InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Dogs in Tokyo ❯ Chapter 21 ( Chapter 21 )

Chapter 21

Warning, risk of falling lemons. Pesky trees!

Kagome rode on Inuyasha's back with the Staff of Heads held stiffly out to one side, firmly blindfolded and the injunction to "Sleep" laid upon it. She had asked for a strip of cloth from one of the traumatized laundry workers and had been given a large bandana from someone's back pocket. All offers of payment were politely turned down as the shrill sound of approaching police sirens echoed along the street.

They now made their way over the city rooftops. Kagome rather enjoyed them; the roofs were an always-unexpected wilderness of flat planes and sharp rises. Old TV antennas could double as bushes and satellite dishes as the occasional flowers. 'And the streets could be streams.' Kagome thought a little fuzzily as they came in for a tight landing on a narrow ledge with a sudden drumming of Inuyasha's feet as he ran up the slope of an inclined skylight and launched off smoothly again. She watched the world whirl past her in a swiftly shifting kaleidoscope of images. Most of Tokyo seemed to be at dinner and many were the families seated or kneeling at table that she glimpsed through apartment windows as they rushed past.

A child's face looked, wide-eyed, at them and Kagome cheekily waved. "What are you doing?" Inuyasha said abruptly in midair.

"Umm, nothing." she responded, burying her face in his flying mane.

"Well, cut it out, or warn me or something. You're throwing my balance off."

'What would I do without him?' She thought, with a vindictive little yank at his hair. 'What wouldn't I do?'

"Are you falling asleep on me back there?" He asked, hitching her a little tighter. "Hang on, we're almost to the shrine."

Kagome lifted her head and looked, the shrine precincts were at the top of the rise. She could see the Goshinboku's venerable branches and in an instant they were descending the main shrine buildings roof in a sliding run to land with hardly a jar upon the ground. Inuyasha let the girl slide off and stood tall with his back arched and his arms over his head in a joint popping stretch.

"Inuyasha."

"Hmmn?"

"Don't you think we should've checked on Houjou-Kun? We did kind-of leave him unconscious by the side of the road."

"Keh, I did. Even if you slept through it. He was gone. And so is his contraption too, if that was what you were going to ask." He looked at her, his hair lifting on the breeze and glowing faintly in the darkness. "Kagome, do you…" he trailed off then resumed. "Do you think we should conceal this thing somewhere or risk taking it with us."

Kagome felt a bit surprised having forgotten that she still held the blinded staff in one hand. She was pretty sure that was not what he was going to ask originally but he did have a point. Having the staff with them raised the likelihood of its escape from control and falling, yet again, into the wrong hands. But where were they to put it?

"We could seal it in the shrine if you don't mind climbing up in the rafters with it. That way it wouldn't be visible from the main sanctuary area but still be under it's influence."

Inuyasha grimaced a bit but walked alongside of her as she led him over to the pavilion where the shine's faithful were accustomed to rinsing their hands and washing their mouths out with fresh water. He had no objection to this and followed suit even to the point of taking off his shoes and rinsing his feet. They needed the shrine undefiled for their purposes.

Kagome watched him without comment and led the way up the brief flight of steps that led to the main building's great sliding doors. There she entered her date of birth on the inconspicuous keypad that was behind a small cover to one side of it. Jijii-Chan had not been too happy about the wiring costs, maintaining that a holy place should be its own defense, but the insurance company had won out in the end.

There was a faint click and Inuyasha moved to slide one of the doors aside revealing the gloomy interior of the Haiden. This was the main worship area of the shrine and contained offerings and the sweet scent of the day's incense still floating in the air. Indeed, it may have been infused into the very wood after all this time as Inuyasha stepped quietly in and looked about him. A dim light from numerous, carefully shielded, votive lamps lit one side of the carved wooden screen before the sanctuary but the place was otherwise dark and cavernous.

Kagome paced up the silent hall looking neither to the right nor the left as she approached the rear screen. She stopped short of it and pointed to the great-beamed rafters supporting the roof far above. Each one cleverly joined to the other without nails.

Inuyasha took the Staff of Heads and placed its shaft between his teeth and leaped from the floor to the rafters to land neatly on the balls of his feet, fingers touching briefly for balance. Another short jump and he was into the roof space of the short passageway between the Haiden and the Honden-the inner sanctum of the shrine. There, he paused for a moment, lost in thought. Kagome had said just to leave the cursed staff up in the rafters but the inner sanctum had been good enough to protect the Shikon-no-Tama until he had ripped the roof off to get it on that fateful day so many years ago.

It seemed easy enough, the altar was covered with a heavy cloth, and he could tuck the staff under its skirts. He dropped down from the ceiling into a place that he had been in once before.

Unlike that time he stood up slowly, using his daemon sight to reveal the place about him. There was little in it. A table before him held a wrapped bow and what seemed to be a rotted remnant of an armor corset of a style that had been antique when he was a pup. Next to that was an item wrapped in a swathing of silk.

He ignored it as he bent down to slide Sesshoumaru's Staff of Heads underneath the heavy brocade skirt of the table without disturbing the cloth bound over its eyes in any way. But that being done he reached up and lifted the cloth that was over the circular object on the table. As expected, it was a mirror, but something about the filigree pattern that surrounded it caught his attention and he carefully turned it over to view its back.

His eyes widened and shone gold as he took in the sight. At that moment, Kagome's voice echoed from beyond the screen and his head snapped up at the sound of it. Enough to think about this later. Time to go.

She was waiting nervously where he had left her, holding one of the shrine's purifying arrows between her palms. As soon as she saw him she pointed the arrow at the sanctuary and then knelt to place it at the foot of the dividing screen. Inuyasha could feel the sensation of a barrier building up quickly to encompass and close off the area before them. He caught at her hand and hurried her from the building, leaving it to its silences and secrets.

Outside the wind had picked up a bit, bringing a swirl of leaves across the pavement. Inuyasha drew Kagome with him through the darkness, stepping swiftly over the short fence surrounding the area at the foot of the Goshinboku and pulling her against him as he leaned back against its trunk.

She was silent as he did this. Enjoying the warmth and strength of his arms across her back. His grip was tense and she could feel a prickle of claws from where his hands were touching her sides. He suddenly made a choked sound and moved one hand up to the side of her face in a rough caress before moving it to her back again.

Kagome rested against him willingly enough but did not really understand why he seemed troubled. After a few moments of being firmly held she shifted a bit in his arms. He let her move but resettled their position again so that they were actually in closer proximity with his hands pressing against her back and her face against his neck.

"Inuyasha? Is something bothering you?"

He gave vent to a faint purring grumble. "Not now that evil stick is in storage for a little bit. I don't want that damn thing spying on us." He growled softly again, nuzzling against her hair. "Thought you'd be killed back there. We need to find Jukuryo and get him to return that thing to Sesshoumaru. He can fetch Jaken back with it if he wants."

"Poor Jaken," Kagome murmured guiltily. "And poor Ryosei. The staff was driving her crazy." She tilted her head up for a view of Inuyasha but all she could really see of him at that angle was the curve of his tanned cheek.

"Poor Houjou too, come to think of it--he may never recover from the experience." She watched as a muscle ticked in that cheek and felt Inuyasha's claws pricking her sides again. "So, what did he say to you when he regained consciousness that made you knock him back out again?"

Inuyasha's head jerked back and he pulled away enough to see her face. She waited, eyes gravely considering him. He opened his mouth to protest but some feeling welling up in his heart and tightening his chest prevented him. "Nothing but lies." He said and pulled her forward into a kiss.

Kagome stiffened in surprise as his mouth came down on hers hard enough to bruise but her hands had a mind of their own as they slid up his chest to grip his hair and pull him closer. The kiss became searing and they staggered slightly as the ground seemed to lurch beneath their feet.

He broke the kiss with a gasp and laughed on a shaky breath. "Nothing but lies," he repeated. "Kagome…Gods, Kagome, I need you." He was kissing her again, this time more sweetly, pulling at her lower lip, nibbling and licking at her in little tastes. His hands roved restlessly, finally ending up with one splayed over her bottom and the other molding a breast. She sighed against his mouth and he caught the flavor of her submission. It fanned his passion to flame and he let her know it, pushing aside her shirt heedlessly and hauling her up against him as he fastened his mouth over her breast.

She felt her knees start to buckle and grabbed at his shoulders for balance. But he had other ideas let them slide softly to the ground one hand cradling her head as leaned her back. Giving an aroused, helpless whimper, Kagome let him, only able to hold his head against her as he continued to suckle at that tormented breast and allowing her spread knees to slide up on either side his hips as he settled himself.

Yes, here was where it was. Here he knew for sure. She was in the open in her own time and she was not resisting him. A last deep pull had a moan breaking through her parted lips as Inuyasha broke contact and knelt to yank frantically at only the essential pieces of clothing needed to give him access. Kagome's own hands were just as swift to help him and moved to her own to wantonly strip most of hers off.

Inuyasha's fanged teeth flashed briefly in some stray gleam of light as he grinned and followed suite with alacrity. Within moments his powerful hands were gripping her shoulders and moving her up against him where he knelt. With a few soft instructions he had her back braced against the trunk of the Goshinboku with one of his forearms to cushion her from the roughness of the bark and her legs up over his thighs.

She felt safe, protected and forgetful of the world as Inuyasha pressed forward into her with another kiss. It was sweet but not nearly enough for what either of them wanted and Inuyasha sent his mouth slanting across hers as he reached down between them in a teasing manner, sending his claws in a delicate tour of her quivering body.

One more pulsing beat and Kagome wasn't sure she could take it anymore. She wanted him now and in a couple of directly demanding moves had him moaning hotly in her ear as he moved fiercely against and then, in a slow slide into her. Kagome somehow knew, even in her ecstasy that this was important to Inuyasha and held him all the more tenderly as he moved with her until she no longer could hold that thought. Some pressure from the roots of the tree cradling her hips caught her and she was unable to contain a wailing cry as he convulsed with a shattered groaning version of her name and she lost control completely.

Inuyasha held the girl against him a sort of astonishment as they both wound down into loose-limbed slackness that was nearly a mutual faint. 'Man," was all his dazed mind could say, 'we gotta do that again.' He shifted her body in his arms; feeling waves of relaxation that threatened to make him just flop over on the ground with her in his arms and pass out. 'When we've got the strength.'

He rested his own back against the Goshinboku's trunk and rocked his head back to see the stars through it's twisted branches for a space before the relentless beat of the not-so distant city traffic caused him to poke Kagome awake so they could clean themselves up and move inside.

..*.*.*.*.*..

The shrine complex was a fairly large one and had always been built on different levels. It was not until they reached the top of another short flight of steps that they could see the Higurashi house down in its little dell. It was dark.

Inuyasha glanced again up at the stars in puzzlement. It was still before moonrise and the house would normally be showing lights in various rooms at this time. Kagome was holding his hand and Yawned.

"The porch light is on. Everyone must be out." She started down the hill, her fingers tangled with his. "Wonder if Souta fixed the car after all.