. Stop it. Calm down and think clearly. He walked forward to the railing and looked down to the ground floor of the atrium far below, the people walking across it small as ants.

Longing. Okay. He could deal with that. That was an easy one. He dealt with it every day. It was easy. It should be easy.

But this was Kagome. Just a few short months ago he had sworn that he hated her. Of course, now he knew that hadn't been the truth, but old habits die hard. He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.

Why not just go with it? The question rolled unexpectedly through his head, and he considered it for a long time, his eyes staring blankly out over the tower. The idea was both terrifying and intriguing at the same time. He gripped the railing until his knuckles turned white from the pressure, and only when he released his hold did he realize that he was smiling faintly. What the hell. He would go with it, for a little while anyway. There was probably no harm in just that. He wasn't sure how deep her feelings for him ran, but if nothing else, he would have fun trying to find out.

*****

The rest had done wonders for Kagome. Inuyasha had given her not only the one night off, but the next as well. The day after that, Monday, was one of her two chosen days off, and so she'd taken that night to relax and spend some time with Sango. Three days off in all, and now she felt refreshed.

She was curled up on the small couch in her room, looking out over the landscape. It was early afternoon, and Inuyasha would be home soon. She always tried to stay up until he arrived back from his morning shift, that way he wouldn't have to wake her up if he needed something. It was hard to keep from dozing off though. The warmth seeping through the windows from the bright autumn day outside was incredibly soothing.

The sun was just beginning to slide into view at the top of the window. Before long it would move lower in the sky and fill the entire apartment with sun. After that, the shadows would start to grow long, and eventually the sunset would wash the sky in all kinds of colors. It was a process she usually napped through, though once in awhile she would be able to catch the finale when Inuyasha decided to prepare early for an evening.

She heard the door click open, and then close, and she stood. “Welcome home,” she called, moving through the curtains as he came up the stairs to the loft.

Inuyasha answered her greeting with a grunt, and headed straight into the bathroom. He shut the door behind him with enough force to show that he was cranky, but not quite mad. At least, not yet anyway.

She made a face. He was still sporting the same attitude he'd woken up with this morning. She sighed and returned to her room, brushing the curtains out of her way as she passed through them. She assumed from his curt response that he intended to spend the afternoon alone, and so she happily tossed herself into bed, her knee-length skirt flaring up in a puff of wind, then settling around her legs. She wiggled up to the pillows and pulled one under her head, hugging it.

Damn, she really loved this bed. It was just so comfortable. She closed her eyes. Faintly, from the other side of the loft, she heard the sound of water running. Must be taking a bath, she thought, letting loose a yawn. Her mind quickly slipped into a hazy half-sleep.

She had a dream about a long hallway lined along the floor with blue lights, a life-sized male puppet dressed in French period clothing, and a dog. A white dog with golden colored eyes. It was one of those barely awake dreams that didn't make any sense, floating from random thing to random thing as the mind drifted off to sleep. She heard her name once, then again, louder, enough to jar her awake suddenly. She opened her eyes and pushed herself up on her elbows, brushing the hair away from her face. Where the hell did that dream come from? she wondered groggily.

“Kagome!” Inuyasha shouted across the loft, startling her. He sounded annoyed. He looked annoyed too. He stood in the doorway of his bathroom, bare-chested with his pants still on, glaring at the fabric walls of her room.

She faintly remembered hearing someone call her name in the dream. That must have been what woke her. She peered through the curtains at him, bleary eyed. “Yes?” she called.

“God, you fall asleep fast! Get over here!” He didn't give her time to argue, disappearing back into the bathroom as soon as he'd said it.

She stared at the empty doorway for a moment, daring herself to ignore him and go back to sleep. In the end, she decided it wasn't worth the argument she was sure would ensue, and dragged herself off the bed and toward his bathroom. The door was half-open as she approached, and just before she walked in, she caught sight of his pants as they flew through the air, landing in a pile just out of sight. She stopped, her eyebrow twitching. Inuyasha was now not only cranky, he was naked as well.

She blew out a steady breath and walked up to the door. Without entering, she called, “Are you decent?”

The sound of water sloshing met her ears. “Yes. Get in here,” he demanded.

She walked in hesitantly, her eyes wandering around the bathroom—everywhere but at the tub she heard him settling into. Ever since the first time she had seen Inuyasha's bathroom, she had been envious of it. It was almost twice the size of her own, with a toilet alcove and an elegant vanity to her left, a large tub and separate, glass-enclosed shower room to her right. The bathtub was the kind that was sunk into a wide ledge, so that there was plenty of sitting room around it, and the basin itself looked large enough to fit three people comfortably. A huge, fan shaped picture window was set into the wall next to it, with the same breathtaking view as the rest of the apartment. The shower room sat against the corner of the far wall, next to the bathtub. Her own bathroom, while nice, just couldn't compare to this one, with its small, combined tub and shower, much smaller vanity, and only about six feet of walking space from one side to the other.

“I want you to wash my hair,” she heard him grumble from the tub. She looked over to find him sulking in the water, a pile of bubbles floating all along the top of the water around him, up to his shoulders.

She stared at him, dumbstruck. He'd never asked her to do something like that before. The most he ever let her touch him was to help him dress and brush out his hair. And to haul his drunken ass around when he got too wasted to do it himself. “Why?” she asked cautiously, approaching the tub. The bubbles hid most of him from sight, and she was grateful for that.

He shrugged. “Just feel like it.” He didn't look at her as he reached over to pick up a bottle of shampoo sitting next to the window and then held it out to her.

She stood there, staring at it for a moment, as if it might bite her if she reached out to take it. What a lazy bastard! she thought, anger rolling through her.

He shook it at her. “Come on.” He was getting impatient.

Pursing her lips into a thin line, she finally reached out and took the bottle from his hand.

He settled back into the water and pointed to the ledge behind him. “Just sit there and do it.”

With a little sigh, she climbed up onto the raised area around the tub and moved to sit behind him. She folded her legs beneath her body, but the tile was too hard, so she crossed them in front of her instead. Inuyasha sat in the water quietly, completely still as she adjusted behind him. It was an awkward position. Even sitting as close to the edge of the tub as she could, she still had to lean over her own legs and down a bit to reach his head. With nothing to brace herself against, she felt as if she might fall forward into the water, and as she began shampooing his hair, she nearly did. Twice.

He must have noticed, because after the second time, he gave out a little snorting laugh. “Heh, stupid. Put your feet in the water so you don't fall in.”

She glared at the back of his head for the `stupid' comment, but decided to let it pass, for now. She glanced down at the water. The tub looked wide enough to put one leg on either side of him without touching skin. She carefully unfolded her legs, pulled her skirt up to her thighs, and placed one leg into the water on either side of him. The water was almost too hot, just barely tolerable. But he was right. When she leaned forward once again, her legs helped to prop her up. Good. No more threat of falling into the naked man's bath.

It was only then that she began to notice just how tangled and knotted his hair really was. She vaguely remembered that he hadn't bothered to tie it back before he'd left for work that morning, so it had probably been twisting and tangling in the wind all day. As she finished shampooing, she said, “I need to rinse. Can you hand me the sprayer?” The handheld shower head and its long hose sat coiled on a hook at the head of the tub, and Inuyasha slid forward in the water to grab the nozzle, pulling it with him as he floated back into place between her legs.

He moved a little too quickly, and the force of his body passing through the water caused it to splash up a bit as he moved backwards, dumping a small wave over the edge of the tub and onto the ledge. Kagome let out a tiny squeak of surprise as the water soaked the bottom of her skirt, and seeped into her underwear. She opened her mouth to yell at him for it when she heard a mumbled “Sorry,” and he handed the sprayer back to her. But it wasn't the apology that stopped her tirade. It was his hands.

He sat facing forward, offering the nozzle to her over his shoulder, and as the soap dripped from his skin, she found his hand covered in gashes and purple bruises. As she slowly took the nozzle from him, she looked closer, and found the wounds extended to his wrist and halfway down his forearm as well. She'd seen these kinds of injuries before. They were the natural consequences of his boulder smashing habit.

That was why he'd asked her to wash his hair for him. It wasn't because he was being lazy, it was because it probably hurt like hell to use his hands right now. Even for someone like Inuyasha, the body could only take so much abuse. But the injuries had never been this bad before. Gently, she began rinsing his hair, wondering why he had pushed himself so hard. Her coworkers had said he only broke the rocks to let off frustration. Was something bothering him so much that he'd gone to the point of injuring himself?

Inuyasha sat still and quiet between her legs as she applied conditioner to his hair and gently began to work out the knots. She did her best to ignore the uncomfortable feeling of the wet clothing beneath her. The silence between them was awkward, but conversation would have been even more so. After awhile, her back began to complain at the hunched over position she was sitting in. She paused and pulled her fingers from his hair, sitting up to stretch the muscles in her back, and winced as a joint popped low in her spine.

Inuyasha shifted in the water at her feet. “Are you almost finished?”

She glared at the back of his head again. Here she was wet, uncomfortable and achy, doing him a favor, and he had the nerve to start getting impatient. “Be patient, Inuyasha. There's a lot of knots.” She tried to keep her voice neutral. If he knew he was getting on her nerves it would probably only make him want to goad her even more.

“You're so slow,” he complained, sinking into the water a bit.

She sighed and took a handful of his hair, pulling him back up so she wouldn't have to bend over even more. “I'm slow at everything, remember?”

“Ow! Shit, that hurt!”

“Then sit up so I don't break my back doing this.”

To her surprise, he did as she'd asked without argument. She went back to work, threading her fingers through his slippery hair, searching for any remaining knots.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, until he spoke up suddenly. “You're not as bad as you used to be.”

“Huh?” she asked, picking up the shower nozzle to begin rinsing his hair.

“With the whole being slow thing. You're not as bad as you used to be,” he said, leaning back into the warm spray.

It was a compliment, and she wasn't quite sure how to react to it. She blinked at the back of his head, trying to think of the best way to respond, not really paying attention to what she was doing. The sprayer wandered too close to one of his ears, something she had been very careful to avoid until that point, and the water flowed over and into his right ear.

He jerked away suddenly. “Damn it, woman, watch what you're doing!” He shook his head to the side, trying to clear the water.

“Sorry,” she apologized. “I didn't mean to do that.”

“Whatever. Just don't do it again.”

Or what? she wanted to ask. She considered the back of his head thoughtfully, recalling his `stupid' comment earlier, her wet clothes, and his impatience. The hell with it. She was going to have some fun.

After his hair was completely rinsed out, she paused just for a moment, then reached forward with the nozzle, past his face, and then turned it toward him. She pulled the trigger.

He must have been caught completely off guard, because he nearly jumped out of the tub. “Kagome! What the hell?” he yelled, knocking the sprayer away and half-turning toward her.

She smiled down at him, trying, and failing, to suppress a giggle. “That… I did mean to do.”

He spun around in the water to face her, angry golden eyes glaring at her from beneath dripping bangs. Suddenly worried that she might have really made him mad, she glanced to the side, searching for an escape route. If she could just get out of his reach, she could probably outrun him long enough for his anger to dissipate. But even as she considered fleeing, she realized that Inuyasha would be able to catch her before she even had one leg out of the tub.

As if able to read her thoughts, he suddenly grabbed both of her ankles, locking them in place beneath the water. She snapped her eyes back to him, but his face was now hidden beneath his bangs. She couldn't tell if he was angry or not. Panicking, she tried to pull her legs back, but he held fast. “Inuyasha, what—“ but her voice caught in her throat as he suddenly leaned forward, rising a bit in the water. His grip on her ankles loosened as he ran his hands up the back of her legs, the tips of his fingers dragging along her skin. It was all she could do to resist the shiver that fought to crawl up her spine.

He leaned forward even more as his hands reached the back of her knees. He was leaning in between her legs now, his face still hidden from view. “Inuyasha,” her voice came out as a tiny squeak. “Wait. What are you—“ She didn't get the chance to finish.

He yanked forward on the backs of her knees suddenly, pulling her off the edge of the tub and into the water. She landed with a splash, water and bubbles sloshing over the edge of the tub and spilling across the tiled floor.

It took her a moment to realize what had just happened, and as her clothing floated in the water around her, she slowly looked up at Inuyasha, who was still kneeling between her legs, a cocky smirk set on his face.

“Wh…” she blinked. “What are you doing?” she almost yelled, reaching up to grip the sides of the tub angrily. She began pulling herself out of the water, but he reached out and pushed her back down. She tried again, with the same result. “Damn it, Inuyasha. Let me out!” His only response was to push her down again. She kept trying.

“Stay down, damn it,” he grumbled. They went back and forth with this odd sort of physical argument five or six times until Kagome finally settled with an angry huff.

“Fine! You win! Are you happy now?” she snapped.

His hand hovered over her shoulder for a moment, as if unsure whether or not she had really given up. When she made no further move to escape, he gave her a victorious grin. “Very,” he said, turning in the water and leaning back in between her legs to rest against her chest.

Kagome stilled suddenly, her heart jumping into her throat. He was naked, and she was practically straddling him from behind. One leg was still propped up on either side of him, and he rested his arms easily on her thighs. A fierce blush rose to her face as she realized that the bottom of her skirt had floated all the way up to her waist when she'd been pulled in. She was suddenly squirming, trying to push forward on him and pull her clothing back into place at the same time. “What the hell do you think you're doing?” she demanded.

“Enjoying my bath.”

“Inuyasha, please let me out,” she pleaded, reaching again for the sides of the tub.

He responded by pushing back against her, as if to emphasize that he wouldn't let her out. “But the tub is so hard and uncomfortable. Just sit here and be my pillow for a while.”

“My clothes are gonna get ruined,” she argued.

He sighed and slid down a bit, leaning his head back to rest on her shoulder. “I'll buy you new ones. Now shut up and be still. It's not so bad. The water's still hot.”

She turned her face away from him, pouting, staring out over the rest of the bathroom. She knew she didn't have a choice in the matter, and glanced down. Mercifully, there were still enough bubbles along the water's surface to hide everything below. Their position was embarrassing enough without having to see it as well. His head was propped against her shoulder, his eyes already closed, a serene expression on his face. She had never seen him look so peaceful before. She sighed, just enough for him to be able to feel the rise and fall of her chest against his back, a final show of rebellion. As expected, he ignored it.

They settled back into silence once again. He had been right, the water was still pleasantly warm, and since she had no other choice, she relaxed against the tub and turned her head to look out the window. As she did, her chin brushed against one of his ears and it twitched in response. Despite her annoyance with him she had to suppress a giggle.

She soon became acutely aware of the feeling of his body pressed back against hers. The scent of his freshly washed hair, his chest rising and falling with each breath, the added warmth of his body. But most troublesome of all was his hair. It floated in the water around her, whispering along the skin of her arms. She had to resist the urge to shiver more than once. Just when she didn't think she could take it anymore, he finally spoke, breaking the silence.

“Hey,” he said softly.

She tilted her head down at him. “Hmm?”

“Why didn't you come with me?”

“Come with you?”

“After you let me out.”

She realized he was talking about when she had freed him from the lab.

“You could have come with me. So why didn't you?” His voice was nonchalant, as if he didn't really care what her answer would be.

She stared down at him, surprised by his sudden question. “I couldn't,” she replied, and added, much more irritably than she had intended, “Someone had to clean up the mess.” She had meant that someone had had to stay behind and clean up the bureaucratic mess that resulted from shutting down the lab, but as soon as the words left her mouth she realized they could have easily been taken another way: that someone had to clean up the carnage that Inuyasha had left behind.

He was very still and very quiet against her.

Realizing he had taken her words the wrong way, she said, “I'm sorry! I didn't mean it like that.”

He didn't respond, and now she was sure she had upset him. Her mind raced, trying to think of something to say that would appease him, and was about to blurt out the first thing that came to mind when she noticed something rise up from under the water in front of him. He was lifting something, but it was covered in bubbles, and she didn't recognize it at first.

Suddenly, a thought flashed in her mind. Where's the sprayer? She had dropped it when he pulled her into the water, and had lost it after that. “Inuyasha...” she said carefully.

He turned the object toward her and pulled the trigger. Warm water shot out and soaked her face. “Inuyasha!” she yelled, trying to block the water with her hands. She tried to reach forward to grab the sprayer from him, but he was pressing back against her, keeping her pinned to the tub. After a few seconds, the barrage of water stopped, and he finally sat up, smirking back at her. Without a word, he reached down and pulled the drain open. The water and bubbles immediately began sinking lower in the tub.

She glared at him, not knowing whether to be angry or relieved. She settled on mildly annoyed instead. “You're a bastard,” she said. Now that he was no longer pinning her down, she lifted herself back onto the edge of the tub. Inuyasha looked completely unfazed, as if nothing had happened at all.

“Am I done here?” she asked.

“Yeah,” he said, rinsing the last of the bubbles from his hair as the water continued draining around him. As she stood, he asked, “Where are you going?”

“To rinse off in the shower,” she replied, walking into the frosted glass enclosure of the shower room. “So you can do the same in all your nude glory out here.”

She left the door to the shower open. No sense in closing it when she was fully clothed. As the warm spray washed over her and rinsed the soap from her clothing, she watched the blurred form of Inuyasha as he stood up in the tub and finished rinsing off, only the white of his hair and the tan of his skin distinguishable through the distorted glass. He was taking an awfully long time to finish, she thought, shutting off the water and wringing out her clothes as best she could. As she bent down to begin twisting the fabric of her skirt, he poked his head into the shower.

“Just leave your clothes here and use this,” he said, reaching in to hang one of his own thick bathrobes on a peg just inside the door. “I don't want you dripping water all the way across the loft.” And then he was gone again. She blinked at the spot where he had been, and then turned her eyes to the robe. She couldn't decide if he was being thoughtful or obnoxious, but it didn't really matter. The cold air was beginning to make her shiver. She quickly closed the door, discarded her wet clothes, and then wrapped herself in the thick white material. It smelled like him, even though it was clean.

She emerged from the shower to find herself alone in the bathroom. Being careful not to slip on the still-wet tile, she walked out to the loft. Inuyasha sat on his bed, one towel wrapped around his waist, shaking another one across his head, re-tangling his hair all over again.

She sighed and walked over to him. “Stop that. You're going to get it all tangled again. Let me do it.” He was just going to make her do it anyways, might as well start now. She picked up a comb lying on his night stand and reached out to take the towel from him, but he suddenly grabbed her wrist and glanced up at her. She was startled by his sudden action, but even more so by the look in his eyes. He appeared distracted, as if troubled by something.

“I'll do it. Go dry off.” He took the comb from her hand and then released her.

She stared down at him for a moment as he went back to work on his hair.

“I'm gonna take a nap before we go out tonight,” he said. “You should do the same.”

He turned away from her, face hidden under the towel. Knowing he wouldn't tell her what was bothering him even if she asked, she nodded and headed back to her own side of the loft. She paused at the curtains of her room, and glanced back at him. He was still sitting on the edge of his bed, turned to look out the massive windows. He had stopped toweling his hair, but hadn't yet lifted the comb. He just sat there, staring out, looking as if his mind was suddenly someplace far away.

Continued in Chapter 11 - Wounds Unhealing

A/N: I want to once again thank everyone for being so patient in-between updates. Part of the reason it's so slow going is because I'm never home to write anymore. I'm home just long enough to eat, shower, and sleep, then it's back out the door. But now that I'm the proud owner of a brand new laptop, I'll be able to take my writing with me, so hopefully that will help to speed things up a bit.

Just a quick clarification on chapter 9's A/N. I mentioned Fluffy would not be making an appearance mainly to avoid people making assumptions about who the White Prince would be and then perhaps suspecting Sesshomaru would play the part. To spoil the plot a little for the sake of clarifying: the White Prince won't be in this story and was only mentioned as a plot device, and I didn't want people expecting him to pop into the story suddenly. Yes, if I ever do a sequel Fluffy will likely fill the roll of this character.

So, since this kills the idea that the White Prince is Miroku, just where isthat man hiding? Hmmm… ;)

By the way, just in case anyone missed it, I completely re-edited chapters 1 - 9, and they are now mostly error free. Made some small revisions, and Kaede now takes the place of Esa, as mentioned in chapter 3.

To everyone who reviewed, thanks a ton! As always, reviews are welcomed and appreciated! Thanks for the noms as well ;)

Drake220: Thank you for your thoughtful review! I actually had the same concerns about the setting. I wanted it to be fanciful and a little over the top, but I was worried (still am to a point) that it would seem so unrealistic that it would detract from the believability of the story, and racked my brain trying to come up with a way to tone down on the idealism, but in the end decided to just leave things the way they were. I tried to think of ways to incorporate some conflict into the beginning, but I wasn't able to come up with anything that satisfied me. But it is coming! There just hasn't been any reason for it to appear in the story yet. Don't worry, this isn't just a `Happy, perfect world' story, where girl finds boy, girl falls in love with boy, girl finds a way to make boy love her, and that's the end of that ;). I'm afraid there's a bit more to it than that. In the meantime, I hope the silliness of my setting won't bother you too much :D!

Influential music for this chapter

Pearls - Ilaria Graziano, Cowboy Bebop Tank!

Kibou no Sora - Eureka Seven OST 1

Yubiwa - Sakamoto Maaya, Escaflowne: The Movie