InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Novus Lux ❯ Evasion ( Chapter 6 )
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
By: EBjeebies 
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Hentai / Drama / Action | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 06.30.2012 | Updated On: 08.06.2012 | Pages: 9 | Words: 9.3K | Visits: 300 | Status: Completed
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Hentai / Drama / Action | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 06.30.2012 | Updated On: 08.06.2012 | Pages: 9 | Words: 9.3K | Visits: 300 | Status: Completed
Hello lovely readers! An update (more or less) on schedule! Crazy, huh? Actually, this would have been up a week ago, except I had a giant project at work that ate me up for several weeks (seriously, I was at the office until 8:30 the night before it was due). But no matter. It's here now. :) I should note that I'm doing a bit of a stylistic experiment with one of the scenes with the way it's broken up and punctuated in an effort to give it a certain type of flow and scattered urgency. I won't spoil it now, but you'll know it when you see it, so let me know whether you think it worked well or not! Also, I'll make a more specific note at the end addressing that scene, so if you do end up missing it, it'll be clear which scene it was. On with the story!
Chapter 6: Evasion
"What does it say?" Kohaku asked, having followed once he realized there was no immediate danger.
Silently, Sango handed him the paper.
Slay the Slayers.
Kohaku's eyes grew round. "Someone knows about us..." he whispered.
Sango put an arm around him. "Yes, but that doesn't mean we're helpless," she glanced slightly down at him-he would be taller than she soon enough-and continued, "Having you inducted as soon as possible will help with that."
"What?" Kohaku drew abruptly away from her. "I can't! I'm not like you, I-I-"
"Kohaku, you don't have a choice. You were born a Slayer, and now that someone is forcing our hand-"
"I can't! I can't fight! I don't want to fight-"
Sango grabbed his shoulder and angrily turned him around. "Well sometimes you have to fight, whether you want to or not! It's not just about your own safety, it's about our safety!"
"But, you're good enough for both of us! I don't need-"
"Yes you do, Kohaku! Who's going to protect Rin now that you're together? She's just a regular girl! She has no training! What would happen to her if you were attacked while you were out together?" Sango finished in a rush, the words slipping out in an angry torrent.
Kohaku sagged. Rin, he thought, you don't know what this will cost me... "Alright, I'll do it," he sighed.
Sango blew her bangs off her face. "Good." She hugged him and he stiffened slightly in her arms. "What's right isn't always easy..."
"I know..." He pulled himself from her grasp, surveying the glass littering the living room floor. "So what are we going to do now?"
"Well, we can't stay here-it isn't safe. We'll go to a hotel for now...one down town that's really busy, preferably..."
"Won't that be expensive?"
Sango shrugged. "Can't really be helped. We've got enough saved up, so don't worry."
"Yeah...sure..."
...
Inuyasha and Kagome slipped secretively past the police officers and caution tape that were strung out around the restaurant.
"How in the hell do you plan on getting our cars out of here without them noticing?" Kagome demanded in a harsh whisper as they ducked behind a dumpster. "We should have just asked them!"
"I told you, I don't want to have anything to do with cops right now. We'll...distract them." He peeked over the top of the dumpster to make sure that the coast was clear. "Come on!" He grabbed her wrist and they ducked into the garage, quickly dropping behind the first car.
"And how do you plan on doing that?" She snapped, wrenching her wrist out of his grip.
"What, you think Sessh left us here? Don't tell me you can't feel him here, even with your charm on."
He had a point. "That stuck-up prick is going to make a commotion for us?"
Inuyasha chuckled despite himself. "Pretty much. He'll be the cop-tease if you will." He smirked at his pun.
Kagome groaned and smacked herself in the forehead. Really? A joke like that now, of all times? "I'm gonna tell him you said that."
"Oh really? Keh, I can just see it now, you going up to Sesshoumaru and telling him he's cop-tea-"
BOOM!
Kagome jumped. "What the-"
"That's our signal! Come on!" Inuyasha grabbed her wrist again and they were off, dashing madly through the two-level garage, trying to find their respective cars. Technically they should have been looking already...
Fortunately, their cars were not only on the first floor, but right next to each other, their red and blue paint reflected where the sides faced one another. They dashed up to their cars, each fumbling for their keys.
"Follow me to my apartment!" Inuyasha shouted over his shoulder as he dove into his vehicle.
"What? Why?" Kagome demanded, pausing with her door open.
"I have some things I need to get! Let's go!" He slammed the door and zipped backward out of the parking space, Kagome quickly following suit.
As they careened out of the garage, they could see the cops running toward the opposite end of the restaurant, where a raging blaze had broken out.
That's surprisingly inelegant, Kagome thought. But she was grateful, as no officers even spared them a glance as they rushed toward the fire.
As they cleared the block that the restaurant was on, they slowed to a more normal pace, and twenty five minutes later, they were pulling into a parking lot behind a twelve-story brick apartment building.
Inuyasha's senses twitched. Something wasn't quite right. As he got out of his car, hearing Kagome doing the same a few parking spaces down, his eyes traveled up to the sixth floor, where he could see a window slightly ajar. Fuck.
"Kagome," He called, motioning to her over the tops of the cars between them.
"Yeah?" She came around the front bumper of an old taupe sedan. "What is it?" She asked, frowning at his agitated expression.
Inuyasha pointed up at the window. "I live on the sixth floor," he explained, "and you see that open window up there?"
"Yeah..." She wondered vaguely where he was going with this.
"I didn't leave it open this morning."
Kagome blew out a breath. "Fuck," she unconsciously echoed his earlier thought.
"I think whoever was there is gone now," said Inuyasha as he started forward. "But I can't be completely sure with my charm still on, so..."
"Yeah." They started down the pavement.
When they arrived at Inuyasha's back door, they saw that though the window had been forced, the lock on the door remained in tact. Small favors, thought Inuyasha. He instantly took that thought back as the door swung open.
The apartment was in shambles. The kitchen that they stepped into had pots strewn about, and a red smear on the gray formica countertop dripped over the edge to where a bloodied knife lay on the floor. The pair unconsciously drew a little closer together.
"...it looks like there was a fight..." Kagome mused, eyes dragging over the blood on the counter and noting a pan now rendered unusable with a crimson-stained dent.
"No shit..."
They stepped over a few jars of pasta that had been knocked to the ground, contents scattered across the linoleum floor. As they entered the dining room, they saw that the chairs had been knocked over, the window shades shredded, and-
Kagome gulped and grabbed Inuyasha's upper arm, resting her forehead on his shoulder. No. Not these memories. Not now... She couldn't look at the grisly thing that was draped across the wooden dining room table. As the smell of charred flesh made its way to her nose, she shuddered, squeezing her eyes shut-
They grabbed at her- the one whose breath stank of lightning and blood hot next to her ear as he whispered-
Her breaths came hard. There was weight around her shoulders,
And she struggled and kicked, but they held her fast.
He was saying something to her-
Her mind was screaming at her to get away, to do anything to get away-
The pressure around her increased- She struggled.
She felt the pulse within her, the crack tear her insides asunder, the golden blaze rise up within her-
Her eyes snapped open, gold- unseeing. Something shook her.
Fire built behind her skin...
What caged it?
She should have released- a scream, seared flesh, blackened bone. One still held her- One?
Softness.
What?
A doorframe suddenly came into focus.
But I'm-
Wrapped in warm arms. White hair cascaded over a shoulder, softness pressed to her cheek.
Oh.
Kagome realized that she still stood stiffly, arms pulled into her chest. Her shoulders sagged as she let them drop to her sides.
That's right...we're at...his apartment...there was...a break-in...a fight...the...thing...on the table...
She took a deep shuddering breath and wrapped her arms around the one holding her. She needed the contact.
A voice came next to her ear, "Are you alright?"
She let out the breath. "Yeah...I think so..."
He pulled back, but still held her shoulders. "Flashback?"
Kagome looked at the floor, unable to meet his eyes. "...Yeah, I suppose it was...I...are you alright?" She realized her charm must have prevented her from releasing her power. She looked up, but he didn't meet her gaze, his eyes fixed at some point on the wall over her shoulder.
"Yeah, you just..." He trailed off, then his eyes found hers. "Will you be okay to help me look through the rest of the apartment?" He asked seriously.
"I...I think so. Is there a way to...get rid of-" she gestured toward the table, still not looking at it.
Inuyasha grimaced. "Yeah, but you'd have to be the one to do it." His hands tightened on her shoulders.
Kagome took a deep breath, pulling Inuyasha close to her again in an effort to gain some small comfort against the task she knew she had to do. It wouldn't do to keep breaking down like this every time she saw a demon corpse that had been killed with spiritual power.
"How?" She asked softly, her nose practically in his hair.
"You'll have to cremate him," came the answer.
She sighed. She figured it would be something like that.
"It's a more controlled process though," he continued, remembering all the times he'd seen it done. "You should be able to do it without burning anything but the body. Ashes will be all that's left." He felt her breath feather through his hair again in another sigh, and he frowned slightly.
"Controlled, huh?" Inuyasha heard her mutter.
"I can help you with that if you want," he softly replied.
Kagome pulled her face out of his hair to look at him directly. "Please," she said, a hint of desperation in her voice even as he watched determination settle into her features.
He let his forehead drop to touch hers, closing his eyes and hoping she wouldn't spiral into another flashback when they cremated the demon. "Keh, of course."
She moved her forehead from his to fully embrace him, tucking her head on his shoulder. I won't flashback, she silently resolved, as she felt him return her embrace tightly.
Kagome took a deep breath and disengaged herself, feeling Inuyasha's arms slide away from her waist.
"Ready?" He asked.
She nodded mutely and turned toward the dining room table.
Her eyes met the empty sockets of the charred corpse splayed across the table. She shook herself slightly, feeling bile rise in her throat. Inuyasha placed a steadying hand on her shoulder, and she grasped it briefly. She stepped forward; it was like dragging her foot through rip current, but once she took the first step, the rest seemed to follow automatically, until she found herself next to the humanoid shape. A bony wing skeleton stretched over the table, devoid of whatever covering it had once possessed. She shuddered again. Why had she needed to get so close?
Kagome sent a questioning glance over to Inuyasha, who gave her a determined smile as he closed his eyes and placed his hands on her shoulders. She turned back to the corpse and removed her charm, feeling Inuyasha's also now-released presence wash over her.
Instinctively, she held her hands out over the body, letting her eyes fall closed. She reached inside herself to call up that golden light, the destructive, but cleansing presence she needed. A sense of calm washed over her as golden fire welled up within, traveling down her arms. She felt Inuyasha's power rise behind her, sliding over and seemingly through her arms as it wound with her own power, reining it in and directing the flurry of flames that had sparked in the air between her hands and the body below. The flame grew larger.
Kagome felt Inuyasha's hands slide from her shoulders down her arms until his palms rested on the backs of her hands. She shivered a little at the contact, but her concentration remained on the fire expanding slowly downward under her hands. When the flames touched the corpse, she could feel it like it was an extension of her self. She recoiled internally, nearly breaking the contact, but Inuyasha's hands and firm presence at her back kept her from faltering.
Like he'd seen many priestesses do, Inuyasha turned Kagome's hands, bringing her palms together with a clap, and the flames spread outward in a line, running the length of the figure. He heard a word tumble from Kagome's lips, and though he knew it to be the right one, he didn't know how she would have known to say it. Requiescat. Rest.
Flames overtook the body, though the two of them felt no heat. Inuyasha felt Kagome press back slightly into his chest at the sudden conflagration before she relaxed.
The fire was gone just as suddenly, and in its place, dark ashes were strewn on the table, which bore no mark of flame.
Inuyasha felt Kagome's hand tangle in his hair as she reached behind her self to pull him close to her back, and she sagged against him. He allowed his arms to fall around her waist and dropped his head forward slightly to rest on her shoulder. She leaned the side of her face into his.
How did we get like this? He thought, annoyed that their contact was capable of distracting him from the matters at hand. I have other things I need to worry about right now. Like whose power signatures were currently lingering in the room.
"Kagome-"
"Inuyasha-"
They both smiled a little sheepishly, though neither could see the other's face.
"You first," he said quietly, nuzzling subconsciously against her face and hair.
Kagome sighed. What are we doing? She suppressed a tiny shiver, though she could feel a small tightness in her chest. They were just cremating a horribly burned, dead demon, dammit.
She took a deep breath. "Thanks," she said softly.
A small smile turned the corners of his lips up. "Any time." His breath ghosted lightly against her jaw and he realized just how close they were. ...What if-?
"So what were you going to say?" Kagome asked abruptly, turning in his arms to face him.
He shook his head to clear his thoughts. "I-Well, I'm guessing you've noticed power signatures around here?"
"Yes..." She shifted slightly, frowning and pulling away just a little so they could speak more comfortably.
"Well, I know who at least one of them is," He gestured at the table where the ashes were scattered. "I know the priestess who would have done this, though I don't know what she'd be doing here..."
Kagome turned back toward the ashes, pulling fully away from Inuyasha's touch. "Who is she?"
"Her name is Kikyo...it's also her blood that's on the kitchen counter." His mouth pulled into a tight frown. He hoped she was okay.
"How do you-oh, right, smell of course," she caught herself, remembering the type of demon Inuyasha was.
He nodded.
"But what would she be doing here, heading off demons?" Kagome asked.
"Your guess is as good as-" He stopped, feeling the blood drain from his face. A presence that should have been there wasn't. "Tessaiga," he muttered under his breath, and turned and hurried off to his bedroom.
"Inuyasha, what-?" Kagome trotted after him, clueless as to what could have caused the horrified expression on his face.
She found him in his bedroom, top half obscured by the bed he was currently rooting around under.
"Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck fuckety fuck!"
"Inuyasha, what's the matter?" Kagome asked, dropping to her knees beside him. But he paid her no attention. She put a hand on his back. "Inuyasha?"
He pulled himself out from under the bed. "It's gone!" He yelled, fury dancing in his eyes. And fear, Kagome noted.
"What's gone?"
"Tessaiga!" He hissed. "The bastards took it!"
"Sorry," Kagome said, "but what's a Tessaiga?"
"My sword! Powerful, magical, dangerous, you know the drill! Godfuckingdammit all to fucking hell!" He jumped up and started pacing the room. "I knew I should've kept it with me, I've got no way to seal it, but Sesshoumaru insisted-and now those fucking demons took it and who knows what the hell they'll do with it and-"
"Inuyasha!" She grabbed his arms, stepping in front of him to stop his agitated strides. He glared at her.
"Inuyasha," she tried again, "what if Kikyo took it with her instead? She's a priestess so she'd protect it, right?"
His brows knitted together as he considered her idea. "But the blood in the kitchen..."
"But the demon in the dining room." Kagome replied severely.
"There could have been more than one."
Kagome frowned. She hadn't thought about that. But still... "Kikyo's...body...isn't here though."
She had a point. Against demons, he knew Kikyo would fight to the death. And as far as he could tell, she hadn't died. At least he didn't think there was enough blood in the kitchen for that to have happened. A breath escaped his pursed lips.
"I'm calling Sessh to see what he thinks. Kikyo...likely won't be reachable for at least a little while." He pulled his phone out of his pocket.
Kagome leaned against the wall and crossed her arms. In the quiet of the room, she could hear the ever so faint ringing on the other end of Inuyasha's call. After a few rings, a haughty, masculine voice answered.
...
Sesshoumaru was planning on going straight to bed. He had just pulled into his driveway after driving home from completing the undignified task of providing a distraction so that his younger brother and the priestess could sneak their cars out of the restaurant garage. His method hadn't been particularly elegant or original, but it was efficient and effective. He could live with that. He yawned expansively, covering his mouth, though no one was there to see, and reached across the seat to pick up his brief case.
An annoying electronic beeping cut through his motion. Heaving a mental sigh, he pulled his phone from his pocket and glanced down. Inuyasha. What now? He pulled his briefcase toward him before hitting the 'answer' key.
"Yes?" He shouldered the case as he let himself out of the car, slamming the door behind him.
"Sessh-there's no good way to tell you this-" Sesshoumaru could hear the note of panic in his brother's voice, but he continued up the front steps to unlock the door. He said nothing in the space Inuyasha's voice left, letting him stew over whatever it was he needed to say.
"Tessaiga's gone."
Shesshoumaru paused with the key turned halfway in the lock.
"I see." He sat back on his heels.
"Yeah, someone-Naraku's guys, I'm sure, broke into my apartment. Thing is, they apparently fought Kik here too. There was a body, a demon. We cremated it. Kik's blood is all over my kitchen counter..."
"But you did not find Kikyo there?"
"No. Kagome thinks she might have taken the sword with her, but I don't know. They could have taken it and her too."
Sesshoumaru finished opening the door and stepped over the threshold, letting the door snick shut behind him. He turned the deadbolt before replying.
"The Order has told me nothing." He could almost see Inuyasha sag on the other end of the line.
"I hoped they might have said something to you..."
"Nothing. You will have to find a way to get a hold of Kikyo yourself and ask her."
"You can't call the head of the Order?" Now he sounded a little petulant.
"No. When I gave Tessaiga to you, it became your responsibility. You sort this out."
"Sesshoumaru-"
"I am going to bed." He hung up. That ignorant, good-for-nothing, lazy fool! He probably didn't seal the sword before leaving it in his apartment, the imbecile! Shesshoumaru's lips thinned into a line. He stalked up the stairs.
As he rounded the corner at the top of the steps, a faint metallic tang met his nose. He stopped. Rin. She was distressed. Afraid, even. Why? He passed the guest bedroom where he knew Kagura to be asleep with a frown. They hadn't shared a room in close to two years. He turned to Rin's door diagonally across the hall from the guest room. He tapped lightly.
No answer. He knew she wasn't asleep yet; he could hear the pattern of her breathing, deep with a slight shudder, not the slow even breaths of slumber. He cracked the door open.
"Rin?" His baritone voice lilted softly into the room.
She didn't stir.
She should know that it was impossible to fake sleeping to him. Which meant that she was ignoring him. His brow furrowed minutely.
"Rin," he tried again, sliding through the door and pulling it almost closed behind him.
Finally, she cracked an eye open. He could see in the filtered moonlight that her lashes were wet with tears, and he was beside her in an instant, perched on the edge of her bed.
She turned from her side to her back and gave him a wan smile. "Sessh," she acknowledged, her voice tight and worn.
"Tell me what is wrong."
His eyes were soft as he looked at her, but she felt like they were boring into her anyway, so she turned her gaze toward the ceiling. "It's nothing."
"Hn." Rin wasn't the type to cry for no reason.
She shifted uncomfortably, turning back toward the wall a little.
"Did your evening go awry?" He persisted.
That's one way to put it, she thought bitterly. "No, dinner was great..." She trailed off, thinking. She should provide him with a few details. It might make him go away faster. "Sango was really nice, and Kohaku and I-" She blushed faintly at the memory, "-well, we're sort of 'together' now..." She stopped again.
Sesshoumaru waited expectantly. She still hadn't said what was wrong.
"I just-I just woke up from a nightmare, that's all..." She invented, caving to his silence. "Just a silly dream..." She pulled on the covers a little bit, silently requesting that Sesshoumaru leave her alone.
He rose, allowing her to tug the blankets up under her chin. He let his eyes rest for a moment on her form, turned away from him, her dark hair splayed across the pillow. He was sure that she knew he didn't believe her for a second, but she clearly didn't want to tell him the truth.
Abruptly, he turned on his heel and left the room silently in a swish of long silvery hair.
...
As Inuyasha drove along behind Kagome on their way to her apartment, their apartment, for the time being, his brain reminded him, he pulled out his phone to call Kikyo in the hope that she had his sword.
It rang and rang and rang until finally going through to voicemail.
"Shit." He waited for the recording of Kikyo's voice to finish. "-Hey Kik, it's Inu, you probably know why I'm calling, so if you could-" His phone beeped at him. Frowning, he drew it away from his ear to look at the screen. Kikyo's name flashed across it. Well I'll be damned.
"Hey, Kik, I was just leaving you a message."
"Yeah-Hey-Sorry about-uh-" She sounded out of breath. Or in pain.
"My sword, yeah-hey, are you alright?"
"Yeah-fine. Got Tessaiga by the-way. Sorry we didn't-call. Didn't have-OW! Fuck, Maera, watch what you're doing!-Sorry, getting stitched up here. Yeah, didn't-have time-to tell you."
Inuyasha breathed a sigh of relief. "Well that's good news at least. How'd you end up getting stabbed? You did a pretty good job of frying the one guy in the dining room."
He heard her bite back another gasp of pain and winced on her behalf.
She continued, "-Little fucker apparently called-backup-the minute-I showed up. So-two of them jumped me in-the kitchen. Only managed to avoid-one. Didn't really have time-to-" -another hiss-"-try to fry them. Just needed-to get out-of there."
He nodded, though of course she couldn't see it. "Got it-" he heard another curse from her "-Hey, don't you have any anesthetic over there?"
"Nah, this emergency-point is out-right now-I'll be letting the-Medical Secretary-know about this!"
Inuyasha smiled a bit. He could almost hear the explosive rant the poor secretary was sure to receive for not keeping the Emergency Medical Checkpoints up to date and supplied. "Heh, I'm sure you will. Any word on what's being done with Tessaiga?"
"Yeah-I've put a temporary-seal-on it for the moment-but-we need to figure out-how to-put a selective-seal on it-so that you're-the only one-who can touch it."
"Will that be hard?"
"Probably-not-we'll probably just need-some blood-or something-from you."
That sounded pretty minor. Blood ritual wasn't his favorite thing, but it wouldn't be the first time he'd participated. Like anything else, it had its appropriate place. "Sounds fine to me. And you can keep it safe until then?"
"Yep-just-in the future-don't leave-deadly-magical objects-lying around in your-house. You're lucky-the Order found out-about Naraku's plan-to take it."
"Keh. What I want to know is why we didn't know. Sessh's network is pretty extensive..."
"We only knew-about an hour ago. They sent me-right away. I caught that demon-pulling Tessaiga-from-under the bed-good hiding place by-the way, real-original-" Kikyo finished sarcastically. "-Shit." She sucked in another pained breath.
"Keh, I was in a rush."
"Anyway-you're welcome."
"Uh, yeah, thanks," He said guiltily, "for watching my back and all that. Er, sorry you got stabbed." God, that sounded stupid, but he couldn't think of anything better. He heard her chuckle, then curse as the light laughter jarred her wound.
"Yeah, thanks-but-I should go-Maera's about-to kill me herself-here-if I don't get off the-phone so she can-finish stitching me-up."
"Alright, well, take care of yourself, Kik."
"You too-Inu. Catch you-later."
"Bye." He hung up just as he followed Kagome into a turn down an alleyway.
...
Kagome glanced over as Inuyasha pulled into a free parking space a few cars away. Suddenly, she was extremely nervous. Parking lot. Apartment. Night. She wrapped her arms around her self, attempting to steady her nerves. Hands from nowhere. Phosphorescent eyes- She leaned back into the headrest. Deep breaths. Tried to convince herself to open the door. A demonic presence- A tap on her window. Her head shot up, eyes wide and frightened. Inuyasha. Of course, dummy. Her breath escaped in a low hiss. Grabbing her purse, she opened the door, Inuyasha moving back out of the way.
"You alright?" He seemed to be saying that a lot this evening.
"Yeah." She slammed the car door shut, angry that her mind wasn't letting her escape the images that had been almost literally seared into her memory. She started up the pavement, Inuyasha trailing behind.
They made their way in silence, arriving at her second floor apartment a few minutes later. As they approached the door, she could tell something was off. Not my place too. The power of her barriers reached out to her, telling her that something was amiss. Someone had tried and failed to get in. She touched the door. Three presences. All demons. All foes. None familiar.
"Do you feel that?" She asked Inuyasha quietly. She had felt him come up behind her.
"Yeah..."
"Recognize anyone?"
"Only one, but I can't place it." He gave a small involuntary shiver. Well that's a blatant lie, you idiot. Oh, he knew very well whose it was. He just wasn't going to tell Kagome. The story was too fucking embarrassing. Besides, she hadn't been able to breach Kagome's defenses, so what did it matter?
Kagome nodded. "Well, alright then." She unlocked the door and stepped over the threshold, feeling her barrier's warm welcome wash over her. She breathed a small sigh of relief. Finally, she felt safe.
As Inuyasha came through the door, a languid caress of power slid across his skin. He had forgotten Kagome's power could be like this. He gulped as the barrier's energy wound around him, through him, seeking out his own source of power. He stood, rooted to the spot, and when gold finally found red, a jolt of electricity shot through him, followed by a wave of sensual heat that immediately ignited his face a bright red.
"-yasha, is something the matter?"
"Um, bathroom-" he muttered, dashing toward the hallway leading away from the living room that looked promising.
"To the right!" Kagome called after him.
He veered right and stumbled through the door, slamming it behind him. He sat down on the edge of the bathtub, taking deep breaths, trying to take control of both his mortification and partial arousal. Fuck. He ran a hand up through his bangs, letting his forehead rest in his palm. If going through that barrier is going to be like that every time- but maybe it just needed to register his power signature properly... He hoped so. He didn't think he could deal with that every time he had to walk through the door.
Taking a deep breath, he got up and flushed the toilet for sake of appearances, then turned on the faucet, splashing icy water over his face. He looked himself over in the mirror, eyes following the path of a water droplet as it slid the length of his nose. The color in his face had mostly returned to normal, so he quickly toweled off his face before ducking out the door.
He wandered back to the living room, but Kagome wasn't there.
"Kagome?"
"In here!" She called.
He found her in the kitchen, half obscured by the fridge door. She emerged with two brown bottles in hand, grabbed a magnetic opener off the fridge and popped a cap off.
"Beer?" She asked.
"Sure," He took the proffered bottle, taking a moment to glance at the label in surprise. Stella. Well, she certainly didn't scrimp, that was for sure. "I wouldn't have pegged you for a beer drinker," he said conversationally as she popped the second bottle open with practiced ease.
She shrugged. "What would you have pegged me for instead?"
"I dunno. Just not beer."
She took a swig. "Not those god-awful girly drinks, I hope?"
"Nah, I don't think I've ever seen you eat anything sweet, so that wouldn't make any sense."
"Yeah, I don't really have much of a sweet tooth..." She trailed off, not really sure what to say next.
There was only so long that the pretense of sipping their drinks could go on. The silence turned awkward.
Shit, what do I say? It's my apartment, so it's my job to be entertaining. Not to mention we could both probably use a distraction... Her mind floated toward the demons they had fought, the ones she had killed, that evening. Forcefully, she yanked herself back.
"Hey, um, you like video games?" Well that was just great, now she looked like a giant nerd. Well I am in IT and Web Development. I'm allowed. Frankly, she'd be surprised if there was anyone who worked at her company who didn't qualify as some type of nerd or another.
Inuyasha's expression lit up. "Yeah, whatcha got?"
"Come on, I'll show you." She lead the way into the living room, where her games and DVDs were stacked haphazardly around the TV set. She probably should have gotten a shelf for them, but the boxes worked just fine...if she would only use them.
"Ummm..." said Inuyasha, eyeing the disorganized pile. DVDs were mixed in with games, and there appeared to be no rhyme or reason to the stacks at all.
"Heh, sorry," Kagome said, realizing that Inuyasha was eyeing her pile with skepticism. "What kind of game are you in the mood for? Racing? First person shooter? RPG? Third person fighter? Strategy? I have a bit of everything..."
"...I see that...Ummm..." Probably something non-violent; we've had enough of that for one night, I think. What would break the tension...? Exertion, probably. "...Do you have DDR?"
Kagome grinned. "I do. I haven't played in ages though. It's not as fun playing by your self. Hang on a minute." She walked back to the hallway Inuyasha had run down a little while earlier, where she opened the hall closet.
Inuyasha heard her rooting around for a minute before she returned, slightly flushed, with two DDR mats and began hooking up the controls. She paused, realizing they were both still in their nice clothes, though they weren't exactly clean.
"Um, we should probably change," she suggested, thinking about how sweaty and gross she generally got when playing the game.
"Oh, heh, yeah." He grabbed his bag from where he'd dropped it by the door when he'd gone dashing off to the bathroom and headed back that same direction.
Kagome went back to her room to pull on a pair of light-weight sweat pants and a neon green tank top. I suppose this is one way to welcome someone into your apartment...get all sweaty together. She paused. ...That sounded dirty, haha. Oh well... She twisted her hair into a quick ponytail, not even realizing that she hadn't mentally reprimanded herself for that moment of internal lewdness, and traipsed back to the living room.
Inuyasha was waiting for her, clad in a pair of low-slung red gym shorts and a body-hugging black crewneck t-shirt. She couldn't help her eyes skimming over his figure, and she stopped midstride to appreciate him. It's that damn shirt. She was too busy to notice his eyes on her own frame.
Their raking gazes met. They each sucked in a quick breath, thinking they'd been caught by the other, though the truth was that they'd both been too preoccupied to notice.
"Um..." She started.
Inuyasha smirked to hide his embarrassment. "I guess we're having an early Christmas, huh?"
Kagome frowned for a second, but caught on quickly enough. Of course. Their respective green and red attire. "Heh, yeah I suppose." She'd take any excuse she could get as to why she had been staring. And though she didn't know it, so would he.
Shaking herself mentally, she walked the last ten feet to the TV and turned it on. They began.
At first, they were both almost hilariously awful at it. They'd made the mistake of choosing difficult songs, remembering what they used to be able to execute, without considering that it had been at least a year since either had played. As the beer flowed though, their feet gradually remembered the pacing and rhythm of the steps. Soon they were competing fiercely. Eventually, Inuyasha's superior demon stamina meant that he started to pull ahead as Kagome's steps became irregular. When she lost spectacularly to Inuyasha in a round of the song, "Trigger," she flopped down to the floor off of her mat and laid back, staring at the ceiling.
"I think my legs are broken..." Kagome groaned, wiping sweat out of her eyes.
Inuyasha smirked and sat down next to her, letting the TV screen continue to display the congratulatory message declaring him the winner. "You're the first person to last that long against me, if it makes you feel any better."
"Pff, not really. My legs are still killing me." She rolled onto her side, propping herself on her elbow. "How long have we been playing anyway?"
He looked at the digital clock on the slightly beat up end-table next to the futon. Just after midnight. "About an hour and a half."
Kagome groaned again. "Good Lord...no wonder! I'm seriously going to regret this in the morning." She looked over at him sourly. "And I bet you won't even feel a thing with those demon abilities of yours."
He grinned and stretched. "Nope," he agreed happily.
"Twit," Kagome muttered, rolling onto her back again and letting her eyes fall closed.
Inuyasha just continued to grin at her. At some point during the last forty-eight hours, their banter had gone from downright acidic to what basically amounted to friendly joshing. He couldn't figure out why or how, but he wasn't going to complain; this was much better than dealing with the constant sniping and Kagome's incessant bitchiness. Not that his behavior had been stellar either. Well it didn't matter. At least having to share an apartment wouldn't be as awful if they weren't yelling at each other all the time...
Kagome's shift to more even breathing jerked him out of his thoughts. And he realized he'd been staring at her-more like through her-his mind argued-the entire time. Either way, he should probably wake her up.
He reached over and poked her in the shoulder. "Kagome," he said softly. She didn't stir. He shook her shoulder instead. "Kagome." A little louder, closer to her ear. How had she conked out this fast? He leaned even closer, sucking in a breath as he did.
"Oi! Wench!"
Kagome sat bolt upright, Inuyasha barely getting out of the way in time. "Who-What-?" She looked wildly around, sight finally setting on Inuyasha, who was grinning like the Cheshire Cat. "Don't do that!" She huffed, crossing her arms.
"Well I tried being nice actually, but apparently you sleep like a dead rock."
Kagome chuckled in spite of herself. "A dead rock? You mean like the dead? Or just a rock?"
"No, I mean a dead rock. Seriously. That's how out you were."
She shook her head and stretched. "Whatever." Getting to her feet she added with an exaggerated sniff in Inuyasha's direction, "You can have the shower first." She waltzed out of the living room, smirk firmly plastered across her face.
Inuyasha's mouth hung slightly ajar for a split second before he closed it with a snap and took an experimental whiff of his shirt. Keh. He returned to his bag, grabbed his shower supplies and pajamas, and went off to quickly dunk himself in the shower.
Kagome pulled some extra sheets, a blanket, and pillow from the hall closet and brought them out to her futon in the living room, where she dropped in them in a relatively neat heap. Then, she set about converting the futon out into a bed, unfurling and smoothing the bedclothes over it before tossing the pillow on top.
She heard the sound of a blow-dryer and giggled. Inuyasha blow-dries his hair? That's kinda... She stopped for a moment. Well, logical, her brain finished. Duh. She had less hair than he did, and she hated sleeping with it all wet. Frankly, she couldn't imagine having to deal with that much hair all the time, and she wondered how the hell he managed to keep it so neat. And come to think of it, his brother's was even longer... Maybe it was some sort of demon thing? Perhaps she could ask him when he-
Suddenly there was an audible sniffing noise next to her ear, and she felt the exhaled breath on her neck when he spoke, "Your turn, dirty girl."
She froze for a split second, then whipped around, less concerned with what he'd said than how he'd managed to sneak up on her.
"Inuyasha, how did you-?" She paused, noticing the ears now flicking atop his head. Oh. He'd taken his charm off and she hadn't even noticed the shift in his aura. Granted, his shift wasn't a large one anyway, since his charm held in his powers lightly, but it was still certainly discernable. If she was paying attention, that is. Which she hadn't been.
He smirked. "Skillz," he said, the 'z' distinctly audible.
Kagome rolled her eyes. "Right." She pushed past him, giving him a good poke in the ribs in retaliation as she moved by.
"Hey! You little-"
But she'd already made a break for the bathroom, and was slamming the door before he could come after her. She inhaled deeply, leaning against the door with a satisfied smirk on her face. Serves the guy right, she thought. She could still hear him muttering to himself.
She turned the lock on the door handle, then proceeded to divest herself of her sweat-saturated garments, tossing them on the floor before turning the shower handle.
As the water cascaded over her, she worked her hair into a lather, loving the feeling of the sticky salt rinsing away. She massaged her scalp with her fingers, relaxing into the heat and pressure. Man, it would be nice to have someone do this for me... An image of a very familiar hanyou flashed across her brain. What? Where the fuck did that come from? She paused in her scrubbing. Well, you certainly weren't complaining when you were all huggy-snuggly with him before...But that was different! I hardly even knew where I was or what was going on! The same thing would have happened with anyone else!...Really?...Yes, fucking really! She finished scrubbing herself down savagely, grumbling about "friends" and "colleagues."
She shut the water off and stepped out, flinging water onto the floor. Dammit. How did I-? She looked down at the tub, where about an inch of water still hadn't drained away. Well that's annoying. She quickly toweled herself off and bent down to investigate the drain. She didn't see anything right away, so she unscrewed it, pulling it out to inspect. White hair was wound tightly around the metal.
"Inuyasha!" She muttered angrily. Seriously, that was disgusting. She dropped the drain piece back in the tub with a clang and jumped up, wrapping the towel around herself and stomping out the bathroom door to the living room.
"Inuyasha!" She snapped loudly, standing in the doorframe, one hand on her hip and the other holding her towel in place.
He looked up from the futon where he had been sitting playing with his phone. "Kagome, what-?"
His words came to a halt as he registered her state of undress. Her dark hair made even darker by the water that still dripped down her barely covered body. The way a lock of that hair clung in a slight curl to the top her breast and collarbone- Shit. He swallowed hard as he felt himself flush. He tried to look away, but couldn't seem to, so instead he riveted his gaze to her face, where her features were scrunched up in consternation.
She glared at him, annoyed enough not to register that he was staring at her. "Apparently, you shed. A lot."
He blinked at her. "What?"
"I suggest you go take a look at the drain in the shower."
Crap. Had he really forgotten to clean...? Apparently so.
She watched as comprehension dawned on his face and he rose from the futon.
"Right," he mumbled, hurrying past her, avoiding her eyes as best he could.
Kagome turned on her heel and marched to her room, slamming her door and dropping her towel to the floor. She scavenged around the mess of clothes and papers on the floor, searching for her pajamas. Finally she spotted telltale navy blue plaid underneath a sweatshirt.
As she was pulling a gray t-shirt over her head, a horrified expression crept across her face. I just...waltzed out there...sopping wet...in nothing but a towel. To yell at him for shedding in my shower. She groaned inwardly, t-shirt halfway over her head. She yanked it the rest of the way down. Well fuck. She still had to go back out there to brush her teeth and make sure Inuyasha didn't need anything before they hit the hay. She would just act like she'd hadn't completely embarrassed herself and get on with getting ready for bed. Right.
Inuyasha screwed the drain back in place, trying his best to focus on the motion and not the images of a very wet Kagome wrapped in a towel that kept cavorting through his brain. Why did she have to come out looking like that? He groused internally. It just wouldn't leave him alone. She probably didn't even think about it...She was just peeved. He stood and opened the door... and found himself face to face with Kagome.
"Um-"
"So-"
They looked away from each other. Kagome took a deep breath.
"SorryIcameoutherelikethatinatowelImeanIdidn'tmeantoembarrassyouand -" She stopped. What happened to pretending like nothing had happened? "Uh, did you clean my drain?" There. Much better.
He shifted. "Uh, yeah."
"Good." A pause.
"Um..."
"Thanks."
"Yeah...I'll uh, try not to forget again."
"Okay."
Really, this was ridiculous.
"I'm gonna, uh, go finish checking my email."
"Right. Well, um, let me know if you need anything."
"Yeah."
They stood a moment longer, avoiding each other's eyes, but somehow managing to catch the corners of glances anyway.
"Right."
"Okay."
They moved at the same time, trying to go around each other, but ending up almost knocking heads as they moved in the same direction.
"Sorry."
"Sorry."
Kagome shook her head. "This is dumb. Here-" She gently pushed him toward the doorway to the living room as she slid past him next to the wall.
Inuyasha tensed slightly at her unexpected touch. He hoped she didn't notice. He heard her shut the bathroom door behind him and he exhaled. Well that wasn't awkward at all. He made his way to the futon and pulled his phone out again, setting about deleting the mostly spam messages in his inbox. It wasn't all spam though, and he saw he had a message from Kaede. What does that old bat want now? He opened the email.
Hello Inuyasha,
I wanted to remind you that you and Kagome are supposed to attend a training session at 9 a.m. sharp tomorrow morning. I heard you had quite an eventful night, so I expect to hear yours and Kagome's takes on it when you arrive at the studio. We need all the information we can get. Hope you and Kagome are both all right. See you the morning.
Kaede
Inuyasha groaned. That's right, it's "Kagome's personal punching bag" time tomorrow...Well that's just great.
"What's the matter?" Kagome's voice floated across the room over his thoughts.
He turned to glance at her. "We have training tomorrow at Fujiwara."
Kagome echoed Inuyasha's groan. "Ah, crap, I forgot about that," she said, palming her forehead.
"Yeah. 9 a.m. sharp."
"Well that's just great. I'm gonna regret that DDR even more now...ugh."
That's right, he thought, maybe this won't be quite so bad as I was expecting...
"What are you smirking about?" she asked irrtatedly.
"Heh, nothin.'"
"What?" She insisted.
He relented. "Just that it's only fair since you get to beat up on me tomorrow."
She paused, a smirk of her own winding its way across her mouth. "Hm, you're right, I do. I guess you'll get the full brunt of my bad mood then..." She grinned wickedly. "I'll be really sore, and I'm not a morning person..."
She pranced out of the room, leaving Inuyasha with his mouth hanging slightly ajar.
That little-
...
Yayyyy, new chapter. :) This took a little longer than I wanted it to, but oh well. So, just to refer back to what I was saying at the beginning of the chapter about the section with the "weird punctuation" and stuff, the scene where that was applied was when Kagome was having her flashback episode at Inu's apartment. I'm really curious what you guys thought of how that was played out/described, so please let me know in the reviews if you feel so inclined. And I really do appreciate it when y'all take the time to review; it lets me know that you're reading and inspires me to keep on writing! So please please keep those comments coming; it means so much to me as a writer to hear what you all think!
<3 ebj
Chapter 6: Evasion
"What does it say?" Kohaku asked, having followed once he realized there was no immediate danger.
Silently, Sango handed him the paper.
Slay the Slayers.
Kohaku's eyes grew round. "Someone knows about us..." he whispered.
Sango put an arm around him. "Yes, but that doesn't mean we're helpless," she glanced slightly down at him-he would be taller than she soon enough-and continued, "Having you inducted as soon as possible will help with that."
"What?" Kohaku drew abruptly away from her. "I can't! I'm not like you, I-I-"
"Kohaku, you don't have a choice. You were born a Slayer, and now that someone is forcing our hand-"
"I can't! I can't fight! I don't want to fight-"
Sango grabbed his shoulder and angrily turned him around. "Well sometimes you have to fight, whether you want to or not! It's not just about your own safety, it's about our safety!"
"But, you're good enough for both of us! I don't need-"
"Yes you do, Kohaku! Who's going to protect Rin now that you're together? She's just a regular girl! She has no training! What would happen to her if you were attacked while you were out together?" Sango finished in a rush, the words slipping out in an angry torrent.
Kohaku sagged. Rin, he thought, you don't know what this will cost me... "Alright, I'll do it," he sighed.
Sango blew her bangs off her face. "Good." She hugged him and he stiffened slightly in her arms. "What's right isn't always easy..."
"I know..." He pulled himself from her grasp, surveying the glass littering the living room floor. "So what are we going to do now?"
"Well, we can't stay here-it isn't safe. We'll go to a hotel for now...one down town that's really busy, preferably..."
"Won't that be expensive?"
Sango shrugged. "Can't really be helped. We've got enough saved up, so don't worry."
"Yeah...sure..."
...
Inuyasha and Kagome slipped secretively past the police officers and caution tape that were strung out around the restaurant.
"How in the hell do you plan on getting our cars out of here without them noticing?" Kagome demanded in a harsh whisper as they ducked behind a dumpster. "We should have just asked them!"
"I told you, I don't want to have anything to do with cops right now. We'll...distract them." He peeked over the top of the dumpster to make sure that the coast was clear. "Come on!" He grabbed her wrist and they ducked into the garage, quickly dropping behind the first car.
"And how do you plan on doing that?" She snapped, wrenching her wrist out of his grip.
"What, you think Sessh left us here? Don't tell me you can't feel him here, even with your charm on."
He had a point. "That stuck-up prick is going to make a commotion for us?"
Inuyasha chuckled despite himself. "Pretty much. He'll be the cop-tease if you will." He smirked at his pun.
Kagome groaned and smacked herself in the forehead. Really? A joke like that now, of all times? "I'm gonna tell him you said that."
"Oh really? Keh, I can just see it now, you going up to Sesshoumaru and telling him he's cop-tea-"
BOOM!
Kagome jumped. "What the-"
"That's our signal! Come on!" Inuyasha grabbed her wrist again and they were off, dashing madly through the two-level garage, trying to find their respective cars. Technically they should have been looking already...
Fortunately, their cars were not only on the first floor, but right next to each other, their red and blue paint reflected where the sides faced one another. They dashed up to their cars, each fumbling for their keys.
"Follow me to my apartment!" Inuyasha shouted over his shoulder as he dove into his vehicle.
"What? Why?" Kagome demanded, pausing with her door open.
"I have some things I need to get! Let's go!" He slammed the door and zipped backward out of the parking space, Kagome quickly following suit.
As they careened out of the garage, they could see the cops running toward the opposite end of the restaurant, where a raging blaze had broken out.
That's surprisingly inelegant, Kagome thought. But she was grateful, as no officers even spared them a glance as they rushed toward the fire.
As they cleared the block that the restaurant was on, they slowed to a more normal pace, and twenty five minutes later, they were pulling into a parking lot behind a twelve-story brick apartment building.
Inuyasha's senses twitched. Something wasn't quite right. As he got out of his car, hearing Kagome doing the same a few parking spaces down, his eyes traveled up to the sixth floor, where he could see a window slightly ajar. Fuck.
"Kagome," He called, motioning to her over the tops of the cars between them.
"Yeah?" She came around the front bumper of an old taupe sedan. "What is it?" She asked, frowning at his agitated expression.
Inuyasha pointed up at the window. "I live on the sixth floor," he explained, "and you see that open window up there?"
"Yeah..." She wondered vaguely where he was going with this.
"I didn't leave it open this morning."
Kagome blew out a breath. "Fuck," she unconsciously echoed his earlier thought.
"I think whoever was there is gone now," said Inuyasha as he started forward. "But I can't be completely sure with my charm still on, so..."
"Yeah." They started down the pavement.
When they arrived at Inuyasha's back door, they saw that though the window had been forced, the lock on the door remained in tact. Small favors, thought Inuyasha. He instantly took that thought back as the door swung open.
The apartment was in shambles. The kitchen that they stepped into had pots strewn about, and a red smear on the gray formica countertop dripped over the edge to where a bloodied knife lay on the floor. The pair unconsciously drew a little closer together.
"...it looks like there was a fight..." Kagome mused, eyes dragging over the blood on the counter and noting a pan now rendered unusable with a crimson-stained dent.
"No shit..."
They stepped over a few jars of pasta that had been knocked to the ground, contents scattered across the linoleum floor. As they entered the dining room, they saw that the chairs had been knocked over, the window shades shredded, and-
Kagome gulped and grabbed Inuyasha's upper arm, resting her forehead on his shoulder. No. Not these memories. Not now... She couldn't look at the grisly thing that was draped across the wooden dining room table. As the smell of charred flesh made its way to her nose, she shuddered, squeezing her eyes shut-
They grabbed at her- the one whose breath stank of lightning and blood hot next to her ear as he whispered-
Her breaths came hard. There was weight around her shoulders,
And she struggled and kicked, but they held her fast.
He was saying something to her-
Her mind was screaming at her to get away, to do anything to get away-
The pressure around her increased- She struggled.
She felt the pulse within her, the crack tear her insides asunder, the golden blaze rise up within her-
Her eyes snapped open, gold- unseeing. Something shook her.
Fire built behind her skin...
What caged it?
She should have released- a scream, seared flesh, blackened bone. One still held her- One?
Softness.
What?
A doorframe suddenly came into focus.
But I'm-
Wrapped in warm arms. White hair cascaded over a shoulder, softness pressed to her cheek.
Oh.
Kagome realized that she still stood stiffly, arms pulled into her chest. Her shoulders sagged as she let them drop to her sides.
That's right...we're at...his apartment...there was...a break-in...a fight...the...thing...on the table...
She took a deep shuddering breath and wrapped her arms around the one holding her. She needed the contact.
A voice came next to her ear, "Are you alright?"
She let out the breath. "Yeah...I think so..."
He pulled back, but still held her shoulders. "Flashback?"
Kagome looked at the floor, unable to meet his eyes. "...Yeah, I suppose it was...I...are you alright?" She realized her charm must have prevented her from releasing her power. She looked up, but he didn't meet her gaze, his eyes fixed at some point on the wall over her shoulder.
"Yeah, you just..." He trailed off, then his eyes found hers. "Will you be okay to help me look through the rest of the apartment?" He asked seriously.
"I...I think so. Is there a way to...get rid of-" she gestured toward the table, still not looking at it.
Inuyasha grimaced. "Yeah, but you'd have to be the one to do it." His hands tightened on her shoulders.
Kagome took a deep breath, pulling Inuyasha close to her again in an effort to gain some small comfort against the task she knew she had to do. It wouldn't do to keep breaking down like this every time she saw a demon corpse that had been killed with spiritual power.
"How?" She asked softly, her nose practically in his hair.
"You'll have to cremate him," came the answer.
She sighed. She figured it would be something like that.
"It's a more controlled process though," he continued, remembering all the times he'd seen it done. "You should be able to do it without burning anything but the body. Ashes will be all that's left." He felt her breath feather through his hair again in another sigh, and he frowned slightly.
"Controlled, huh?" Inuyasha heard her mutter.
"I can help you with that if you want," he softly replied.
Kagome pulled her face out of his hair to look at him directly. "Please," she said, a hint of desperation in her voice even as he watched determination settle into her features.
He let his forehead drop to touch hers, closing his eyes and hoping she wouldn't spiral into another flashback when they cremated the demon. "Keh, of course."
She moved her forehead from his to fully embrace him, tucking her head on his shoulder. I won't flashback, she silently resolved, as she felt him return her embrace tightly.
Kagome took a deep breath and disengaged herself, feeling Inuyasha's arms slide away from her waist.
"Ready?" He asked.
She nodded mutely and turned toward the dining room table.
Her eyes met the empty sockets of the charred corpse splayed across the table. She shook herself slightly, feeling bile rise in her throat. Inuyasha placed a steadying hand on her shoulder, and she grasped it briefly. She stepped forward; it was like dragging her foot through rip current, but once she took the first step, the rest seemed to follow automatically, until she found herself next to the humanoid shape. A bony wing skeleton stretched over the table, devoid of whatever covering it had once possessed. She shuddered again. Why had she needed to get so close?
Kagome sent a questioning glance over to Inuyasha, who gave her a determined smile as he closed his eyes and placed his hands on her shoulders. She turned back to the corpse and removed her charm, feeling Inuyasha's also now-released presence wash over her.
Instinctively, she held her hands out over the body, letting her eyes fall closed. She reached inside herself to call up that golden light, the destructive, but cleansing presence she needed. A sense of calm washed over her as golden fire welled up within, traveling down her arms. She felt Inuyasha's power rise behind her, sliding over and seemingly through her arms as it wound with her own power, reining it in and directing the flurry of flames that had sparked in the air between her hands and the body below. The flame grew larger.
Kagome felt Inuyasha's hands slide from her shoulders down her arms until his palms rested on the backs of her hands. She shivered a little at the contact, but her concentration remained on the fire expanding slowly downward under her hands. When the flames touched the corpse, she could feel it like it was an extension of her self. She recoiled internally, nearly breaking the contact, but Inuyasha's hands and firm presence at her back kept her from faltering.
Like he'd seen many priestesses do, Inuyasha turned Kagome's hands, bringing her palms together with a clap, and the flames spread outward in a line, running the length of the figure. He heard a word tumble from Kagome's lips, and though he knew it to be the right one, he didn't know how she would have known to say it. Requiescat. Rest.
Flames overtook the body, though the two of them felt no heat. Inuyasha felt Kagome press back slightly into his chest at the sudden conflagration before she relaxed.
The fire was gone just as suddenly, and in its place, dark ashes were strewn on the table, which bore no mark of flame.
Inuyasha felt Kagome's hand tangle in his hair as she reached behind her self to pull him close to her back, and she sagged against him. He allowed his arms to fall around her waist and dropped his head forward slightly to rest on her shoulder. She leaned the side of her face into his.
How did we get like this? He thought, annoyed that their contact was capable of distracting him from the matters at hand. I have other things I need to worry about right now. Like whose power signatures were currently lingering in the room.
"Kagome-"
"Inuyasha-"
They both smiled a little sheepishly, though neither could see the other's face.
"You first," he said quietly, nuzzling subconsciously against her face and hair.
Kagome sighed. What are we doing? She suppressed a tiny shiver, though she could feel a small tightness in her chest. They were just cremating a horribly burned, dead demon, dammit.
She took a deep breath. "Thanks," she said softly.
A small smile turned the corners of his lips up. "Any time." His breath ghosted lightly against her jaw and he realized just how close they were. ...What if-?
"So what were you going to say?" Kagome asked abruptly, turning in his arms to face him.
He shook his head to clear his thoughts. "I-Well, I'm guessing you've noticed power signatures around here?"
"Yes..." She shifted slightly, frowning and pulling away just a little so they could speak more comfortably.
"Well, I know who at least one of them is," He gestured at the table where the ashes were scattered. "I know the priestess who would have done this, though I don't know what she'd be doing here..."
Kagome turned back toward the ashes, pulling fully away from Inuyasha's touch. "Who is she?"
"Her name is Kikyo...it's also her blood that's on the kitchen counter." His mouth pulled into a tight frown. He hoped she was okay.
"How do you-oh, right, smell of course," she caught herself, remembering the type of demon Inuyasha was.
He nodded.
"But what would she be doing here, heading off demons?" Kagome asked.
"Your guess is as good as-" He stopped, feeling the blood drain from his face. A presence that should have been there wasn't. "Tessaiga," he muttered under his breath, and turned and hurried off to his bedroom.
"Inuyasha, what-?" Kagome trotted after him, clueless as to what could have caused the horrified expression on his face.
She found him in his bedroom, top half obscured by the bed he was currently rooting around under.
"Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck fuckety fuck!"
"Inuyasha, what's the matter?" Kagome asked, dropping to her knees beside him. But he paid her no attention. She put a hand on his back. "Inuyasha?"
He pulled himself out from under the bed. "It's gone!" He yelled, fury dancing in his eyes. And fear, Kagome noted.
"What's gone?"
"Tessaiga!" He hissed. "The bastards took it!"
"Sorry," Kagome said, "but what's a Tessaiga?"
"My sword! Powerful, magical, dangerous, you know the drill! Godfuckingdammit all to fucking hell!" He jumped up and started pacing the room. "I knew I should've kept it with me, I've got no way to seal it, but Sesshoumaru insisted-and now those fucking demons took it and who knows what the hell they'll do with it and-"
"Inuyasha!" She grabbed his arms, stepping in front of him to stop his agitated strides. He glared at her.
"Inuyasha," she tried again, "what if Kikyo took it with her instead? She's a priestess so she'd protect it, right?"
His brows knitted together as he considered her idea. "But the blood in the kitchen..."
"But the demon in the dining room." Kagome replied severely.
"There could have been more than one."
Kagome frowned. She hadn't thought about that. But still... "Kikyo's...body...isn't here though."
She had a point. Against demons, he knew Kikyo would fight to the death. And as far as he could tell, she hadn't died. At least he didn't think there was enough blood in the kitchen for that to have happened. A breath escaped his pursed lips.
"I'm calling Sessh to see what he thinks. Kikyo...likely won't be reachable for at least a little while." He pulled his phone out of his pocket.
Kagome leaned against the wall and crossed her arms. In the quiet of the room, she could hear the ever so faint ringing on the other end of Inuyasha's call. After a few rings, a haughty, masculine voice answered.
...
Sesshoumaru was planning on going straight to bed. He had just pulled into his driveway after driving home from completing the undignified task of providing a distraction so that his younger brother and the priestess could sneak their cars out of the restaurant garage. His method hadn't been particularly elegant or original, but it was efficient and effective. He could live with that. He yawned expansively, covering his mouth, though no one was there to see, and reached across the seat to pick up his brief case.
An annoying electronic beeping cut through his motion. Heaving a mental sigh, he pulled his phone from his pocket and glanced down. Inuyasha. What now? He pulled his briefcase toward him before hitting the 'answer' key.
"Yes?" He shouldered the case as he let himself out of the car, slamming the door behind him.
"Sessh-there's no good way to tell you this-" Sesshoumaru could hear the note of panic in his brother's voice, but he continued up the front steps to unlock the door. He said nothing in the space Inuyasha's voice left, letting him stew over whatever it was he needed to say.
"Tessaiga's gone."
Shesshoumaru paused with the key turned halfway in the lock.
"I see." He sat back on his heels.
"Yeah, someone-Naraku's guys, I'm sure, broke into my apartment. Thing is, they apparently fought Kik here too. There was a body, a demon. We cremated it. Kik's blood is all over my kitchen counter..."
"But you did not find Kikyo there?"
"No. Kagome thinks she might have taken the sword with her, but I don't know. They could have taken it and her too."
Sesshoumaru finished opening the door and stepped over the threshold, letting the door snick shut behind him. He turned the deadbolt before replying.
"The Order has told me nothing." He could almost see Inuyasha sag on the other end of the line.
"I hoped they might have said something to you..."
"Nothing. You will have to find a way to get a hold of Kikyo yourself and ask her."
"You can't call the head of the Order?" Now he sounded a little petulant.
"No. When I gave Tessaiga to you, it became your responsibility. You sort this out."
"Sesshoumaru-"
"I am going to bed." He hung up. That ignorant, good-for-nothing, lazy fool! He probably didn't seal the sword before leaving it in his apartment, the imbecile! Shesshoumaru's lips thinned into a line. He stalked up the stairs.
As he rounded the corner at the top of the steps, a faint metallic tang met his nose. He stopped. Rin. She was distressed. Afraid, even. Why? He passed the guest bedroom where he knew Kagura to be asleep with a frown. They hadn't shared a room in close to two years. He turned to Rin's door diagonally across the hall from the guest room. He tapped lightly.
No answer. He knew she wasn't asleep yet; he could hear the pattern of her breathing, deep with a slight shudder, not the slow even breaths of slumber. He cracked the door open.
"Rin?" His baritone voice lilted softly into the room.
She didn't stir.
She should know that it was impossible to fake sleeping to him. Which meant that she was ignoring him. His brow furrowed minutely.
"Rin," he tried again, sliding through the door and pulling it almost closed behind him.
Finally, she cracked an eye open. He could see in the filtered moonlight that her lashes were wet with tears, and he was beside her in an instant, perched on the edge of her bed.
She turned from her side to her back and gave him a wan smile. "Sessh," she acknowledged, her voice tight and worn.
"Tell me what is wrong."
His eyes were soft as he looked at her, but she felt like they were boring into her anyway, so she turned her gaze toward the ceiling. "It's nothing."
"Hn." Rin wasn't the type to cry for no reason.
She shifted uncomfortably, turning back toward the wall a little.
"Did your evening go awry?" He persisted.
That's one way to put it, she thought bitterly. "No, dinner was great..." She trailed off, thinking. She should provide him with a few details. It might make him go away faster. "Sango was really nice, and Kohaku and I-" She blushed faintly at the memory, "-well, we're sort of 'together' now..." She stopped again.
Sesshoumaru waited expectantly. She still hadn't said what was wrong.
"I just-I just woke up from a nightmare, that's all..." She invented, caving to his silence. "Just a silly dream..." She pulled on the covers a little bit, silently requesting that Sesshoumaru leave her alone.
He rose, allowing her to tug the blankets up under her chin. He let his eyes rest for a moment on her form, turned away from him, her dark hair splayed across the pillow. He was sure that she knew he didn't believe her for a second, but she clearly didn't want to tell him the truth.
Abruptly, he turned on his heel and left the room silently in a swish of long silvery hair.
...
As Inuyasha drove along behind Kagome on their way to her apartment, their apartment, for the time being, his brain reminded him, he pulled out his phone to call Kikyo in the hope that she had his sword.
It rang and rang and rang until finally going through to voicemail.
"Shit." He waited for the recording of Kikyo's voice to finish. "-Hey Kik, it's Inu, you probably know why I'm calling, so if you could-" His phone beeped at him. Frowning, he drew it away from his ear to look at the screen. Kikyo's name flashed across it. Well I'll be damned.
"Hey, Kik, I was just leaving you a message."
"Yeah-Hey-Sorry about-uh-" She sounded out of breath. Or in pain.
"My sword, yeah-hey, are you alright?"
"Yeah-fine. Got Tessaiga by the-way. Sorry we didn't-call. Didn't have-OW! Fuck, Maera, watch what you're doing!-Sorry, getting stitched up here. Yeah, didn't-have time-to tell you."
Inuyasha breathed a sigh of relief. "Well that's good news at least. How'd you end up getting stabbed? You did a pretty good job of frying the one guy in the dining room."
He heard her bite back another gasp of pain and winced on her behalf.
She continued, "-Little fucker apparently called-backup-the minute-I showed up. So-two of them jumped me in-the kitchen. Only managed to avoid-one. Didn't really have time-to-" -another hiss-"-try to fry them. Just needed-to get out-of there."
He nodded, though of course she couldn't see it. "Got it-" he heard another curse from her "-Hey, don't you have any anesthetic over there?"
"Nah, this emergency-point is out-right now-I'll be letting the-Medical Secretary-know about this!"
Inuyasha smiled a bit. He could almost hear the explosive rant the poor secretary was sure to receive for not keeping the Emergency Medical Checkpoints up to date and supplied. "Heh, I'm sure you will. Any word on what's being done with Tessaiga?"
"Yeah-I've put a temporary-seal-on it for the moment-but-we need to figure out-how to-put a selective-seal on it-so that you're-the only one-who can touch it."
"Will that be hard?"
"Probably-not-we'll probably just need-some blood-or something-from you."
That sounded pretty minor. Blood ritual wasn't his favorite thing, but it wouldn't be the first time he'd participated. Like anything else, it had its appropriate place. "Sounds fine to me. And you can keep it safe until then?"
"Yep-just-in the future-don't leave-deadly-magical objects-lying around in your-house. You're lucky-the Order found out-about Naraku's plan-to take it."
"Keh. What I want to know is why we didn't know. Sessh's network is pretty extensive..."
"We only knew-about an hour ago. They sent me-right away. I caught that demon-pulling Tessaiga-from-under the bed-good hiding place by-the way, real-original-" Kikyo finished sarcastically. "-Shit." She sucked in another pained breath.
"Keh, I was in a rush."
"Anyway-you're welcome."
"Uh, yeah, thanks," He said guiltily, "for watching my back and all that. Er, sorry you got stabbed." God, that sounded stupid, but he couldn't think of anything better. He heard her chuckle, then curse as the light laughter jarred her wound.
"Yeah, thanks-but-I should go-Maera's about-to kill me herself-here-if I don't get off the-phone so she can-finish stitching me-up."
"Alright, well, take care of yourself, Kik."
"You too-Inu. Catch you-later."
"Bye." He hung up just as he followed Kagome into a turn down an alleyway.
...
Kagome glanced over as Inuyasha pulled into a free parking space a few cars away. Suddenly, she was extremely nervous. Parking lot. Apartment. Night. She wrapped her arms around her self, attempting to steady her nerves. Hands from nowhere. Phosphorescent eyes- She leaned back into the headrest. Deep breaths. Tried to convince herself to open the door. A demonic presence- A tap on her window. Her head shot up, eyes wide and frightened. Inuyasha. Of course, dummy. Her breath escaped in a low hiss. Grabbing her purse, she opened the door, Inuyasha moving back out of the way.
"You alright?" He seemed to be saying that a lot this evening.
"Yeah." She slammed the car door shut, angry that her mind wasn't letting her escape the images that had been almost literally seared into her memory. She started up the pavement, Inuyasha trailing behind.
They made their way in silence, arriving at her second floor apartment a few minutes later. As they approached the door, she could tell something was off. Not my place too. The power of her barriers reached out to her, telling her that something was amiss. Someone had tried and failed to get in. She touched the door. Three presences. All demons. All foes. None familiar.
"Do you feel that?" She asked Inuyasha quietly. She had felt him come up behind her.
"Yeah..."
"Recognize anyone?"
"Only one, but I can't place it." He gave a small involuntary shiver. Well that's a blatant lie, you idiot. Oh, he knew very well whose it was. He just wasn't going to tell Kagome. The story was too fucking embarrassing. Besides, she hadn't been able to breach Kagome's defenses, so what did it matter?
Kagome nodded. "Well, alright then." She unlocked the door and stepped over the threshold, feeling her barrier's warm welcome wash over her. She breathed a small sigh of relief. Finally, she felt safe.
As Inuyasha came through the door, a languid caress of power slid across his skin. He had forgotten Kagome's power could be like this. He gulped as the barrier's energy wound around him, through him, seeking out his own source of power. He stood, rooted to the spot, and when gold finally found red, a jolt of electricity shot through him, followed by a wave of sensual heat that immediately ignited his face a bright red.
"-yasha, is something the matter?"
"Um, bathroom-" he muttered, dashing toward the hallway leading away from the living room that looked promising.
"To the right!" Kagome called after him.
He veered right and stumbled through the door, slamming it behind him. He sat down on the edge of the bathtub, taking deep breaths, trying to take control of both his mortification and partial arousal. Fuck. He ran a hand up through his bangs, letting his forehead rest in his palm. If going through that barrier is going to be like that every time- but maybe it just needed to register his power signature properly... He hoped so. He didn't think he could deal with that every time he had to walk through the door.
Taking a deep breath, he got up and flushed the toilet for sake of appearances, then turned on the faucet, splashing icy water over his face. He looked himself over in the mirror, eyes following the path of a water droplet as it slid the length of his nose. The color in his face had mostly returned to normal, so he quickly toweled off his face before ducking out the door.
He wandered back to the living room, but Kagome wasn't there.
"Kagome?"
"In here!" She called.
He found her in the kitchen, half obscured by the fridge door. She emerged with two brown bottles in hand, grabbed a magnetic opener off the fridge and popped a cap off.
"Beer?" She asked.
"Sure," He took the proffered bottle, taking a moment to glance at the label in surprise. Stella. Well, she certainly didn't scrimp, that was for sure. "I wouldn't have pegged you for a beer drinker," he said conversationally as she popped the second bottle open with practiced ease.
She shrugged. "What would you have pegged me for instead?"
"I dunno. Just not beer."
She took a swig. "Not those god-awful girly drinks, I hope?"
"Nah, I don't think I've ever seen you eat anything sweet, so that wouldn't make any sense."
"Yeah, I don't really have much of a sweet tooth..." She trailed off, not really sure what to say next.
There was only so long that the pretense of sipping their drinks could go on. The silence turned awkward.
Shit, what do I say? It's my apartment, so it's my job to be entertaining. Not to mention we could both probably use a distraction... Her mind floated toward the demons they had fought, the ones she had killed, that evening. Forcefully, she yanked herself back.
"Hey, um, you like video games?" Well that was just great, now she looked like a giant nerd. Well I am in IT and Web Development. I'm allowed. Frankly, she'd be surprised if there was anyone who worked at her company who didn't qualify as some type of nerd or another.
Inuyasha's expression lit up. "Yeah, whatcha got?"
"Come on, I'll show you." She lead the way into the living room, where her games and DVDs were stacked haphazardly around the TV set. She probably should have gotten a shelf for them, but the boxes worked just fine...if she would only use them.
"Ummm..." said Inuyasha, eyeing the disorganized pile. DVDs were mixed in with games, and there appeared to be no rhyme or reason to the stacks at all.
"Heh, sorry," Kagome said, realizing that Inuyasha was eyeing her pile with skepticism. "What kind of game are you in the mood for? Racing? First person shooter? RPG? Third person fighter? Strategy? I have a bit of everything..."
"...I see that...Ummm..." Probably something non-violent; we've had enough of that for one night, I think. What would break the tension...? Exertion, probably. "...Do you have DDR?"
Kagome grinned. "I do. I haven't played in ages though. It's not as fun playing by your self. Hang on a minute." She walked back to the hallway Inuyasha had run down a little while earlier, where she opened the hall closet.
Inuyasha heard her rooting around for a minute before she returned, slightly flushed, with two DDR mats and began hooking up the controls. She paused, realizing they were both still in their nice clothes, though they weren't exactly clean.
"Um, we should probably change," she suggested, thinking about how sweaty and gross she generally got when playing the game.
"Oh, heh, yeah." He grabbed his bag from where he'd dropped it by the door when he'd gone dashing off to the bathroom and headed back that same direction.
Kagome went back to her room to pull on a pair of light-weight sweat pants and a neon green tank top. I suppose this is one way to welcome someone into your apartment...get all sweaty together. She paused. ...That sounded dirty, haha. Oh well... She twisted her hair into a quick ponytail, not even realizing that she hadn't mentally reprimanded herself for that moment of internal lewdness, and traipsed back to the living room.
Inuyasha was waiting for her, clad in a pair of low-slung red gym shorts and a body-hugging black crewneck t-shirt. She couldn't help her eyes skimming over his figure, and she stopped midstride to appreciate him. It's that damn shirt. She was too busy to notice his eyes on her own frame.
Their raking gazes met. They each sucked in a quick breath, thinking they'd been caught by the other, though the truth was that they'd both been too preoccupied to notice.
"Um..." She started.
Inuyasha smirked to hide his embarrassment. "I guess we're having an early Christmas, huh?"
Kagome frowned for a second, but caught on quickly enough. Of course. Their respective green and red attire. "Heh, yeah I suppose." She'd take any excuse she could get as to why she had been staring. And though she didn't know it, so would he.
Shaking herself mentally, she walked the last ten feet to the TV and turned it on. They began.
At first, they were both almost hilariously awful at it. They'd made the mistake of choosing difficult songs, remembering what they used to be able to execute, without considering that it had been at least a year since either had played. As the beer flowed though, their feet gradually remembered the pacing and rhythm of the steps. Soon they were competing fiercely. Eventually, Inuyasha's superior demon stamina meant that he started to pull ahead as Kagome's steps became irregular. When she lost spectacularly to Inuyasha in a round of the song, "Trigger," she flopped down to the floor off of her mat and laid back, staring at the ceiling.
"I think my legs are broken..." Kagome groaned, wiping sweat out of her eyes.
Inuyasha smirked and sat down next to her, letting the TV screen continue to display the congratulatory message declaring him the winner. "You're the first person to last that long against me, if it makes you feel any better."
"Pff, not really. My legs are still killing me." She rolled onto her side, propping herself on her elbow. "How long have we been playing anyway?"
He looked at the digital clock on the slightly beat up end-table next to the futon. Just after midnight. "About an hour and a half."
Kagome groaned again. "Good Lord...no wonder! I'm seriously going to regret this in the morning." She looked over at him sourly. "And I bet you won't even feel a thing with those demon abilities of yours."
He grinned and stretched. "Nope," he agreed happily.
"Twit," Kagome muttered, rolling onto her back again and letting her eyes fall closed.
Inuyasha just continued to grin at her. At some point during the last forty-eight hours, their banter had gone from downright acidic to what basically amounted to friendly joshing. He couldn't figure out why or how, but he wasn't going to complain; this was much better than dealing with the constant sniping and Kagome's incessant bitchiness. Not that his behavior had been stellar either. Well it didn't matter. At least having to share an apartment wouldn't be as awful if they weren't yelling at each other all the time...
Kagome's shift to more even breathing jerked him out of his thoughts. And he realized he'd been staring at her-more like through her-his mind argued-the entire time. Either way, he should probably wake her up.
He reached over and poked her in the shoulder. "Kagome," he said softly. She didn't stir. He shook her shoulder instead. "Kagome." A little louder, closer to her ear. How had she conked out this fast? He leaned even closer, sucking in a breath as he did.
"Oi! Wench!"
Kagome sat bolt upright, Inuyasha barely getting out of the way in time. "Who-What-?" She looked wildly around, sight finally setting on Inuyasha, who was grinning like the Cheshire Cat. "Don't do that!" She huffed, crossing her arms.
"Well I tried being nice actually, but apparently you sleep like a dead rock."
Kagome chuckled in spite of herself. "A dead rock? You mean like the dead? Or just a rock?"
"No, I mean a dead rock. Seriously. That's how out you were."
She shook her head and stretched. "Whatever." Getting to her feet she added with an exaggerated sniff in Inuyasha's direction, "You can have the shower first." She waltzed out of the living room, smirk firmly plastered across her face.
Inuyasha's mouth hung slightly ajar for a split second before he closed it with a snap and took an experimental whiff of his shirt. Keh. He returned to his bag, grabbed his shower supplies and pajamas, and went off to quickly dunk himself in the shower.
Kagome pulled some extra sheets, a blanket, and pillow from the hall closet and brought them out to her futon in the living room, where she dropped in them in a relatively neat heap. Then, she set about converting the futon out into a bed, unfurling and smoothing the bedclothes over it before tossing the pillow on top.
She heard the sound of a blow-dryer and giggled. Inuyasha blow-dries his hair? That's kinda... She stopped for a moment. Well, logical, her brain finished. Duh. She had less hair than he did, and she hated sleeping with it all wet. Frankly, she couldn't imagine having to deal with that much hair all the time, and she wondered how the hell he managed to keep it so neat. And come to think of it, his brother's was even longer... Maybe it was some sort of demon thing? Perhaps she could ask him when he-
Suddenly there was an audible sniffing noise next to her ear, and she felt the exhaled breath on her neck when he spoke, "Your turn, dirty girl."
She froze for a split second, then whipped around, less concerned with what he'd said than how he'd managed to sneak up on her.
"Inuyasha, how did you-?" She paused, noticing the ears now flicking atop his head. Oh. He'd taken his charm off and she hadn't even noticed the shift in his aura. Granted, his shift wasn't a large one anyway, since his charm held in his powers lightly, but it was still certainly discernable. If she was paying attention, that is. Which she hadn't been.
He smirked. "Skillz," he said, the 'z' distinctly audible.
Kagome rolled her eyes. "Right." She pushed past him, giving him a good poke in the ribs in retaliation as she moved by.
"Hey! You little-"
But she'd already made a break for the bathroom, and was slamming the door before he could come after her. She inhaled deeply, leaning against the door with a satisfied smirk on her face. Serves the guy right, she thought. She could still hear him muttering to himself.
She turned the lock on the door handle, then proceeded to divest herself of her sweat-saturated garments, tossing them on the floor before turning the shower handle.
As the water cascaded over her, she worked her hair into a lather, loving the feeling of the sticky salt rinsing away. She massaged her scalp with her fingers, relaxing into the heat and pressure. Man, it would be nice to have someone do this for me... An image of a very familiar hanyou flashed across her brain. What? Where the fuck did that come from? She paused in her scrubbing. Well, you certainly weren't complaining when you were all huggy-snuggly with him before...But that was different! I hardly even knew where I was or what was going on! The same thing would have happened with anyone else!...Really?...Yes, fucking really! She finished scrubbing herself down savagely, grumbling about "friends" and "colleagues."
She shut the water off and stepped out, flinging water onto the floor. Dammit. How did I-? She looked down at the tub, where about an inch of water still hadn't drained away. Well that's annoying. She quickly toweled herself off and bent down to investigate the drain. She didn't see anything right away, so she unscrewed it, pulling it out to inspect. White hair was wound tightly around the metal.
"Inuyasha!" She muttered angrily. Seriously, that was disgusting. She dropped the drain piece back in the tub with a clang and jumped up, wrapping the towel around herself and stomping out the bathroom door to the living room.
"Inuyasha!" She snapped loudly, standing in the doorframe, one hand on her hip and the other holding her towel in place.
He looked up from the futon where he had been sitting playing with his phone. "Kagome, what-?"
His words came to a halt as he registered her state of undress. Her dark hair made even darker by the water that still dripped down her barely covered body. The way a lock of that hair clung in a slight curl to the top her breast and collarbone- Shit. He swallowed hard as he felt himself flush. He tried to look away, but couldn't seem to, so instead he riveted his gaze to her face, where her features were scrunched up in consternation.
She glared at him, annoyed enough not to register that he was staring at her. "Apparently, you shed. A lot."
He blinked at her. "What?"
"I suggest you go take a look at the drain in the shower."
Crap. Had he really forgotten to clean...? Apparently so.
She watched as comprehension dawned on his face and he rose from the futon.
"Right," he mumbled, hurrying past her, avoiding her eyes as best he could.
Kagome turned on her heel and marched to her room, slamming her door and dropping her towel to the floor. She scavenged around the mess of clothes and papers on the floor, searching for her pajamas. Finally she spotted telltale navy blue plaid underneath a sweatshirt.
As she was pulling a gray t-shirt over her head, a horrified expression crept across her face. I just...waltzed out there...sopping wet...in nothing but a towel. To yell at him for shedding in my shower. She groaned inwardly, t-shirt halfway over her head. She yanked it the rest of the way down. Well fuck. She still had to go back out there to brush her teeth and make sure Inuyasha didn't need anything before they hit the hay. She would just act like she'd hadn't completely embarrassed herself and get on with getting ready for bed. Right.
Inuyasha screwed the drain back in place, trying his best to focus on the motion and not the images of a very wet Kagome wrapped in a towel that kept cavorting through his brain. Why did she have to come out looking like that? He groused internally. It just wouldn't leave him alone. She probably didn't even think about it...She was just peeved. He stood and opened the door... and found himself face to face with Kagome.
"Um-"
"So-"
They looked away from each other. Kagome took a deep breath.
"SorryIcameoutherelikethatinatowelImeanIdidn'tmeantoembarrassyouand -" She stopped. What happened to pretending like nothing had happened? "Uh, did you clean my drain?" There. Much better.
He shifted. "Uh, yeah."
"Good." A pause.
"Um..."
"Thanks."
"Yeah...I'll uh, try not to forget again."
"Okay."
Really, this was ridiculous.
"I'm gonna, uh, go finish checking my email."
"Right. Well, um, let me know if you need anything."
"Yeah."
They stood a moment longer, avoiding each other's eyes, but somehow managing to catch the corners of glances anyway.
"Right."
"Okay."
They moved at the same time, trying to go around each other, but ending up almost knocking heads as they moved in the same direction.
"Sorry."
"Sorry."
Kagome shook her head. "This is dumb. Here-" She gently pushed him toward the doorway to the living room as she slid past him next to the wall.
Inuyasha tensed slightly at her unexpected touch. He hoped she didn't notice. He heard her shut the bathroom door behind him and he exhaled. Well that wasn't awkward at all. He made his way to the futon and pulled his phone out again, setting about deleting the mostly spam messages in his inbox. It wasn't all spam though, and he saw he had a message from Kaede. What does that old bat want now? He opened the email.
Hello Inuyasha,
I wanted to remind you that you and Kagome are supposed to attend a training session at 9 a.m. sharp tomorrow morning. I heard you had quite an eventful night, so I expect to hear yours and Kagome's takes on it when you arrive at the studio. We need all the information we can get. Hope you and Kagome are both all right. See you the morning.
Kaede
Inuyasha groaned. That's right, it's "Kagome's personal punching bag" time tomorrow...Well that's just great.
"What's the matter?" Kagome's voice floated across the room over his thoughts.
He turned to glance at her. "We have training tomorrow at Fujiwara."
Kagome echoed Inuyasha's groan. "Ah, crap, I forgot about that," she said, palming her forehead.
"Yeah. 9 a.m. sharp."
"Well that's just great. I'm gonna regret that DDR even more now...ugh."
That's right, he thought, maybe this won't be quite so bad as I was expecting...
"What are you smirking about?" she asked irrtatedly.
"Heh, nothin.'"
"What?" She insisted.
He relented. "Just that it's only fair since you get to beat up on me tomorrow."
She paused, a smirk of her own winding its way across her mouth. "Hm, you're right, I do. I guess you'll get the full brunt of my bad mood then..." She grinned wickedly. "I'll be really sore, and I'm not a morning person..."
She pranced out of the room, leaving Inuyasha with his mouth hanging slightly ajar.
That little-
...
Yayyyy, new chapter. :) This took a little longer than I wanted it to, but oh well. So, just to refer back to what I was saying at the beginning of the chapter about the section with the "weird punctuation" and stuff, the scene where that was applied was when Kagome was having her flashback episode at Inu's apartment. I'm really curious what you guys thought of how that was played out/described, so please let me know in the reviews if you feel so inclined. And I really do appreciate it when y'all take the time to review; it lets me know that you're reading and inspires me to keep on writing! So please please keep those comments coming; it means so much to me as a writer to hear what you all think!
<3 ebj