InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Allies with Benefits ❯ Square One Again…Damn it! ( Chapter 2 )

Allies with Benefits

Chapter Two: Square One Again…Damn it!

Kagome had been right…as soon as they left the restaurant—the strange man's eyes following her the entire time—they went straight to the movie theatre to watch a movie about a woman with amnesia trying to relate to her husband who kept blubbering about how much he loved her. She tried to appear interested whenever Hojo looked over at her since no matter what, she'd rather listen to the movie drivel on than listen to another one of Hojo's stories from work.

Afterwards Hojo threw her for a loop by taking her to the park. He led her around the lamp lit paths, past hidden benches which concealed love sick teenagers and one or two old couples, and not once did he ever attempt to touch anything other than her hand. When they turned around to go home, Kagome could have sworn she saw the strange man from the restaurant following them, but she brushed it off, attempting to convince herself that she was just so bored that her mind was playing tricks on her.

When she finally got home, Kagome was ready to hand all her jewel shards over to Naraku if it meant she wouldn't have to ever see Hojo again. He tried to kiss her goodnight when he dropped her up, but she'd hastily got out of the car before he could. Inwardly, she couldn't help but thank whatever god had decided that her family would protect a shrine; Hojo never walked her to the door because he didn't like climbing the stairs. As she started up the stairs and heard him drive off below her, she sighed in relief knowing her last date with Hojo was finally over. But of course, that also meant she was back at square one.

Deciding to think about it in the morning, Kagome slowly made her way to her room, intent on taking a nice hot shower before going to bed. When she opened her door, she was surprised to find her bed already occupied by someone else. Inuyasha was sprawled on his back on her bed, and she tried to restrain her chuckle thinking about how cute he looked, cuddling the blanket to him as he slept, his ears twitching every so often as his subconscious continually checked for threats. Smiling, she turned and crept back into the hall, deciding to take a shower in the guest room so she wouldn't wake him.

When she was finally ready for bed, Kagome gently nudged her hanyou friend, trying to get him to scoot over so that she could climb in beside him. He grumbled incoherently, his eyes never opening as he slid over to let her in. This was becoming their habit whenever Kagome came home. Now that Sango and Miroku were getting so close, Inuyasha was often left by himself. And though he would never admit it, Kagome knew he got lonely. So, he often would slip through the well at night to spend the night with her in the modern era and then they would go back to the feudal era in the morning. The first time it had happened, Kagome had been afraid it would be awkward sharing a bed with him, but now she didn't even think about it. They were just two friends sleeping in the same bed. She tugged at bit at the blankets to get them out from under him and then she too fell into the blissful peace of her dreams.

The next morning, Kagome was surprised to find Inuyasha was still asleep when she woke up. Kaede must have really worked him hard yesterday, she thought, getting up as quietly as she could and making her way down to the kitchen, mumbling a good morning to her brother as she passed him on the way to the fridge. She stared at the contents of the fridge for almost a minute before grumbling in frustration and turning towards the pantry.

“Want some cereal?” Souta asked happily, lifting his bowl of sugary flakes towards Kagome.

“No thanks,” she said, resisting the urge to grimace. Turning to the cabinet, Kagome resigned herself to another breakfast of ramen.

“Kagome?” Her mom said as she watched her daughter start the water. “Can't I make you something else?”

“Sorry mom….but I don't think my stomach can handle anything else right now. Besides I know it's what Inuyasha is gonna want.”

“I thought I heard him come in last night. Alright, well I guess it's ok. But honey, you really need to find something better to eat for breakfast in the future.”

“Yes mom,” she sighed, knowing there was no point in arguing with her. Ever since she'd started traveling in the feudal era, her stomach had gotten extremely sensitive in the morning. She was lucky if she could force down some peanut butter toast, but most days, she was limited to ramen. Inuyasha loved her breakfast routine, but she was tired of it.

Figuring it wouldn't be too much longer until the smell of food attracted her grumpy companion, Kagome poured a glass of juice for both of them. Sure enough, a few minutes later when she poured the finished noodles into a couple of bowls, she heard footsteps on her stairs.

“Morning sleepyhead,” she said as Inuyasha walked in, smiling when the hanyou merely grumbled incoherently and plopped down in a chair. She set his ramen and juice in front of him and he mumbled a thank you as she sat down to enjoy her own breakfast, meager that it was. Maybe I can convince Inuyasha to stick around for a while so that I can get something better later.

“Sesshoumaru is in the village.” Inuyasha mumbled, in between bites of ramen.

“Wha-why?” Kagome said, trying unsuccessfully to hide the surprise evident in her voice. Ok, that's weird, she thought, thinking back to the strange man the night before. But I guess that explains why Inuyasha showed up. “I wonder what he wants.”

“Hell if I know, something about Rin.”

“Well, we can hang here today if you'd rather,” she said, knowing full well Inuyasha wouldn't feel comfortable staying in the modern era for more than a couple of hours. “I'm sure Sesshoumaru won't stick around very long.”

“Yeah, I guess.”

Kagome smiled and refreshed his drink, knowing her friend was struggling with himself. She knew the reason he only came to the modern era at night was the decrease in sounds and smells. During the day, there was just too much going on and it tended to overwhelm his senses, making him nervous and uncomfortable. But on the other hand, he hated being near his brother. Kagome could almost see his internal battle as he tried to decide what to do. “It doesn't matter to me, Inuyasha. We can go back now too, if you'd rather.”

He grumbled something about not wanting to be within 1000 miles of his brother and Kagome nodded. After breakfast, she tried to distract him by taking him with her to the grocery store to restock her stash of soon to be time traveling food—something he usually seemed to enjoy. She figured the sight of so many things he'd never seen enticed him just as much as the smells of the various foods. After all, Inuyasha was a very curious being by nature. They passed the seafood section and he immediately gravitated to the lobster tank.

She had thought several times of taking him to the aquarium so that he could see some really weird fish, but there was always this nagging feeling in the back of her mind that such a trip would end disastrously. After all, there were whales in some of those tanks. Inuyasha had never seen a whale, or at least she assumed he hadn't. Seeing something so huge would could very possible put him into full fight mode. And attacking the glass that held back tons and tons of water was never a good idea.

Needless to say, she was hesitant to take him somewhere where he would be tempted to attack something. It was hard enough keeping him from drawing an enormous amount of attention to them, adding more temptation would only end badly, that much she was sure of. Which was a pity as she rather liked visiting the aquarium.

~Shift~

“Are you ready yet?”

“No Inuyasha.” Rubbing her temples, Kagome forced herself to take a deep breath as she tried to convince herself that she didn't want to go down the stairs and purify him for yelling so loudly. They'd gotten home a little over half an hour ago and Kagome was attempting to get her bag packed so they could leave, but the damn hanyou wouldn't shut up long enough for her to think.

Looking around, she tried to make sure she wasn't forgetting anything. “Let's see, I got my clothes, bath stuff, bikini, books, cd player, food, what else do I need…Oh!” She almost forgotten it….

She reached behind her bookshelf to the secret shelf she'd installed a couple of years ago and grabbed her new secret weapon. She'd been really skeptical about buying it, but Eri's rave reviews had finally convinced her to give it a try. It had arrived in a plain box which did a great deal to preserve her modesty—she didn't know what she'd do if one of her friends found out about it--and since it ran on batteries, it was easy for her to take it back with her. She hadn't had a chance to test it out fully so she couldn't wait until night fell and she could slip away to the hot springs. She had also tested to make sure it worked with her CD player. The lack of plug-ins made taking her ipod back a big hassle since she generally had to come home every couple of days to charge the stupid thing. This way, she could just take a big bag of batteries with her, which was so much easier.

Placing her new “weapon” into her backpack, Kagome checked one last time to make sure she had everything before locking her door and walking down to meet her grumpy companion.

“Okay, I'm ready!”

“Bout time! Let's go!” He turned around and offered his back to her and Kagome couldn't resist her smile. He must really be worried about Sesshoumaru. But silly as he was acting, she knew better than to tell him he had nothing to worry about. Even though Sesshoumaru was technically now their ally, she knew Inuyasha wouldn't relax until the taiyoukai was well on his way out of the village.

She pushed his hair out of the way and clambered onto his back, sighing in contentment as he effortlessly tossed his hair back over his shoulder to fall over her. Inuyasha might like carrying her so they could travel faster, but she had her own reasons for allowing him to carry her everywhere. She loved his hair.

His hair, while it wasn't particularly well kept, was like being surrounded by a warm, fluffy blanket. Inuyasha ran so fast that even when it was ninety degrees outside, she would get chilled to the bone if his hair wasn't covering her. So, as Inuyasha bounded towards the well house, she looped her arms around his neck, leaned against his shoulder, and enjoyed the brush of the slightly rough strands against her skin. All too soon, Inuyasha had landed on the other side of the well. But instead of running on to the village like Kagome thought he would, Inuyasha set her down.

“Hey, what's up? Why'd we stop?” Kagome said as she tried to walk around him, surprised when he stopped her.

“Hello little brother.”

A.N. Sorry about the BAD ending place….but I thought you guys had waited on this chapter long enough. I'll try to get the next chapter out sooner I promise. And the next chapter of CMB will be out soon as well, just need a bit more to complete the chapter.