InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ De Nouveau ❯ ‚à‚¤ˆê“x ( Chapter 6 )

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De Nouveau

 

By SaiyanBlack

 

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Chapter Six

 

When Inuyasha pulled up to her house and she saw her father's SUV in the driveway, Kagome forgot all about the dark-haired man that had spooked her at the museum. Now, her main concern was the introduction of Inuyasha to her father and the dinner that her mother had been planning before they left. Really, she couldn't think of anything - at least anything logically possible - that could make the evening go bad, but it was the jittery butterflies that had taken up residence in her abdomen that made all the impossible scenarios that her imagination thought up seem possible.

 

But as Inuyasha helped her out of the truck, she felt somewhat at ease. There was nothing that could happen that would make this night terrible. She had never seen her father over-react to anything and Inuyasha was always a gentleman.

 

The front door was unlocked when she reached for the handle, Inuyasha's hand wrapped around her other, and she stepped inside, pulling him along behind her. She could hear her parents talking in the kitchen and she called out a greeting as she and Inuyasha pulled off their jackets and boots. Kagome glanced up at him, admiring the red cable sweater that he had been wearing under the leather jacket. He noticed, as he always seemed to, and gave her that sexy look from the corner of his eye.

 

“How was the exhibit?” her mother called as they walked into the dinning room. She was setting the table and Kagome could see her father moving around in the kitchen.

 

“It was so cool!” Kagome told her, reaching out to help with the utensils. “I've never seen so many ancient artifacts in one place. It was just full of culture.”

 

“Maybe your father and I should go. It's sounds interesting.” Her mother walked back into the kitchen to help her father, leaving her and Inuyasha alone. She knew when he had stepped up behind her, the warmth from his chest against her back, and she stiffened in response. When he reached around her to correct her table setting, she nearly growled.

 

“What is it with people always correcting me when I place the silverware?” she asked, pushing Inuyasha away with one shoulder. She heard her father laugh from the kitchen and chuckles soon came from the man behind her. “Dad, mom, ghosts of little girls, and now you,” she grumbled, glaring at him over her shoulder. He only smiled.

 

“Maybe people correct you because you can never seem to get it right?” her father suggested as he walked into the dinning room with a bowl of fried rice. She noticed that Inuyasha straightened slightly, but he didn't step away from her. Her father offered his hand to him and they shook. “I'm glad you could join us for dinner Inuyasha.”

 

“Thank you for inviting me,” the pale-haired man returned politely. “I'll take a home-cooked meal over TV dinners any day.”

 

“You college students,” her mother said, shaking her head as she came in from the kitchen, a steaming bowl of stir-fry in her hands, “you never take care of yourselves. I had three of you in my office yesterday asking to drop a few classes because they were getting over-stressed.”

 

Her father laughed as they all sat down at the table; Inuyasha and Kagome across from her parents. “I thought that was the whole point of college,” he said jokingly, passing the dish of rice across the table.

 

“I just don't understand it,” her mother continued. “My college years were fairly stress-free, I don't understand why all the students now-a-days are trying to do everything at once. Take, for example, one of the freshmen that I have this year. He has seven different classes, three of which are extra-curricular and have nothing to do with his goal of becoming a virologist. He's just over-doing it.”

 

“I don't know why anyone would want to become a virologist,” Inuyasha commented as he held the stir-fry bowl for Kagome. He made a funny face and the high school girl returned the look with one of her own. Across the table, her parents traded smiles.

 

“What are the other classes?” Kagome asked her mother, turning away from a smirking Inuyasha. “I can't imagine anything too different from his major.”

 

“Believe me, they are,” her mother said between forkfuls. “He's taking history, textile art and music of the twentieth century - don't ask my why. He signed up for it despite anything I said against it.”

 

“How random,” her father added.

 

“Well, you're doing much of the same thing, Inuyasha. But I can at least understand why you're taking piano. It's a beautiful art and you're a wonderful pianist.”

 

He almost seemed to blush under the attention, “Thank you, Mrs. Higurashi.”

 

“You're welcome,” she said. “You're also welcome to call me Aimee outside of school. Mrs. Higurashi is too formal for the dinner table.”

 

He nodded, “Alright, thank you.”

 

From there on, dinner went on without a hitch and all of Kagome's irrational fears were put to rest. Inuyasha seemed to get along fine with her parents and they really seemed to like him. Her father asked about New York and his dream of opening a martial arts studio. The two of them actually seemed to hit it off and by the end of the night, they were joking around like family. It was a huge relief for both Kagome and Inuyasha - who later told her that he had harbored some of the same reservations about the dinner that she had.

 

After dinner, Kagome's mother invited Inuyasha to play their old upright piano, but after testing it out, the college student told them that it was so horribly out of tune that even the most simple of tunes would sound bad. It was understandable; the piano hadn't been tuned in anytime in her life-time, which was something of a crime to Inuyasha, who had looked at her mother with horrified amber eyes. Kagome walked him out to his truck sometime around nine-thirty, barefoot and without a jacket, something that he scolded her for when he realized it.

 

“You can be so stupid sometimes,” he told her, opening the door to the truck and lifting her up onto the seat. “Why would you walk out in the snow without any shoes?” She stuck her tongue out at him and he moved forward to stand between her knees, giving her a teasing smile. “What am I going to do with you?”

 

“Dunno,” Kagome shrugged, smiling back. It was easy to joke and tease when she was with him. Something about him made it easy to be herself. Maybe some of his vast self confidence was rubbing off on her.

 

“I know what I'll do,” he said, leaning forward on his arms so that his face was directly below hers. He looked up at her with a smirk. “I'll ask you to have dinner with me on the 14th. Are you free that night?”

 

It took her a minute to realize exactly what he was saying. Not only was he asking her out on a date, he was asking her out on Valentine's Day! Somehow, through all the shock and butterflies - which had finally returned to her stomach after several hours - she managed to ask him if she had heard him correctly. Although, it came out as more of a squeak than the normal pitch of her voice.

 

“On Valentine's Day?”

 

His smile was bright and immediate, causing her insides to switch around. “Yes, on Valentine's Day. Can I expect you to be ready around five?”

 

She knew what he was saying, but her mind had yet to completely process that the conversation had moved on without her. She was still caught up with the first bit of information.

 

“On Valentine's Day?”

 

He laughed and pushed his face up to kiss her gently, just brushing his lips across hers before returning to do it again. It was a sweet torture that sent shivers up her spine and left her toes tingling - which may or may not have been caused more by the cold than the kiss. Frankly, she didn't care. She was far too interested in the sensations that Inuyasha's lips and hands - which had placed themselves on her thighs at some point - were sending through her body.

 

“Kitten,” he started, using that nickname again, “I am going to take you out to dinner on Valentine's Day and I'm going to spoil you all night. And you,” he told her, kissing her again, “are going to enjoy it.”

 

“Okay,” she said, her voice almost a whisper. She looked at his face, tilted up to look at her with his haunting golden eyes and an expression that she had yet to put a name to. There was something that drew her to him, not just at that moment, but every time that she was near him. Something that made her want to touch him and kiss him; something completely irrational that she couldn't put her finger on. As it was, she leaned her forehead against his, eyes closed and their noses barely touching. That were like that for several moments and she tried to imprint the feel of his hair and breath against her face.

 

“Come on,” Inuyasha said, pulling away. “Let's get you inside before you freeze.” He turned around so that his back was facing her and pulled her knees around his hips, lifting her away from the truck. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and he carried her all the way to her front door before he set her down, turning to face her again.

 

She gave him a bright smile, “Thanks.” He snorted, a sound that could be interpreted by `keh,' and opened the door for her.

 

“I'll call you later,” he told her and bent down to give her upturned face a chaste kiss before starting back down the icy walk. She waved at him when he had gotten into the truck and started the engine, then went back into the house. Inside her parents were talking, seated on the couch in the living room. They looked up at her as she closed the front door and locked it for the night. Her father noticed her bare feet.

 

“I can't believe you walked out there without any shoes,” he scolded. “Didn't your feet freeze?”

 

Kagome shook her head, “No. Inuyasha made me sit in the truck while we talked and he carried me back to the house.”

 

“Good,” was the only thing he said as he settled back into the couch. Kagome flopped down into the lazy-boy chair and frowned.

 

“Good?”

 

Her father smiled and clarified his previous statement, “I wouldn't expect anything less from him.”

 

Kagome's mother rolled her eyes, as if his reaction had been expected and turned her gaze to her daughter from across the coffee table. “From what you and Inuyasha told us over dinner, your father and I were thinking about going to the exhibit while it's still in town. It sounded highly interesting and it would be a good splash of our ancestor's culture. We have been missing that since Grandma Higurashi died.”

 

“I'm sure you'll like it,” Kagome agreed. “Actually, I think I have the pamphlet about it in my jacket. Hold on and I'll get it for you.”

 

She stood and walked back to the front door to search the pockets of her jacket. Finding it folded in half, she started walking back to her parents while she returned it back into its correct shape. Something on the front page caught her attention and she stopped to read over the light print.

 

Collection owned by Hajime Taishio

New York City, NY

 

Taishio was Inuyasha's last name. How many Taishio's could there possibly be in New York?

 

“Kago?” her father called from the living room, “Did you loose it?”

 

“No, I found it. I'm coming.”

 

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A short chapter. I wanted to get something out before I left for a Journalism Seminar at Stanford. So I'm posting this quickly. I'm also starting another IY fic - I've finished two chapters! - but I'm going to hold off posting it until I'm further along with this story. I really want to finish this so I'm going to do it!