InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Little by Little ❯ Cute ( Chapter 7 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Inuyasha awoke just before the dawn. A family of crows was having a domestic dispute not far off that would make it impossible for him to sleep until Kagome was ready to wake up. He rubbed his eyes with the back of his left hand, lifting it from around Kagome’s slender middle. Blinking the blur out of his vision, he focused in on the back of Kagome’s head with a smile. He rarely woke drowsily, but he had been sleeping so well before the wildlife disturbed him. Kagome’s scent did that to him; the most restful sleep he experienced was with her scent surrounding him. The times he had hogged her mattress might have also had something to do with his restfulness, but it was her presence that was most comforting to him. Her current presence allowed him to bask in unawareness and awaken in stages.

He threw his arm back over his wife, squeezing her back against him and burrowing his face into her hair. He closed his eyes and breathed in her scent. Leaning forward to do that, he realized his shoulder felt cramped. He leaned up to peer over Kagome. Looking helpless as ever, she slept peacefully with deep even breaths and a calm heart. None should suspect that being like her held such immense power within her.

Distracted for a moment, his hears swiveled to focus on her heart—strong, calm, even. He listened for a few more beats before his eyes lifted towards the top of her head, scanning over the situation. ‘Ah,’ he thought as he looked to where his arm disappeared under her hair. She lost her pillow at some point during the night and was now using his arm—which was completely numb by that point—as a substitute.

A slight heat crept into his cheeks when he noticed the positioning of their hands. While her right was curled beside her chin, her left was loosely gripping his numb right hand, the resting curl of his fingers were grasping the side of her palm. Her hand looked so dainty in his larger one. By the gods, she was cute. Well, not all of her was cute at the moment, parts of her bangs were sticking straight up and he was sure she was drooling on his sleeve. However, the way her lips were parted slightly, her eyelashes fanned out against her cheek, her hair tucked behind her adorable little rounded ears—

He slapped his left hand over his eyes and rolled onto his back with a groan. He really had it bad if he was attracted to her ears. His blush was dark in the cheeks below his hand. Was he a woman? Surely, no man was supposed to feel…feel…this.

“Damn,&# 8221; he muttered, pushing the hair from his forehead. He wasn’t just a man; he was a hanyou. Hanyou weren’t supposed to fall in love—he had done so twice—and they certainly weren’t supposed to feel love in return. He was probably the only lucky bastard that would achieve that.

His heart was pounding in his ears. Some lucky, lucky bastard he was. He took a deep breath to calm his heart and let it out with a sigh. There were a few thoughts connected to this topic flittering around the edges of his mind, but he pushed those away. They would be addressed at a later time.

He glanced back at the woman sleeping beside him. With the rising sun returning the world to that of its true colors, the reds and blues of Kagome’s jars, the brown hues of the walls and floorboards, and the yellow of that odd backpack—they all began to stand out against the black and white of his wife’s form. With black hair strewn over her pristine white kosode, she looked much the same to him as dawn’s light reached onto the forest.

‘It could stay like this,’ he thought. He rewrapped his arm around her. He pulled her against him once again, drawing a whimper from her this time. Worried he had woken her, he stilled until he could recognize the rhythm of her breath as that of her normal sleeping rate. He then settled himself in more comfortably behind her. He wasn’t very fond of lying around doing nothing, but he was content to lay like this as long as possible.
When the sun had been up over an hour, he figured it was time to get up if they wanted breakfast before Kagome should head to Kaede’s. He leaned up over Kagome, rubbing her arm.

“Oi, it’s time to get up,” he said softly. When she didn’t stir, he rubbed her arm a bit harder.

“C’mon. Up.”

She clenched her eyes shut and whined stubbornly.

“Do you plan on keeping my arm?” He joked, lightly tugging with his right shoulder. Her eyes blinked at that, blearily glancing up at her husband. He raised his brows expectantly. She squinted in confusion, before lifting her head to turn her gaze to her pillow. He draped his left arm back over her as they sat up together.

“Oh, sorry,” she mumbled. Realizing their hands were still entwined, she tried to pull hers away, but Inuyasha gripped tighter. She slowly directed a look of mild confusion to the hanyou man. He glanced off to the side with a soft ‘keh’ as color tinted his cheeks. She took a quick peek at the arm over her belly.

“Inuyasha,” she started, smiling, “for some reason, I never figured you for the cuddling type. It’s so cute.”

Inuyasha scowled deeply. He slowly released her hand and retracted his arm from her waist. He crossed his legs and started shaking the numbness from his right arm. Kagome’s smile receded.

“Is your arm numb?” She asked with genuine concern.

“Yeah,” he bluntly replied.

“I’m sorry,” she apologized again.

“It’s fine,” he muttered, clenching his hand as the last of the prickly sensation left the limb. He pulled the covers back and stood, tromping over towards the door.

“Inuyasha?” She called, as he dropped onto the dirt portion of the room. He glanced back at her, scowl in place, albeit less intense. When she just stared at him, he rolled his eyes, snatching a water bucket in either hand as he walked out the door.

“Hey!” She hollered with an outstretched hand.

“I’ll be right back, geez,” he grumbled as the screen flapped shut.

Kagome glared at the doorway, bringing her hand to her hip.

“Inuyasha what the hell?” ‘Did I do something?’

With a huff, she flipped to covers back and started putting the bedding away.


“Kagome?”< br>
The young Miko sat perfectly still, as she had been instructed, but given the awkward flow of energy from her, the older Miko could tell the girl’s focus was elsewhere.

“Focus, child…Are you listening, Kagome?”

Kagome blinked at the second mention of her name. Of course, this broke her concentration completely, shattering the pathetic excuse of a barrier she had spent the last who-knows-how-long working on.

“A-ah! Sorry Kaede! I’ll start over!” She panicked, trying to sit up straighter and reestablish the barrier.

“No matter,” the grey-haired Miko sighed, “we can pick this back up tomorrow morning. Inuyasha is on his way here.”

Kagome blinked. “He is?”

She cringed at the cracking of Kaede’s back as the older Miko stood. The grey-haired woman then sent the younger a curious gaze.

“You sound surprised.”Kagome sighed, coming to rise beside the elder Miko.

“Well…” the black-haired Miko began, touching a knuckle to her lips and following the older woman back inside, “he seemed mad at me this morning. I didn’t want to start fighting so early in the morning so I haven’t said a word to him since he started coppin’ a ‘tude. I was so sure I’d be walking home alone.”

Kaede gave a nod. Kagome finally felt her demonic husband’s youki as she drew nearer. Suddenly remembering something, Kaede faced back around.

“And ask the monk to come by here some time, when you pass by in the morning.”

Kagome raised a brow.

“Miroku? Sure, but how come?”

“I was never formally trained in the methods to produce barriers and the like, while he was. I feel the monk would be a more suitable instructor for this particular skill set.”

Kagome nodded as her husband’s presence crashed up against her senses. Seconds later the door flap flew open as the dog hanyou barged in. He looked between the two women before crossing his arms in his sleeves, and asked; “You all finished yet?” usual scowl in place.

“Uh…” Kagome looked over to Kaede, who gave an affirmative nod to both, and answered to Inuyasha;

“Aye, we are finished for today.”

Kagome turned back to the antsy hanyou, “Just let me get my stuff and I’ll be ready to leave.”

Inuyasha gave a curt nod. However, after a few seconds he began bouncing his heel impatiently when he saw how leisurely Kagome was placing her new arrows into her quiver. Another few seconds passed before he huffed and rolled his eyes, muttering about slow people. He declared he’d be outside watching grass grow and waiting for Kagome to hurry up. The screen flapped closed behind him, leaving Kagome with a frown. She rubbed her forehead, completely missing the amused look of the grey-haired Miko. Kagome stuffed a small bundle into her clothing and collected the rest of her things, including her bow. She waved goodbye to Kaede and stepped out into the little-known world of her husband’s moods. He was facing her as she approached, a hand on her hip.

“Alright, Inuyasha, I’m all done,” she gave with a frown.

Inuyasha’s frown scowl into a grin.

“Great.”

Before the poor girl had a chance to look confused, her enthusiastic husband snatched her right hand and pulled it over his right shoulder. He bent down to grip her behind the knees, picked her up and set off. She squealed from the sudden motion, but gripped her arms around his neck securely, holding on for the ride. He chuckled when he finally felt her relax on his back, already halfway to the tree line. He was careful in avoiding any small branches that might hit her as he took a shortcut through the thick of the trees. Stopping just past the house, he bent down to let her off. As she stepped off, he turned to face her.

“Okay, close your eyes.”

“What? Why?”

He gently gripped her fingers, lifting her hands out in front of her. A warmth spread through Kagome’s chest as she looked down at their hands—how gently his fingers encased hers.

“Just do it.”

At the sound of his voice, her gaze lifted to perfect golden eyes—gleaming with anticipation—and an expectant grin, promising something Kagome didn’t yet understand.

“Okay,” she uttered, not even bothering to conceal the flush that had spread to her cheeks. She closed her eyes and Inuyasha led her along by the fingers, walking backwards to the other side of the house. He stopped just a few meters past and released her hands.

“You can look now.”

Kagome opened her eyes and a slow smile took over her features. What had been a rough patch of earth, riddled with weeds and rocks that morning had been completely transformed. Neat, straight rows scoured the freshly tilled soil. The rows were even sectioned off by what Kagome suspected as plant type. She took a step forward to admire the work.

“Hey, you even put a fence up!” she said happily, smile directed towards the golden-eyed man. His own grin couldn’t get any wider. He leapt over the fence and landed between the rows of earth. He began pointing out what was planted where, where he had hit rocks, and how some of the dirt was different colors in places. He went on like that, looking back at Kagome every few seconds with that exuberant grin on his face.

She forgot he could get like this. He looked so excited—so proud of the work he had done. She recalled that this smile was like the one he gave her mother—his now mother-in-law—upon being praised for doing something good. She had always been quick to praise Inuyasha, probably moreso than her own children. She seemed to instinctively know the boy rarely received positive attention throughout his time on earth. Like this, smiling and ecstatic, Inuyasha reminded his wife of a little boy—the very little boy who needed and deserved praise—showing off the drawings he made at school.

She loved being reminded of how cute Inuyasha really was.

She leaned against the fence, listening to Inuyasha talk freely. She idly ran her hand over the fence, made of small trees and branches. Four panels on four sides left the corners over for easy access. She wondered how he had gotten all the twigs and knots off the branches. Last she remembered, they were still borrowing Sango’s axe.

“You did all this by yourself?” She asked during a pause.

Inuyasha put his hands on his hips, looking over the rows and nodding. He looked back at Kagome with a small shrug.

“I had Miroku show me how to make rows and plant the different seeds, but other than that, yeah.”

She chuckled, scanning over the garden again.

“That’s amazing, Inuyasha. It looks really good, too.”

Her brows knit for a second.

“That—that’s a lot of work for one person, how did you..?”

Inuyasha’s exuberant grin was immediately replaced with a smug smirk as he crossed his arms over his chest.

“I ain’t no cheap labor, you know that,” he said with a scoff.

She chuckled again and leaned back into the fence. She felt a lump and was reminded of the bundle in her clothes.

“Oh, hey, I have something for you,” she beckoned him over.

He cocked his head to the side for a moment before righting himself and jumping over the fence to land before Kagome. She dug in her clothing and his head cocked to the other side as she pulled out a bundle wrapped in cloth and clean leaves. She pulled the cloth back to reveal a dumpling or bun of some sort.

“Ah! It got smooshed! Sorry, it must have happened when I was on your back.”

“Oh, I smelled food, but just thought it was just your lunch,” he plucked the bun out of her hand, “It’s still fine,” he said, referring to the somewhat flattened nature of the treat.

“Kaede make this?”

The young Miko shook her head.

“Rin, actually.”

Inuyasha eyed her suspiciously.

“Rin made this?”

He sniffed about the food tentatively.

Kagome rolled her eyes, assuring him that she’d already had one and it tasted fine. It wasn’t spicy or anything he shouldn’t like. She didn’t know exactly what Rin used, but it was actually a bit on the sweeter side. He shrugged and bit off a chunk of it, contesting with another shrug that it wasn’t bad, considering an 11-year-old had made it.

“I’m glad you’re in a better mood, now,” she commented quietly.

“Hm?” he asked with his mouth full.

“Oh, it’s just—” she sighed. “Why were you so mad this morning?”

He swallowed his bite and studied the uneaten half of the bun.

“I didn’t mean nothin’ by it…and I wasn’t really mad, I just—well—you said somethin’ that—”

“What did I say?” Kagome interrupted.

Inuyasha’s brow furrowed with a glare at his food. He made an indignant noise in the back of his throat.

“You said I—you called me…well, cute.” He looked away and took another bite.

Kagome blinked a few times.

“You are cute,” she stated with certainty.

Inuyasha began to sputter.

“Th-that’s! Just, no, d…K-Kagome! You can’t say that!” he tried to explain, flushing red.

“Well, why not?!” She put a hand on her hip.

“It’s…it’s not something you say to a man, ever! You might get used to calling me that… and…you might say it around other people.”

“Since when do you care about what other people think?!” Kagome slapped her forehead with a groan.

Inuyasha growled, trying to disguise the darker blush in his cheeks.

“Because certain other people are my friends,” he ground out.

Kagome arched an eyebrow.

“Miroku?”

“And Shippo. They hear you callin’ me cute, they’d never let me live it down.”

He took another bite, chewing violently.

Kagome sighed. “You’re talking about this morning? And you were holding me while I slept…it was really sweet…and you like doing that right? You don’t just do it for my sake?”

He didn’t answer, but he looked away embarrassedly for her response.

“There’s nothing to be embarrassed about.”

Inuyasha shoved the rest of the food in his mouth, nearly choking on Kagome’s next words.

“But it’s still cute.”

He sent her a benign glare in between coughs. Kagome sighed and leaned back on the fence. She caught his eyes again as he swallowed the last bite. She smiled softly.

“Thank you for taking care of the garden, Inuyasha. I mean it.”

He let out a defeated sigh.

“And I’ll try not to call you cute, okay?” she added.

Inuyasha scoffed. He realized he was making a bigger deal out of this than he should...but it was embarrassing, considering the connotation of cute things…he smirked as an idea came to mind.

“I can still call you cute though?”

The reaction she gave—wide-eyed and red-faced—was exactly the one he wanted, but he continued with; “or beautiful.”

He paused, letting his smirk fall into a genuine smile. She turned away from him, uttering a timid, “y-yeah. You can call me that.”

She bit her lip. Was that the first time he had said that?

“You are beautiful, y’know that?”

A warm breeze brew through, tugging at the couple’s clothes and mussing their hair. The air stilled and Inuyasha heard Kagome trying to spit out the hair that had blown into her mouth.

“You okay there?” he asked, chuckling, when she started pulling the last bit from the corner of her lips.

“Yeah,” she nodded. She looked back at him and he just gazed back. He just stared at her—looked at her with a softness in his eyes and the gentlest of smiles—the sort of smile he only shared with her. She could hardly breathe, and she couldn’t look away with him looking at her that way. She had called him attractive last night, so why couldn’t she just brush it off as he had? Could he see something as lovely in her as she did him?

He was gorgeous to her. His golden-yellow eyes were framed in thick dark lashes. His thick silvery-white hair tumbled in perfectly imperfect tresses down his back and solid shoulders. His strong calloused hands were tipped in deadly weapons that could be so gentle with her.

‘I can only speak for what I’ve seen,’ she thought with a smile.

Inuyasha was confused when Kagome grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the house. He was more bewildered when, once inside, she knocked him off balance by pushing on his chest and pressing him against the wall.