InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ One Can Only Wander For So Long ❯ Behind Closed Doors ( Chapter 6 )

Disclaimer - Of course, I don't own the Inuyasha characters.

Original A/N - This chapter deals with Kagome's house, and gets into a lot of detail on what rooms are where, and his thoughts on things as he comes across them. If you're really in a hurry, you don't NEED to read this chapter, but it does give a better feel as to how the house is laid out. One of the illustrations released with this chapter is my blue-print attempt at her estate. I think it's a good reference for myself to know where rooms are, and a good way to help you, the readers, to visualize where things are and how things are set up. Eventually I'll post a blueprint of sorts.

New A/N: Yikes! I can't believe I came up with two illustrations in one day! Hurray! Ok, so here's the next chapter. Kind of short, so I'm glad I got both out in one day, so not to leave you guys with barely anything.

Illustration: (delete the spaces) www. mediaminer. org/ fanart/ view.php / 156341

`This is thought'

"This is speech"

~* Starts a flashback

*~ Ends a flashback

~~~ Signifies a change in the point of view.

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One Can Only Wander for So Long

By Alesyira

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Chapter Six - Behind Closed Doors

Kagome's upstairs bathroom astounded Inuyasha. She had a huge cream-colored Jacuzzi tub installed right in front of the bathroom door, so it was the first thing his eyes fell on when he walked into the room. Kagome walked over to the tub and twisted some knobs, allowing the warm water to flow freely. She held her hand under the water, waiting for it to reach a pleasant temperature.

Inuyasha was unsure why he was so calm in her presence; he had no reason to trust her, yet she had shown no reasons for him to be wary of her... He looked up at her when she waved at him to come closer. He met her eyes and felt lost in the soft blue pools. Kagome smiled at him, and the sound of her voice broke him out of the daze he had fallen into.

"Come on, then, hop in the tub, we need to get you all clean." He studied her for a moment, then looked in the pristine, sparkling tub and thought about it for a moment. He suddenly felt very guilty; he knew he would shed like no tomorrow with a thorough scrubbing. He huffed and shook his head once, turning to pad back out of the room.

He turned his attention to a quick explore of the house. He found that to his left, a door led to a large bedroom decorated in shades of blue and gray. Kagome's scent was strongest here; it seemed that this was the room she slept in. Inuyasha had to drag himself away from the area to finish exploring the rest of the house. The fluttering in his stomach faded as he made distance from that place; it was a very new smell to him, and it would take some getting used to. He'd come back later... he was going to enjoy being in this house, especially that room... His mouth tilted in a slight grin - as much as was possible for a dog, anyways, and turned around to find two more doors on the floor.

All of the door handles were rather easy to open. Inuyasha placed his paw on the curvy handle and it tilted downwards, the door swinging in slightly with his weight. He poked his head into the two rooms, noticing they were each fitted with beds and dressers. The second of the two had several landscape paintings adorning each wall. All of the pieces looked to have been created by the same artist, and interest won him over as he stepped more into the room.

~~~

Kagome watched the dog curiously as he turned around and padded out of the bathroom. She was pretty sure he understood what she wanted him to do, but what was that look he gave her? And why did he look at the tub like he suddenly didn't want one? Kagome was feeling rather confused.

Earlier, when she had asked the dog to follow her so he could get a bath, he had hopped off the couch, looking pretty interested. He had followed her quietly up the stairs and watched as she started the water. But as soon as she mentioned he'd be bathing in her Jacuzzi...

Kagome turned off the water and stepped out of the bathroom, wiping her hands on her shorts. She turned to her left to see the dog pulling his head out of her bedroom. She raised an eyebrow as she saw him stumble a little bit and shake his head, almost like he had gotten dizzy. He padded past her and, to her surprise, raised a paw to the door handle of a guestroom and pulled it down, opening the door.

She was at a loss for words. She thought he was well trained, following verbal commands pretty easily, but opening doors in a house he'd never been to before? Perhaps his last owners had doors similar to these. They weren't normal doorknobs so to speak, they were softly curving handles that opened when you pushed down on them.

(A/N - Door handles like these are similar to toilet flushers... I can't think of what I could say to make it more clear... *frown*)

She watched him curiously as he took a glance in the first room he came to, then he turned around and opened the second guestroom door and took a look inside there as well. That was the room she hung her favorite landscape works in, for it had large windows that caught the morning sun well, providing the same light that fell into the library while she painted.

She found her paintings looked the best in that light, especially the ones she painted after her camping trips in the woods. The first rays of the sun in the morning made the acrylics seem to come alive. She walked over after she saw him disappear into the room, pushing the door wide open to see what he was doing... and to her amazement, found him ...studying the paintings on the wall?

She frowned in confusion and rubbed her head a little. `...the thing must have hit my head harder than I thought...' The dog looked up at her for a moment, studying her - with concern?! - , then turned his attention back to the walls, looking more closely at one of the paintings that depicted a cascading waterfall in the midst of a tropical forest.

He stood shortly afterwards and walked past her, out of the room, seemingly intent on exploring the rest of the house as he padded down the stairs carefully. Kagome worried for a moment that he hadn't quite healed enough to be wandering around on the stairs, but her concerns were dashed when he leapt the last four steps into the foyer.

~~~

`This house is really interesting; it beats the hell out of that damned forest. Everything smells so good... Wow! Those paintings look real! I wonder if she painted all of these...' His thoughts were running wild as he stared hard at the vibrant colors of the room. He heard Kagome walk in behind him, and looked up to see her rubbing her head. `I hope she's ok from that attack...'

He left the room, again promising to himself to visit the place later for closer inspection. He could hear her as she followed him down the stairs. At the base of the stairs, he looked to the right and saw the library he had woken up in. To his left seemed to be another hallway. Turning around, he saw that behind him were sliding wall panels left open to reveal a large dining room.

He walked slowly into the dining room, getting a good look at the dining table and chairs arranged lengthwise next to a wall lined in very tall glass doors framed in cream-colored translucent drapes. Various scenes flashed through his head when he heard Kagome step into the room, most involving robbers attacking his woman...

He nodded to himself. He sat a moment and looked up at the captivating female following him silently through the house. He studied her carefully, from her soft face to her silky black hair pulled into a now-loose ponytail behind her. She shifted slightly under his gaze, slightly unnerved by his very un-dog-like behavior.

His gaze swept down her body, noticing the tan of her shoulders under her tank top, the soft curves of her chest and hips, and her long, toned legs. He wanted to smirk in satisfaction; he had found a damned good woman to spend the rest of his life with. Both his body and mind acknowledged it, from the way his senses reeled when she was close to him, to the way he felt content when she ran her fingers through his fur. He felt safe and content being around her - his half a century of loneliness almost forgotten.

He sighed and went back to exploring the house; she could love him as a dog, and, he supposed, having any sort of affection from her was infinitely better than being alone again. A left glance showed him the living room, and the room to the right showed cabinets and counter-tops. `Mmm... food... Food will be a very good thing... just as soon as I can get clean...'

He padded through the tile-floored kitchen, noting another two doors just after the hall juncture he had seen from the foyer. One door looked to lead outside; a small beam of sunlight still spilled around the curtain draped over the window. The other door was slatted and smelled like a pantry as he stopped nearby. A few steps into the hallway he discovered his bathing solution.

He stopped for a moment, looking at the bathroom to his left. This was a much better place for him to rinse; it was definitely less fancy than the one upstairs. He turned around and looked at Kagome expectantly. Her mouth fell open as he walked into the room and over to the tub, putting his paw on the rim and waiting for her to start the water. She walked over and turned the knobs to dispense the water at a comfortable temperature, retrieving a bottle of shampoo from under the sink. Inuyasha opened his mouth in a dog-like grin and leapt into the tub, splashing water all over Kagome as she turned back toward him

Kagome coughed and sputtered, wiping the water from her eyes, then looking at him in confusion. "I guess you're a playful dog, aren't you?" She smirked at him and rubbed him vigorously on the top of the head. "Silly boy."

Kagome read the shampoo label carefully. "I think this is mild enough for your skin... I really need something to help get your fur cleaned. I hope you don't mind smelling a bit like oranges," she said, a small smile on her lips as she worked the soap into his fur. He was soon covered in suds, standing in foot deep water as Kagome turned the water back on to rinse his fur clean.

He quickly noted the water running cleaner along with the massive amount of fur he had shed from her thorough scrubbing and nodded once. He would have hated to destroy her beautiful tub upstairs with this mess, even if he was only supposed to be `a dog.'