InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Possessing ❯ Chapter 2

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

 

Chapter 2

 

 

 

 

Sleep was illusive for the miko at first, her muscles throbbing even after taking some OTC pain pills. Lying there awake for a while, Kagome couldn’t help it when her thoughts began to wander, as she glanced at the locket she’d placed on the nightstand beside her, the silver plated metal illuminated slightly by the light of her digital alarm clock. She was still wrapping her head around the fact that Inuyasha had bought her a necklace, and she knew it wasn’t intended as a romantic gesture, but even so, it made it obvious to her that he cared for her deeply in some capacity or another. She believed him that he’d wanted to thank her for her own kindness towards him over the last year. It could also function as an anniversary present of sorts.

 

Man, has it really been a year already?

 

Yes it had. They were in the beginning of October now, and it’d been around the beginning of October last year when she’d bought the house. She remembered now; Halloween had been only a little over a week after she’d discovered Inuyasha in the attic, and the holiday had gone by mostly unacknowledged because after all the hustle and bustle of trying to get the place restored, while also trying to get to the bottom of the ‘haunting’ she’d known hadn’t been a ghost but had not expected to be a near century old hanyou protecting his childhood home – boy had that been a surprise! – she had been quite thoroughly done with spooky and had opted to just pass out candy to the neighborhood kids while Inuyasha hid upstairs.

 

She’d told him he could join in with the candy giving if he wanted, to because nobody else was a reiki user and therefore wouldn’t know he was a real hanyou, but looking back on it, she couldn’t blame him for having been so skittish. They’d barely begun getting to know each other at the time. Trust had to be earned.

 

Telling him he was welcome to remain in the house with her had been a no-brainer, though, and she’d never once regretted the decision. It was his house. How could she rightfully kick him out? And she’d realized pretty quickly that he could have actually done her serious harm, could have killed her, if he’d wanted to, but he hadn’t. Instead, he’d merely tried to frighten her away by making her think the house was haunted, something he’d done several times in the past quite successfully. She couldn’t even begin to imagine what life must have been like for him all these years alone, after his mother’s death. There was just no way she could have banished him to life in the forest after that.

 

Though of course, that said, it wasn’t as if living with him had been a totally smooth transition.

 

It had actually been awkward as hell at first, especially sharing the one bathroom, but remembering her high school friends’ stories about their college dorm roommates had had Kagome at least feeling grateful that she and Inuyasha had their own separate bedrooms. She’d also realized that she’d better do the best she could to help him get to know her instead of them trying to avoid one another day in and day out.

 

Of course, that he’d known practically nothing about her aside from the fact that she was a powerful miko who loved his mother’s house and planned on living in it rather than flipping it, but yet he’d instantly accepted her invitation to remain living in the house as well, with her, had in and of itself told Kagome a lot about him. It’d told her how much he loved the house, for one thing. Or perhaps how frightened he was at the prospect of living in the wild.

 

Perhaps both. And that he’d feared the other youkai of the world more than her had told Kagome that he’d trusted her at least enough to believe she’d keep her promise of letting him remain living there.

 

Of course, he was inu and could undoubtedly smell hostile intentions, and had therefore detected none in her. So perhaps it hadn’t so much been her he’d trusted, then, but his own instincts, which had told him she wasn’t a threat. That might’ve made it less of a leap of faith on his part, if that were the case, but it’d still told her a lot about his character either way.

 

So she’d made a point of getting to know him, and letting him get to know her. That very first morning after discovering him in the attic she had surprised the hell out of him by making him breakfast, and to his credit he’d only shown slight hesitation before agreeing to sit down to eat with her. Aside from the times either of them just grabbed the odd snack throughout the day they’d been having their meals together ever since, too, with Inuyasha sitting at the head of the table, per Kagome’s insistence.

 

That first morning Inuyasha hadn’t been very talkative, at first, but Kagome hadn’t let that dissuade her. She’d just started yammering on about herself to fill the silence. She’d told him about her life growing up at the shrine, being raised by her parents to know that not all youkai were bad and how to tell the difference between peaceful demonic auras and tainted ones, about her little brother, the death of her father, and honing her reiki and ofuda skills under her grandfather’s tutelage while an older miko named Kaede had taught her the bow.

 

Eventually opening up a little bit, himself, Inuyasha had in turn told her more about his mother. About her home schooling him as a kid, as unofficial as it was seeing as nobody knew he existed. But she’d made sure he knew how to read and write, and while her own math skills hadn’t been advanced she’d at least taught him the basics. She’d also bought him history books so he could learn about the world around him, as well as human and youkai biology books. Inuyasha had then hesitantly explained that, when he’d gotten a little older, his mother had also encouraged him to experiment with conjuring up any possible natural youki abilities he might possess, from within the safety of the forest of course, so as not to accidentally destroy the house. During that first breakfast he’d told Kagome how it’d been thanks to his mother insisting he embrace his youkai half and learn how to use his powers that he’d been ready and able to defend himself when he’d tried to go live with the youkai upon his mother’s death and had quickly learned in no uncertain terms that he was not welcome among them.

 

To learn that he had two different youki based ‘attacks’ for lack of a better term, and that he knew how to use them, had not made Kagome fearful of him. There was no need when she had complete confidence in her own abilities and knew she’d be able to defend herself with a barrier if he ever got it into his head to attack her, not that she’d honestly thought for even one moment that he’d ever actually do such a thing, and he’d been able to tell she didn’t fear him, too. It meant so much to him, he’d told her back then, that she hadn’t feared him.

 

Especially since he’d all too recently been trying to frighten her.

 

But even when she hadn’t known who or what he was, she hadn’t been afraid of him. She’d thought he was a prankster kitsune, and then instead of trying to purify him she’d merely tried to lock him out of the house. Then after he’d snuck back in on his human night and the ‘hauntings’ had started up again she still hadn’t tried to harm him, only using her ofuda to isolate him and catch him once and for all. That alone had told him so much about her, he’d explained. It was why he’d been able to take her up on her offer of staying in the house. Just like she’d never believed for even a moment that he would hurt her, so too had he known she wouldn’t harm him, and for the same reason. If she’d wanted to, she would have done so already.

 

Finally nodding off to sleep, Kagome’s last thoughts were about how glad she was that he’d trusted her and hadn’t just decided for himself that he’d better leave, despite her invitation to remain. It’d been weird at first, but now, she couldn’t imagine her life without him in it.

 

Back downstairs, absentmindedly flipping channels, Inuyasha’s thoughts were wandering in similar directions, thinking back on his and Kagome’s time together over the last year, and what it’d been like getting to know her and her family. As Shiro wandered over to him and woofed softly, he nodded, woofed back, turned the TV off, and headed upstairs to go to bed, the akita mix following him up.

 

It wasn’t really as if he could carry on a conversation with Shiro, or at least not one a human would comprehend. Dogs didn’t really speak to each other the same way humans did, like they sometimes portrayed in silly movies where actors provided the voices for the dogs. There were no words per se, but moods. The woof Shiro had given him was not the ‘word’ for bed, but merely articulated the desire to go to bed, and his own woof had been conceding to the other dog’s wish.

 

Yes, the other dog, because his mother had told him to accept his inu-youkai half and it would honestly be downright foolish not to. He was what he was, and denying it wouldn’t change anything. Understanding dogs just came naturally, and in fact, his mother had told him that as an infant he’d whimpered like a dog just as often as he’d cried as a baby, usually doing a combination of both types of sounds during the same moment of upset.

 

That was something he’d unwittingly revealed to Kagome the day she’d unexpectedly come home with young Shiro as a pup, the miko sheepishly apologizing when she’d seen his face, which had looked incredulous, she’d thought, as if he couldn’t believe she’d had the audacity to bring a lower canine into the home, as if she were rubbing the fact that he himself was half canine in his face.

 

That hadn’t been what he’d been thinking at all, of course, his expression instead being a result of what the pup himself had been ‘saying’ for lack of a better term, recognizing Inuyasha as a higher dog in the pack and submitting to him accordingly. He’d just been surprised because no other dogs had ever reacted that way to him before, but he’d figured it was because the pup was just that, a pup, and his only other experiences with mortal dogs had been adult dogs in people’s backyards barking at him as an invader when he’d gotten too close during his occasional observations of humans throughout the years.

 

Of course, to Kagome, Shiro’s submission noises had just been a bunch of random yips and whimpers, and she’d then started to apologize to Inuyasha that bringing home a puppy had clearly been a bad idea, because she’d thought the puppy was scared of Inuyasha, until the hanyou had told her that it was fine and that the pup wasn’t afraid of him but rather just submitting and waiting for his acceptance, which he’d then proceeded to woof at the pup.

 

That had led to a rather awkward conversation with the miko about just how dog-like he really was at times, but much to Inuyasha’s surprise and relief Kagome had not only not been disturbed by this new revelation, but grinning broadly, she’d stated with relief and a bit of a chuckle that good, then, that meant that he could help her potty train the young akita mix because he should just be able to explain it to him. Even though the new floors were water proof, and should then in theory also be potty proof, she’d still been a little worried about the pup making messes in the house. He’d just been soooooo cute and she hadn’t been able to say no when the lady giving him away had given Kagome a ‘the look’ that had rivaled the ‘the look’ by the puppy himself.

 

Reaching over with his hand to ruffle the fur on the top of Shiro’s head as the adult dog lied beside him on his bed in that moment, Inuyasha smiled at the overgrown pup and then gave a soft woof for him to go to Kagome now, which Shiro did after delivering a quick lick across the hanyou’s cheek that had Inuyasha playfully grimacing before wiping his face with the back of his hand.

 

Thinking about the dog, and about his own dog-like qualities, Inuyasha sighed as he once again found himself questioning...more like analyzing, really...his feelings for Kagome. He knew he loved her, but...was it his human half, wanting to be in a relationship with her? Was it his dog half, just loving her the same way Shiro did, because he was her dog and she was his human? Honestly, he felt like it was actually both, but what he didn’t know was what Kagome would think about that. Then there was the minor detail that he knew his human emotions might be skewed by the fact that Kagome was the first person he’d gotten to know since his mother’s death. It was just the two of them, after all, and he lived with her, alone, spending every day with her, and she was kind to him. So of course he’d fall in love with her, right? But not necessarily, he always tried to argue with himself.

 

Not that it really mattered either way, he supposed, unless he ever got brave enough to tell Kagome how he felt. But therein lied a whole slew of dilemmas. What if she thought the only reason he had feelings for her was because of his previous isolation and so he’d latched on to her emotionally? What if it just made things awkward between them if it made her realize she shouldn’t be so friendly with him? The last thing he wanted to do was risk losing her friendship. What if he pushed her to the point of only continuing to allow him to live there because she wouldn’t go back on her promise, but it became clear she didn’t really want him there anymore?

 

Well, he knew the answer to that. He’d leave, as painful as it would be. But would it be leaving the house that he’d hate, or leaving her? At first, all he’d cared about was his home, but now, he knew his loyalty had definitely shifted. He was her dog, she was his human, his inu-youkai side was loyal to her and all that mattered to him was her happiness. If he accidentally ruined their friendship and she wanted him gone he would leave, for her sake, but he would miss her something fierce. No longer was she simply a person, a companion so he was no longer lonely. She was Kagome, and he could be welcomed with open arms into a new home with several people who all accepted him for what he was and he’d still feel all alone in the world if she wasn’t with him. If that wasn’t love, he didn’t know what was. And he knew it wasn’t just his dog half that’d imprinted itself on her because he still felt the same way on his human nights.

 

In fact, in a way, he loved her even more strongly as a human.

 

As a hanyou he was content to just be in her presence. Sure, he wanted more, he wouldn’t lie about that, but he knew it was never going to happen and he could accept that, finding solace in her companionship. As a hanyou he told himself that he would be happy for her if she ever met a human man and fell in love, if she married and her husband moved into the house with them.

 

He snorted at the thought, not of letting her go, but just of her finding another man. How was she even supposed to go about something like that with him around?

 

Welcome! This is my house, oh, and this is my hanyou roommate… he mocked in his head.

 

Well, he supposed such a thing would make a good test to see if the man was truly worthy of Kagome, and he would stay her loyal hanyou companion and protector, her guard dog. He would watch over her family, and gladly babysit their children so she and her husband could go out on dates. A part of him would be sad, forever longing for what could never be, but such was the plight of a dog who wished he were human.

 

When he was human, however, as fleeting as those moments were, all his willingness to just be her loyal lapdog went out the proverbial window, and it was a downright miracle he hadn’t spilled his guts to her yet during one of their ‘dates’ on his human nights.

 

Oh, Kagome didn’t call them dates. She just took him out so that he could see more of the world. The first new moon night after she’d discovered him in the attic had been dinner at the shrine, and then the month after that, shopping at the mall, where, as stressful as that had been, he’d managed to select for himself a fabulous replacement wardrobe and several other personal items Kagome had insisted on buying for him. Because his experience at the mall had been overwhelming, the following month Kagome had offered to just take him out to dinner at one of the local restaurants in town, and he’d agreed simply because he’d wanted to make her happy, even though he’d initially been dreading the experience. But dinner had gone well, and so he’d happily agreed to dinner at a different restaurant every new moon since. Kagome wasn’t really close with any of her neighbors so if anybody saw them coming or going on those nights they probably just assumed he was her boyfriend, which was the assumption most people would have in the restaurants, too, he knew, which had a faint blush staining his cheeks in that moment as he thought about it.

 

Kagome had to realize that the whole thing had seemingly romantic undertones, didn’t she?

 

It was things like that that had the hanyou hoping that maybe it wouldn’t ruin anything if he ever dared tell her how he felt. Maybe...maybe she actually felt something for him in return? He certainly liked to hope she did, at least. She’d probably never say anything, either, if she did, because surely she knew nothing could ever come of it. A hanyou and a human would be bad enough, but a hanyou and a miko? And what would her family think?! No...no there was no way Kagome could allow anything to actually develop between them, and he understood that, but if she did at least have feelings for him, then that had to prove that she really did see him as a person, just like she always claimed. That was enough for him. Or at least, it was when he was hanyou.

 

Crap, and the new moon’s in two days… he realized then.

 

Well, there was no point in dwelling on it. As difficult as it was, as much as his heart ached for her on his human nights, he would never in a million years want to give up his ‘date nights’ with Kagome.

 

Grinning despite himself, Inuyasha was both dreading and looking forward to the rapidly approaching new moon. It was a bit masochistic, perhaps, but it was what it was. In that moment, though, he decided to just stop thinking about it, so that hopefully sleep could claim him. He was successful in that endeavor a few minutes later when he finally nodded off after quieting his own thoughts enough so that his enhanced hearing could lull him to sleep with the sound of Kagome’s even breathing coming from the room across the hall.

 

oooooooooooooooooooo

 

The next morning, neither Kagome nor Inuyasha gave any indication to the other of the direction their thoughts had traveled in the night before. The miko woke up around dawn to Shiro squirming around and rolling on the bed, and after laughing when he attacked her with kisses, before slamming her mouth shut, because he was attacking her with kisses, she then fought her way out of the bed when the overgrown puppy kept climbing all over her and then finally made her way into the bathroom.

 

If Inuyasha hadn’t already been awake the ruckus would have roused him in an instant, but as it was he just laid there grinning to himself, his arms automatically wrapping around Shiro when the akita mix suddenly jumped up onto his bed and then crawled on top of him.

 

Twenty minutes later saw both hanyou and miko downstairs, the latter fixing them both breakfast per their usual routine, although Inuyasha offered to help. Kagome insisted she had everything under control, but at his slightly rejected expression she reminded him he was more than welcome to fix dinner again that evening if he wanted to, which had him adopting an overly dramatic ‘evil’ grin as he rubbed his hands together, which had the miko snorting a laugh as she finished cooking their eggs.

 

After breakfast, she changed back into her miko garb, and with her bow and arrows in her possession, as well as plenty of ofuda, she was out the door and headed back into the city for the second half of her monthly training.

 

Inuyasha made himself busy in her absence by spending most of his time on the Internet, which he did half the time when she was home, too. As much as a part of him would love to, he didn’t want to hover around her 24/7 like a little following puppy dog. That was Shiro’s job.

 

Besides staying updated on the current affairs of the world and human/youkai relations, he also used the Internet to educate himself on all the new products that had been invented over the last forty years, learning about the various updates in cars, and filling in the gaps to explain how landline telephones had morphed into portable mini computers that just happened to also be able to make phone calls, not to mention the history of computers and the Internet itself. He also spent a lot of time listening to the various music he’d missed over the last four decades, and watching videos people had posted of themselves online, simply for the entertainment factor. He saved watching movies for Kagome, as she found a great deal of entertainment, herself, watching his face as he watched her favorites for the first time. He had to admit, the special effects used in modern day sci-fi and horror films was a hell of a lot better than it had been back in his day.

 

Getting lost down a proverbial rabbit hole in YouTube, it wasn’t long before Inuyasha had to peal himself away from his computer to get dinner ready. He prepared meatloaf this time. His mother’s old recipe.

 

When Kagome got home, exhausted from two days straight of strenuous physical activity as her battle skills were put to the test, she had to stop herself from tearing up at the mention that this was one of the first things his mother had ever taught him how to cook.

 

“What’s wrong?” he asked her with a worried edge to his voice as they sat together at the dining table, once he noticed the sting of encroaching tears in the air.

 

“Nothing, nothing…” she assured him, waving it off with the fork she was still holding in her hand, before then biting off the bit of meatloaf that’d been stuck to the end of it. “I’m just tired, and it’s easier for us humans to get overly emotional when we’re physically exhausted.” Laughing, she took another bite, took a swig from her water glass, and then added, “Thank you so much for fixing dinner. I really appreciate it because I’m dead on my feet.”

 

“Now I feel bad that I waited this long to fix dinner on the weekends you train,” he said, a light blush staining his cheeks.

 

“Well don’t,” she insisted.

 

She always kept a supply of instant meal options on hand and they’d always just eaten something like cup noodle or a TV dinner on those previous nights. Not that those were the only nights they’d resorted to something quick and easy.

 

“Heck, half the time we just eat something microwaveable for lunch and dinner even when I’m home all day. It’s not like I’ve always been cooking every night and suddenly just don’t one weekend a month anymore. Home cooked meals from scratch are a rarity in this house and what you’re doing right now is spoiling me rotten, if you must know. I may start wanting you to cook all the time if you’re not careful, so you better knock it off while you can.”

 

She ended her little speech with a laugh that had him chuckling as well.

 

“You’ve done so much for me, given me so much. Cooking for you every night would really be the least I could do in return, to show my gratitude.”

 

Damn, there was that sting of tears again. Inuyasha pretended not to notice as Kagome blinked rapidly a few times. Taking another bite of his meatloaf, he hid a smile as he chewed. His mother had taught him long ago about the existence of happy tears and he realized now that that’s what it was.

 

“At least neither of us have to cook tomorrow night,” he said to change the subject.

 

Of course, thinking about his new moon outings with Kagome had the hanyou wanting to cry a different sort of tears than happy ones, but he wouldn’t lose control over his emotions like that...at least until tomorrow night. At that time, he would do everything within his power to act as normally as possible, but he just knew that one of these days he was going to blow it.

 

“I’m looking forward to it,” Kagome said, completely unaware of where her companion’s thoughts had gone.

 

The idea that she could possibly be looking forward to him losing his control over his emotions had another blush creeping up the hanyou’s cheeks. The one thing emotion-wise he couldn’t prevent from happening while being his hanyou self. Mentally cursing his face’s tendency to broadcast his embarrassment loud and clear, he tried his best to ignore it as he took a sip of water before getting back to eating, and thankfully Kagome seemed to have missed it as she appeared lost in her own thoughts for the moment.

 

She had special plans for tomorrow night, and she was definitely looking forward to it.