InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ After an Afternoon ❯ The Beauty of the Day ( Chapter 2 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Two…
“Bold waves tumble to the season of my heart
Where you have offended my faith and my trust
Until all is lost into the beauty of the day”

Finally, after nearly an hour, he stops running. His crow's nest of silver hair swirls around him, then floats down like an unruly cloud. Oblivious to the absurdity of his actions, he abruptly sits down in the middle of the road, cross-legged, arms in sleeves, as though attempting to shield himself from the world as much as is possible.
The menacing world, filled with ominous bird chirps and suspicious flowers, seems to fly in the face of his attempts at isolation. The sun shines in a sky even more vibrantly blue than before, with clouds that were so perfectly soft that, to his tortured nerves, nothing looks better than a long nap wrapped in one of those downy white beds, high above the Earth and all that plagues him there.
So she loves me, he has finally concluded, secure in this knowledge. But as a… what, exactly? I want to think that all of the moments that we have spent together, those that stand out in my memory, matter to her for the same reasons.
He stares off into the distance, his mind on a night that they had spent by a fire together.
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This night was a night like most other nights, until she began to sneeze. He had lent her his jacket as she shivered, telling her gruffly not to get sick. Mentally, he had been screaming at her that if she got sick, it was the one thing he couldn't protect her from…and he didn't know what would happen if she left him…he didn't know what he would do.
She seemed to understand however, laying her head on his shoulder and quietly thanking him. He flushed bright red, thankful for the weak, flickering light of the fire. And also for its warmth…
In minutes, she was asleep. He looked down at the dark head still resting on his shoulder, and felt an odd tightening in his lower abdomen, as though his intestines had suddenly been twisted and compressed. I want it to be like this, he realized.
This was why, then next day, when the others decided that she should go to her own time to get care, he got angry and stomped out, but did not actually stop her. However much he wanted to be near to her, he wanted her healthy more. So, when he brought back “get better” gifts for her later that day, he did not really expect her to be waiting for him. He had thrown the obligatory fit when the monk and the demon slayer told him that they had taken her back to her time, but was soon diving through the well to be near to her.
He wracked his brain for his mother's old remedy for colds, and finally, it come to him. Retrieving the ingredients from his store of get well gifts, he quickly returned to the ill girl's house to cook up his concoction. He made sure that she drank it, and watched over her as she studied for a test that she had the next day, and then, later, as she slept. That was the first night that he whispered to her sleeping form her sleeping form…
“I will always be here watching over you, my beautiful Kagome…” his voice fell to a nearly inaudible whisper. “My Kagome.” He rested a hand on the covers of her bed, patting her on the back, and slowly succumbing to sleep.
Sure enough, she was feeling better by the next morning.
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But she doesn't even know that that mattered to me, does she? Because I can't even get up the courage to tell her…
DAMMIT!”
“…Inu…yasha…?” comes a quiet voice behind him.
He turns his head slowly, blushing as he sees the speaker.
“Where are the others, wench?” he blurts out harshly, embarrassed that she has heard his exclamation, though she does not know herself to be the source of his consternation. His cheeks turn a faint pink. “Sorry…Kagome.”
She looks at him, one eyebrow raised. “Are you feeling ok? You've been acting a little weirdly all day.”
She sits down next to him in the middle of the road. He is distracted by the sun in her hair, so black that it shines blue in the sun. He fails to respond immediately, and the birds can be heard chirping again, the sound irritating him but bringing him back to his senses. Finally, he replies, “er…I'm ok. But where are Sango and the Monk?”
“Well…” she gives a small smile. “When Miroku found out that the village that we just passed through was the last that we would see for the day, he suddenly discovered an ominous cloud over the headman's house. Sango stayed with him to make sure that he would…behave…around the headman's rather pretty daughter. But, I wanted to make sure that you were ok, so I told them I was going to keep going until I found you. I'm glad you were close…my feet were starting to hurt.” She grimaces, rubbing said body part with one hand.
His heart soars: not only does she care about him enough to pass up a night in the headman's house and walk alone to find him, but he will be able to spend time with her, no monk to fight after his roving hands went too far (again), no Sango to take up Kagome's time.
“Thank you.” He blurts out, not thinking.
Her mouth falls open, and he realizes that he had spoken out loud. “…What? Did you just…are you actually ok?”
“Dammit, woman, I was just trying to be polite, like you're always bothering me to be. What's the big deal?”
She shakes her head. “There's the Inuyasha I know.”
Good save, he thinks. “Wench?”
She groans. “Yeah?”
“It's getting late. Do you wanna find somewhere to sleep tonight, or not?”
“Sure. What do you suggest we do?”
He glances around and smirks, self-satisfied. “I saw a cave through the trees. It's just off the path, 100 yards into the woods on the left.” Then, still with a complacent, confident air (even though his heart is in his throat), he stands up, and falls flat on his face.