InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Name up in Lights ❯ Lesson Two: Assumptions ( Chapter 2 )

Lesson Two…

 

Assumptions

 

“In—Inuyasha?”

 

Kagome stood there for a second, debating whether or not to walk inside and risk witnessing a replay of what had happened back in high-school. It was hard, she thought. Keeping eye contact with him while his back hugged tighter against the concrete wall of some confined alcove…

 

And watching as the fear profusely swelled up in his eyes…

 

I don't ever want to see anything like that again, she told herself.

 

“But I…I need to go in,” she spoke slowly…softly, “He's—” She took a step forward, “—in trouble and—” Then another, “—and…when he's in trouble—” She took one more step before pausing in her tracks, “—I start thinking on how I can't really see myself without him.”

 

The proximity of the sun seemed so close, breathing hotly down her neck through the windows outside in the cramped hallway. Her knees locked and then slackened before she wandered around with sure steps through Inuyasha's loft, inspecting every room, nook, and cranny with perpetual vigilance. But when she arrived at his bedroom, just a mere few seconds away from checking the hall closet behind her, she felt her heart clench in an attempt to warn her about something, something that she'd clearly overlooked.

 

With observant eyes, Kagome stalked across the room to study his naked mattress and the crumpled heap of blankets sitting in front of her feet. Experimentally, she held her hand out and smoothed it across the subtle lumps of the mattress, dully noting that the spreading was doing nothing to assuage its uncomfortable roughness.

 

“Ka—Kagome…”

 

“Huh?” Impulsively, her head shot up and something in her neck popped, “Ouch!”

 

Massaging the tender jugular of her neck, Kagome averted her gaze to stare at the cracked door of what she presumed was a linen closet. Absentmindedly, she moved towards it, gulping when she felt her heart begin to race with a singular vengeance. Outstretching her left hand, she gripped the doorknob and gingerly pulled the door back to reveal a panicky Inuyasha to her gradually bulging eyes.

 

“Inuyasha!” she shrieked.

 

Quickly, she raced over to his side and stooped down, fumbling anxiously with her hands while deciding just how to comfort him. From what she could make out, he was shaking and murmuring inarticulately underneath his breath, the muscles in his arms appearing coiled and extremely taut beneath the slick, tight cage of his skin.

 

Her presumptions were confirmed. These depictions were all definite signs of a panic attack.

 

A phone. I…I need a phone!

 

“Inuyasha, I'll be right back. I promise.” Hefting herself back up onto her feet, Kagome made a mad dash for his bedroom where she remembered spotting a telephone sitting on the bedside table. With little clarity, she picked up the receiver and held it close to her ear. After she dialed 911, she listened distantly as the phone hummed gently, almost sporadically, her eyes never parting away from the entrance to the walk-in closet.

 

10:40 AM

The day after…

 

Could it be that fate was conspiring against her?

 

Was it the criminal cause that sent Inuyasha in a down spiral and shook him over the edge into another unfaithful episode?

 

Who knows, Kagome thought miserably to herself as she brought the thin bed sheet up into the air and whipped it down with such force that she heard herself gasp when she thought that it might rip in half.

 

Inuyasha was currently in the hospital and he'd called her some hours ago asking her if she would come over and visit. She put up a good brawl against her other half, which kept on repeating over and over again during their conversation, “Tell him no. After all, it's hard enough knowing that he's there because he had another anxiety attack.”

 

“But I want to go,” she whimpered in return, “I want to see how he's doing.”

 

“No, no, no, no! Tell him that you…have to wash your hair…or that you have to go out. Anything would be perfect rather than to just let his so-called “velvet-smooth” words hold sway over you.” She felt the cruelty and the bestial aura of her counterpart pushing through her chest and, as an aftershock, shuddering through her veins. It felt like it was staring murderous daggers unto her while she, like a timid child, hugged tighter against some slim corner that she knew could never possibly accommodate her body's width even if she were to thrust harder against it in a futile attempt to stretch it.

 

But—

 

“His words don't control me,” Kagome grounded out, “I control myself.”

 

“Humph,” came her counterpart's terse reply, “Just nonsense to my ears…”

 

The sun was beaming, beaming enough to where she was sure she was going to throw chunks up all over her white bed sheets. That would've certainly caused a stain that would undoubtedly take days to wash out, but she could've cared less. Inuyasha was in the hospital, and here she was, fluffing her pillows, vacuuming the floor, cleaning up here and there to make things neat for good old Nobody. And did she try to stop herself? Did she even make an attempt to call Inuyasha back and tell him that there were voices wrangling inside her head and keeping her from visiting him?

 

No. I can't tell him that…

 

But then what exactly could she tell him?

 

Here was the so-called “boy-turned-man” who she was obviously sexually attracted to. By car, he was just a mere two miles away, waiting on her to show up with his medicine and a few bottles of Yoo-hoos.

 

Kagome leaned over, trying to tuck the ends of the bedspread into the corners of her queen-sized bed. It was a frustrating job if you didn't quite understand how to do it correctly (or if you were somewhat height-challenged), but she'd eventually learned from her mother. She wasn't expecting it to be such a tedious task though when following her mother's guide, Steps to a Better Bed.

 

You have to lift the mattress slightly on one side and tuck the bedspread in neatly after you roll up its ends, she heard her mother direct while giving a visual example, paying little attention to her daughter who simply stood there on the sidelines. Then you have to go to the other side. Oh, now this is the trickiest part yet. You have to lift up the mattress again and try your best not to wrinkle up the top or both your corners and ends will look terrible. I know you don't want Inuyasha to stumble upon a messy bed, do you?

 

She sighed.

 

Yep. That was her mother. Always wanting to intensely analyze things further than they should be.

 

Sighing, Kagome straightened and took a couple of steps back to observe her handiwork.

 

No strange unevenness, just about-smooth plains of white.

 

Good, that looks about right.

 

She turned around to face the small, somewhat off-whitish heap of pillows propped against the wall nearby her bedroom door. Strolling towards them and pulling them into her arms, she walked back to the bed to arrange them against the headboard. Dusting her hands off, she pulled away and smiled lightly in satisfaction. That is, until she'd realized that there was nothing else left to do.

 

She'd planned on spending the whole day cleaning, but when she consulted her To-Do list hidden in the left pocket of her Capri, she found out that there was something hastily scribbled down at the bottom with a misshapen star in front of it.

 

If all else fails, visit Inuyasha for the sake of sanity.

 

11:25 AM

At the hospital…

 

“Mr. Himes, what has gotten into you?”

 

A middle-aged woman fully clad in a nurse's uniform and white tennis shoes just barely evaded the tray that was hurled at the door. She stumbled over her shoestrings and collapsed to the floor with her expression loudly proclaiming that was scared out of her wits. Her eyes were glued shakily on the patient lying in the hospital bed a good few feet away. She started to tremble violently now, inching slowly towards the door with her eyes resembling colossal, brown headlights. She didn't even bother to maneuver around the clutter of food that speckled the floor, oozed down the smooth wood of the door, and gushed from the upturned tray nearby the bathroom door.

 

Inuyasha watched her as he sat, hoisted on top of his hands in the bed, clenching the mattress hard between his fingers. He felt no pity, just anger and something that might've been anticipation. He wanted to be left alone. He wanted to stew in his own thoughts without somebody disturbing him every few seconds with nonsensical chit-chatter.

 

He wanted Kagome.

 

Kagome…

 

Bowing his head, he listened as the nurse scrambled out of the room; no doubt to alert the doctors and tell them that he was in dire need of his medication. He pictured her nearly stumbling to catch up with his doctor only to tug frantically at his sleeve.

 

“He's finally gone mad!” she'd tell him.

 

Inuyasha felt a smile thinly stretch his lips. Really, this hospital and its many “incompetent” occupants were teething on his last nerves. All he wanted was to be left alone.

 

“That's all,” he mumbled to himself, “I just want to be left alone. How can that possibly be too much to ask for?”

 

Steadying himself, Inuyasha slid smoothly back into the bed and propped his head against the uncomfortably thin and flimsy heap of hospital pillows. He didn't bother with the sickly smelling blanket, just opting to lounge there with his legs bare and his thoughts towering loftily above him like a grim shadow. Plus he felt oddly hot and sweaty and flushed with lava-slick discomfiture. It was unusually hard this time to curb or shove his anger aside like he'd done so many times in the past. He couldn't quite understand why, but his gut clenched and subtly implied that he'd actually gone mad.

 

He smiled to the gurgling television set hoisted up in the far left corner of the irregular-shaped room. Feeling the sunbeams serenade up his legs, Inuyasha, sadly, couldn't fight off the sudden warmth of grogginess that fell over him. It felt like a heavy comforter that was purposefully sprayed with too much vintage perfume—the eye-watering kind that your grandparents only wore on special occasions.

 

He could never really stand the perfume that stuck to his grandmother like glue every time he went to church with her. It smelt like flowers that were trying to mimic the soothing and addicting fragrance of roses.

 

He crinkled his nose in distaste, the faint wraith of remembrance invading his senses with sickening ferocity. The insistent drone of the television was somehow suddenly torn away from his mind…from his usually restless senses. He bizarrely began to feel like the white dot on a TV before it died completely into pitch black. The air was slowly growing overpoweringly thick and stifling until the disturbing solitude that was darkness overcame him, devoured him whole. What was such a strange and unexplainable feeling on the outside, his body seemed to treat it with the welcoming warmth of open-mindedness on the inside.

 

For that reason did he frown.

 

For that reason did he wet his chapped lips with his tongue before bolting upright and propping his head against the stanch-white wall.

 

But it wasn't exactly the reason to why he didn't snarl in parched vexation when the door to his room creaked open like a ghost crying out beneath the eerie din of the wind. He didn't even bother to spare a sideward glance to see who it was squeaking over the bridge of spilt food and cursing softly beneath their breath when their shoes landed in one of the many small puddles of mush. The person groaned in repulsion, and not a doubt in the world traced the edges of his mind that it was a woman.

 

His heart sputtered. “Ka—Kagome…” he felt the yearning to whisper and twist his head around slowly.

 

There she was, her raven, downy hair curling around the underside of her chin and cascading silkily down her back. She was dressed primly in a black tank top and a pair of dark denims with the tail of her brown belt wagging lifelessly at him from its loophole.

 

She probably couldn't get it all the way around, he inferred briefly.

 

“I see you changed your hair,” he let his voice linger flatly in the air, but nonetheless allow it a subtle, triumphant scream, Ha! I knew you weren't expecting me to notice the change! But I did! Ha, ha!

 

The room, with its very white walls and its skid-marked tiles and its unbearably miniscule television, seemed to whittle away slowly out of existence around him until it was all but an enviable blur. Like being in heaven, he thought. Like flying amidst its clouds and enjoying its never-ending rays of light…

 

He smiled at her.

 

She smiled back.

 

Her hand outstretched carefully, steadily as she set down a brown, paper bag that held a very malformed shape to it, on the shabby bedside table next to him. And dark splotches, far darker than its intended color, freckled the bag, clearly conveying to him that it held something wet in its brown bowels.

 

He shifted just a little in his bed, wincing when it groaned and shrilled fleetingly. The false obstruction that was allegedly a dream, crumbled. But Kagome was still there, and had decided to settle down in the chair pushed up against the half-wall that veered off to accommodate a rather spacious bathroom. Her eyes were trained remarkably well on the dust-speckled linoleum and the air swirled around her with troubling calmness. He pinched his lips shut against the soft cough that bubbled up in his throat.

 

Kagome's eyes flicked up suddenly to rest on him, inexplicably wide. They gradually softened along the edges with inoculate velocity when she spoke, “Sorry. I've been…spacing out a lot lately.”

 

“Why?” A worried frown settled between his brows and crinkled his nose slightly.

 

She shrugged and then gave a wry, humorless laugh, “How should I know?”

 

The gleam in her eyes clearly told Inuyasha that she meant for the comment to be sarcastic, so he hunkered down further into his pillows to let the silence wrap around him like a tight, plastic bag and, bit by bit, overpower him. He turned his head to peer out the window nearby, despite the fact that he couldn't see anything but the bluish-white of the pure and crystalline skies. He wanted to smile then, but had a sudden change of mind not to as the countless voices gurgling from the television twisted and squirmed around his eardrums.

 

Kagome bowed her head, “Look…I—I'm sorry.”

 

Inuyasha didn't smile. He didn't even frown. His expression remained blank and aggravatingly elusive. “I understand. The way you've been acting lately kinda tells me you're trying to avoid me,” he replied.

 

Kagome peeked up at him through her mascara-laden eyelashes, which created a stark contrast to her hazel, puppy-dog eyes. “Really?” she inquired flatly, her head perking up a little bit higher with restored valor, “How would you know anyway?”

 

Inuyasha let a broad grin snake across his lips, “Now that was a ridiculous question,” he spoke smartly, wholly aware of her anger, “I've been hanging around you since high school, Kagome. I know most of your likes, dislikes, and objects of avoidance and of course—”His eyebrows rose slightly, an intimate fire kindling brilliantly in his eyes when he rolled his head around to stare at Kagome, “—I know your deepest desires.”

 

A fiery blush lit Kagome's cheeks. Helplessly, she let thoughts of how she'd spoon her naked body against his in bed shudder through her mind. She fumbled nervously with her hands then, just like she had when she'd spotted Inuyasha curled up in a defenseless ball in the walk-in closet of his bedroom.

 

Her eyes stung, almost as if fire were laving the backside of her eyeballs with its countless, flailing, orange-red tongues. She tried to fight off the prickle of tears developing beneath her lids. But they rose with growing defiance, passing off the feeling that her eyes were practically swimming in a pool of salty water. To her misfortune, what little control she had left shook and rattled until it folded in on itself and crumbled.

 

She started to cry, to cry for all she was worth.

 

Inuyasha watched her weep, his smirk melting into a concerned frown. He studied the tears intently as they trickled down from her swollen eyes and rolled quickly down her red-tinged cheeks to fall like raindrops onto her lap, creating dark blemishes on her denims. He felt his throat tighten when he spotted the mascara coating her lashes, start to wither away and run down her cheeks in gut-wrenching, black currents. He wanted to stretch his hand out to her, to caress her cheek and calm the lashing waves that were controlling her grief. But he couldn't, thanks to the bitter IV biting into his arm, so he decided to use his voice to cradle her sadness.

 

“Kagome, please, stop crying. Please.”

 

She sniffled sharply, but nevertheless kept on crying.

 

“Kagome, if you don't stop crying,” Inuyasha started again, “you're going to look like Rudolph.”

 

She inhaled tersely through her nose again, yet this time a partial smile lit a small corner of her pink lips. She looked up at him, wiping away the watery mascara staining her cheeks with her wrist. She folded her chapped lips inward to let her tongue sweep deftly over them. She pinched them tighter together when the salty taste of her tears lurking in the unnoticeable crevices in her lips, caused her taste buds to tingle. Shortly, she relieved them to the balmy air that flooded the room.

 

Though her eyes were chaotically smudged with unruly hues of red and black, she jumped up to wrap her arms around Inuyasha and buried her face deeply in the crook of his warm neck. Love, the strong tie that rectified a broken heart, materialized like a beacon of light in her chest. That's why she continued to hug him. That's why she lifted her head and kissed him tenderly. That's exactly why he returned the kiss with equal ardor and their lips molded so well together with slick perfection.

 

But Intrusion fell to Hatred's feet and pledged complete subservience to him like the mangy, backbiting weasel it was.

 

A gasp suddenly bounced off the walls of their minds as they briskly parted away from their kiss.

 

The door to the hospital room was ajar. Both Kagome's and Inuyasha's lips were swollen to a ripe crimson and the flood of color in their cheeks did nothing to lighten the situation any. When the nurse—Nurse Betty to be exact—poked her head in to see if everything was all right, she grew white with shock at the intimate sight before her.

 

“Umm, good afternoon,” she spoke charily with a country accent, “I was sent to wipe up the…umm…mess from—” she glanced down briefly, “—the floor.”

 

“Oh. Oh!” Kagome twirled around to eye the gooey puddles of food on the floor next to the door, “Umm…let me help you out with that.”

 

“Oh but, ma'am, you don't have to do that.”

 

“Nonsense. I don't want you to clean up this mess by yourself.”

 

The nurse didn't say a word as she wheeled in a large, yellow bucket by the mop handle lolling out of its mouth, leaving the door wide open.

 

Kagome tossed Inuyasha a suspicious glance over her shoulder, her eyebrows skyrocketing beneath her bangs so that it seemed like she was actually giving him a look of…malicious promise, “That reminds me. I never got a chance to ask you about that.”

 

“About what?” Inuyasha asked non-too-innocently enough.

 

“Where exactly did that food come from, hmmm?”

 

Inuyasha pinched his lips together in a tight circle and began to whistle to a random melody as he laced his fingers together in his lap.

 

Kagome gave him a playful glare before bouncing off to help the nurse out with the spilt food. During the whole while, she was plainly unaware of the loving glint in Inuyasha's eyes as he gazed at her from the cushiony imprisonment of his bed.

 

10:00 PM

One day later…

 

“Now you're sure you took your medicine?”

 

“Yep.”

 

“But should we be doing something so…rigorous?”

 

“Kagome, what could possibly be so rigorous about this?”

 

“Well…umm…you could definitely break something. A bone maybe.”

 

A soft sigh splintered the frail silence, “It's your turn, Cinderella. Be sure to be gentle on my…bones.”

 

Kagome scowled heatedly at Inuyasha, whose bare chest was pulled flush against her scantily clad back, his long fingers clenching the slick game mat on either side of her quivering body. Carefully, she reached for the spinner and pulled it towards her. Sighing, she flicked the arrow with her thumb and watched it sweep in a blur across the small rainbow of colors.

 

Inuyasha shook fiercely, grappling desperately for balance. He grunted. Kagome bit her bottom lip and fought down a threatening blush.

 

“You know…this position is really…uncomfortable,” she murmured meekly.

 

“Yeah. Now if we were in bed…”

 

“INUYASHA!”

 

The arrow slowly came to a halt.

 

Left foot red.

 

Instantly, Kagome felt her shoulders grow slack from exertion, “Darn it.” She glanced over her shoulder, bobbing her head up and down continually to see exactly where the red spot was. However, just as she'd predicted, no sooner had she lifted her head again did it make sharp contact with Inuyasha's jaw and sent her in a rattled heap to the ground, “Ouch!”

 

“You okay?” Inuyasha peered down his nose at her, drawing a hand up to his chin to see if any noticeable damage was done. A light smirk curled his lips when she began to massage the ache out of the top of her head and tossed him a scorching frown, “Looks like you're the one breaking the bones here.”

 

“Hardy-har-har,” Kagome replied dryly, flipping herself over onto her back so that she could use both her hands to vigorously soothe the dull ache pulsing in her head. She closed her eyes impertinently with a seemingly incorrigible grimace, tossing her head over to the side, which left one crook of her neck visible to Inuyasha's restless eyes. Immediately, they ventured down from the blue spot on the mat above, to lavish the sinuous curve of her neck with intense scrutiny. He gulped quietly, but was careful not to make a sound as he dived in to steal a swift taste of her creamy flesh.

 

Kagome gasped, “Eeek! IN-U-YASH-A!”

 

All of this was his fault, she kept on repeating to herself. Even though Inuyasha just got out of the hospital yesterday, the day after served as a whole different ballgame to him.

 

He'd invited her down to his loft for a nice dinner for two. That night, she was fairly surprised to see the front door back up and not dangling helplessly from its hinges. Kagome made a very weak show of proving to him that the door was still in working order by trying to pull it back into place between its doorframe, one of her many errands to do before she went out to go visit him. When he got home from the hospital, there was not a single doubt in her mind that it fell apart even more terribly than the last time.

 

Her eyes gazed heavily, nervously at the door.

 

“You know the strangest thing happened.” Inuyasha flashed a curious glance at the now up and working door, “I just came in and in a heartbeat it fell off the hinges.”

 

Kagome's eyes grew wide, her mind hurling blindly at her remedy after remedy regarding the predicament she'd gotten herself into. For the rest of the night, she tried not to make any eye contact with him, thinking if she did he'd probably suspect it was her who broke down his door sooner or later. When she'd told him that it was bordering on late and time for her to get back, he'd agreed. She started downstairs for her car only to find out that he didn't want her to tackle the streets alone, so she'd allowed for him to tag along behind her in his jeep. Unfortunately, when they pulled up into the drive, she'd concocted a great new game they could play that would surely drag the night to a superb close—Strip Twister. Now how did she come up with this idea knowing that tonight all eye contact was especially prohibited? Because she wanted a feasible excuse to see him…free and liberated to the warm glow of her living room lamps.

 

All regulations of eye contact were tossed out the window when he lost the first game and had to take off his shirt. Now seemed as unavoidable a time as any and she let her eyes have their way with her as they skimmed up his perceptible muscles and settled, blank and engorged, on his violet orbs. She'd gulped noticeably and he'd only given her a broad grin with decently suppressed sexual-intent.

 

Now here they were; He was still dressed in his jeans and she was poorly clothed in only her bra and…panties…wedged unfairly between him and the cool game mat. What a world, what a world.

 

“Hmm…I kinda like this position,” Inuyasha murmured huskily.

 

“Well…I…I d—don't!” Kagome, with renewed fury, started for the couch nearby. She took a forceful intake of breath when strong, pleasurably warm fingers seized her by the ankle and propelled her to barrel over onto her back again, “Hey! What's with—”

 

Dusky, amethyst, heavy-lidded eyes regarded her closely, steadily. Inuyasha crept closer towards her on his hands and knees until his hands were on either side of her head and his lips were but a mere inch away from hers, breath hot on her cool skin. She shuddered jerkily against him, almost wishing she hadn't done such a thing when he gave her an alluring half-smile. Soon, his lips brushed hers in what was initially a chaste kiss, yet when his tongue plunged gingerly into her mouth, it became a win-lose situation. Little by little, his certainty grew to where it was actually reliable. He began to nudge her legs apart with his right knee while the kiss went undisturbed.

 

Kagome's groan was swallowed whole by his mouth, which, minutes later, decided to work gradually down the slope of her neck. “Inuyasha,” she whispered breathlessly, grasping a sturdy hold on his shoulders, “we need to stop. You need to go home.”

 

“Really,” he mumbled, suckling on the squirming thing imperceptibly bouncing up and down in her throat, “Tomorrow's Saturday. I don't have anything planned then.”

 

“Oh God you're insatiable!” Kagome chortled, “That reminds me. I probably should get you a stuffed Energizer bunny for Christmas.”

 

“Aha, ha, ha,” Inuyasha gravely muttered, pressing his moist lips against the area just above her breasts.

 

It was more than likely that the flip-phone sitting on the coffee table in front of the couch didn't like the sudden rouse of indiscipline in their behavior because it began to shrill madly to a smooth-swinging melody.

 

Kagome immediately broke away from the kiss, wriggled out of Inuyasha's touching-point, and quickly grabbed the phone. Flashing him a brief smile, she tossed open the flap and brought the phone to her ear, “Hello?”

 

Inuyasha heaved a heavy sigh before pulling himself up onto his feet. Dejectedly, he dragged his feet along the carpet to the couch, where he propped his elbow up against its arm and cradled his cheek in the open palm of his hand, his eyes never leaving Kagome's lounging form.

 

“Uh-huh,” she spoke thoughtfully and delicately into the phone, regardless of the brooding man sitting on the couch behind her, “I know the papers are due on Monday, Jack. Yeah, I'm finished. I can't really see why you have to come down here though.”

 

A fleeting spell of tautness besieged Inuyasha's entire body. Shortly though, slackness replaced it with extraordinary ease and had him leaning heftily against the richly upholstered backrest. There was just something about Jack that sent him for an unwelcoming ride on a fiery merry-go-round.

 

“Uh-huh,” came Kagome again, “I know, I know, I know. Don't worry about it. You can stop by and pick it up in the morning.” Wearily, Kagome jerked the flap shut and sat the phone back down on the coffee table, her face set in a pensive frown.

 

“So did he make you angry?” Inuyasha asked suddenly.

 

“Not really,” Kagome breathed, “He just—” She got up then, prowling around the table like a diligent lioness, her gaze sizing him up feverishly, “—ruined our—” She sashayed towards him and hunkered down in his lap, wrapping her arms around his neck and giving him a quick peck on the lips, “—special moment.”

 

“Well, I can't really disagree with that candid remark, Dr. Higurashi.” Effortlessly, Inuyasha jumped up with Kagome nestled snugly in his arms, “But I do know what I can do.” When he looked down at her, his eyebrows sprang up and down in a hilarious parody of George Burns, evoking a laugh or two out of Kagome as he started down the hall for her bedroom.

 

9:30 AM

The next morning…

 

All was calm.

 

The trees stirred soundlessly outside, yet the icy, morning winds snuck up on the blissfully sleeping couple like a murderer creeping up behind its victim. It was what nudged Kagome out of her pleasant dream and once comfortable slumber. She'd shivered, cursing at the realization that she didn't cover herself up last night since she was evidently naked. She peeped over her shoulder at the dormant figure beside her, sparing a jaw-cracking yawn. Rolling over to snake her arms around Inuyasha's waist, she spooned herself flush and boldly against him.

 

She heard him exhale an indolent and a somewhat exasperated sigh, definitely the cautionary sound of a person who doesn't like to wake up in the bright, early mornings.

 

“Well good morning to you, too,” she whispered in his ear.

 

He gave a raspy chuckle; his eyes were still squeezed shut. “Sorry. You of all people should know I'm not a morning person,” he said quietly.

 

Kagome's lips split into a lazy smile. She kissed Inuyasha gently on the cheek before clambering out of bed, embarking on her early search for the scraps of clothing that they left in the wake of their mischievous, late night gathering. Luckily, she'd found her bra lying on top of her dresser and her panties dangling on the doorknob. So far, so good.

 

Afterwards, she strolled naked into the bathroom to dump them off in the clothes hamper and stalked over to her dresser to get a fresh pair of underwear. Quietly, she headed outside to grab Inuyasha's purple, silk button-down resting on the couch and started for the bathroom adjoined to her bedroom.

 

Shortly after taking a more than pleasurable shower, she began search for her Garfield house shoes, which she'd successfully found hiding underneath her bed. Slipping them on, she marched back outside, closing the bedroom door delicately behind her before heading for the kitchen. When she heard the doorbell she exhaled an exhausted sigh and changed course, heading for the front door, altogether ignoring the Twister mat still sprawled out in front of the coffee table.

 

Unlocking the door, she wrenched it open. Standing behind it was neither her most horrifying nightmare nor was it her most favorable dream. But it was unequivocally something that she would've put with the rest of her undesirables…

 

Uh oh. Now that was…callous.

 

Kagome blew out a silent breath before speaking, “Good morning, Mr. Offutt.”

 

Jack swept a presumably wary eye over Kagome, yet she remained still and calm until he made a move to come in. Closing the door behind him, Kagome had intended on going back to her bedroom and retrieving the folder that contained the pile of papers Jack had dropped by to get, yet his rumbling voice effectively grounded her.

 

“Where exactly are you going?” He was staring dead at her, those beady eyes of his putting her under thorough scrutiny.

 

“If you don't mind,” she cheekily replied, “I'm going to get the papers you asked for so that you can leave.”

 

Jack turned around to examine the coat/hat rack standing tall beside the front door; there was a very familiar jacket dangling from one of its hooks.

 

“I see you have company,” he snidely remarked, causing Kagome to pause in her footsteps with her hand clenching the frostbitten doorknob to her bedroom door shakily.

 

She twisted her neck around slowly. Pinning Jack with a venomous glare, she wordlessly shoved the door open and vanished into the bedroom. She understood clearly where he was getting at and truly didn't feel the need to put verbal reinforcement to the seething inferno dancing beneath her skin.

 

Jack watched the door silently for a second before heading over to the jacket hanging from the wooden coat/hat stand. Passing a swift, observatory eye over it, his assumption that Inuyasha Himes was in attendance at Kagome's home was easily confirmed. Grinning broadly, he lunged for the coat, pulling it closely towards him, a twisted gleam glowing in his eyes.

 

That was exactly how Kagome found him once she arrived back at the living room scarce minutes later. Extending her arm out to hand him the manila folder, she saw a small grin play across his lips as he took the folder and handed her the jacket in return.

 

“Tell Inuyasha for me that I like the jacket,” he murmured as he opened the front door and left, pulling it close behind him.

 

Kagome looked down at the coat in her hand, opting to slip it on to rescue her from the merciless chill. It smelled wonderful; a relaxing blend of cologne and the musky scent that could only belong to Inuyasha. The coldness was driven away by the fragrant nirvana steadily engulfing her and she couldn't help but close her eyes and smile, however, when she stuffed her hands into the coat's pockets, she frowned confusedly and let the splendiferous feeling leave her completely. She groped whatever it was that was hiding in the right pocket. It felt like paper.

 

Pulling the mysterious object out of the pouch, she found out that it was actually an envelope addressed to Inuyasha. Curiously she flipped it over and held it up to the bit of sunlight streaming in through the living room windows. She hoped that the sunlight would allow her some ability to read whatever was incased in the envelope. When at first she did not succeed in making out any words or even letters for that matter, she squinted her eyes hard and held the envelope further up into the sunlight.

With a sigh, she had to face the fact that all of her efforts proved futile, so she carefully tore it open and pulled out a neatly typed letter.

 

Dear Inuyasha,

 

Pardon me for exposing our engagement to the whole world. I know you're a man of principles and my actions took a spill for the worst, but I hope you had a great time after the show. Goodness only knows I sure did.

 

If you ever get this letter, feel free to call me. I'd like to…hear from you again.

 

—Tiffany

X O X O

 

Kagome's mouth was hanging limply open. She felt her heart stammer against her chest as the letter slipped from her fingertips and glided to the floor. Numbness conquered her entire body and coaxed her to cry and let her breath rip itself from her achy throat in callous pants. She sniffled loudly and gulped, trying to make it for one of the barstools sitting before the island countertop in the kitchen before she collapsed to the floor. With a brusque roar, she shrugged the jacket, his jacket off of her body and flung it to the floor, caving in beneath the rage kindling in her soul and the sadness brooking from her heart. She heard the shower in her bathroom come to life and start hissing monotonously in her ears. She couldn't wrestle back the dark frown setting in her jaw and in-between her eyebrows. She wanted Inuyasha to come, to see her distress.

 

Apparently, good fortune seemed to be on her side that morning; Inuyasha came upon her minutes later, dressed only in his jeans, looking quite perplexed.

 

“What's wrong?” he asked. He began to advance on her.

 

“Get away from me,” Kagome grounded out through clenched teeth.

 

He stopped, immediately going rigid, “Cinderella…?”

 

“DON'T…call me that.” Kagome gave an austere sniff, her heartstrings plucked agonizingly by the crude fingers of hatred, “I don't ever want to hear you call me that again.”

 

“W—what?” He started for her again.

 

Kagome deftly hopped off the stool she was sitting in and backed away from him, “Stop! Just get the hell away from me.”

 

Yet again Inuyasha froze in his tracks. He sized up Kagome's murderous expression with startled eyes, unable to understand. Once more he tried to approach her.

 

Blinded by her fury and heartache, Kagome grabbed a nearby stool and bitterly slammed it down to the ground before her feet, clenching the whitewashed bars jutting out on either side of the stool's backrest with blatant intentions of flinging it. It almost felt like she was hiding behind it, concealing her antagonism and sorrow behind a cheap masquerade of fear, fear of him even remotely touching her.

 

Inuyasha took in a ragged breath. He took one step back, his eyes never leaving hers. “Kagome,” he spoke.

 

“Just leave,” Kagome said calmly, “Just take your jacket and your shirt—” She unbuttoned the silk top she was wearing and yanked it off, which left her standing before him in her lingerie and vulnerable to the nippy breeze. Senselessly, she wadded it into a ball and pitched it at him, “—and leave!”

 

Hesitantly, Inuyasha did as he was told. He grabbed his jacket and shirt from the floor and murmured a tender farewell to Kagome before proceeding towards the door. Along the way though, he discovered an opened envelope and an unfolded letter beside it that was oddly determined to regain its rectangular shape. He glanced over his shoulder to see if Kagome was watching him and felt a spark of relief sag on his shoulders when he saw that she wasn't. Quickly he seized the letter, unfolding it further to read it hastily to himself.

 

A few seconds later, he blanched. Casting a disbelieving glance at the open entrance of the kitchen, he wetted his lips. Hearing her heavy, dragging sobs, he fought with himself to confront her again and present her with an explanation that would hopefully make everything all right and drive her straight into his arms again. Unfortunately, he couldn't find the willpower to do so and instead made an unsure beeline for the door, both his incredulity and fractured heart the only few things steering him straight through the door and outside to his jeep.