InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Possessing ❯ Chapter 3

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

 

Chapter 3

 

 

 

 

The next morning, Kagome didn’t feel like doing her usual morning chores around the house because she was worn out from her two days of training. They really put her to the test, having her run and jump and dodge all while firing arrows at moving targets. It was definitely more complicated than shooting a stationary target while standing still! But thankfully since she had already had standard archery practice growing up she’d been able to skip beginner’s archery training and jump right into the battle training. Next month she’d start training in the field with some of her town’s local taijiya, so that she could get to know, and learn how to work with, the people she would be fighting alongside in the event of a genuine youkai attack. For right now, though, she didn’t want to think about that. All she wanted to do was sit on the couch and watch TV for the next few hours. After getting some food in her stomach.

 

Sympathizing, Inuyasha didn’t hesitate to fix Kagome breakfast when he saw the way she was walking as she headed downstairs. At first she was going to pour herself a bowl of cereal before sitting down in the living room, but shooing her out of the kitchen he got to work cooking her up some French toast, instead. Kagome knew not to look a gift horse in the mouth and just murmured a tired “Thank you,” before heading into the living room and having a seat on the couch. Inuyasha came in a few minutes later with two plates of French toast, and they ate their breakfast together while watching the morning game shows.

 

After breakfast Inuyasha also offered to do her usual chores for her, in addition to his own, but waving off his offer that time, Kagome pointed out that the house wasn’t going to fall to pieces from one day of neglect and instead invited him to skip his own housework and continue watching TV with her instead. He readily agreed, and together they both enjoyed the next few hours of simply being in each other’s company, neither of them needing to think about what to say as the TV did the talking for them.

 

They let the entire first half of the day breeze by like that, and then after a light lunch of ham and cheese sandwiches, Kagome decided to soak her aching muscles for a while in the bath, so that she’d be nice and refreshed for dinner that night, Inuyasha spending the time on the computer. Even after hearing Kagome get out of the bathroom he stayed online, just browsing around like he liked to do, but he kept an eye on the time. He knew they’d be going out to dinner at sundown, so he’d make sure to start getting ready on time. Right now he was just wearing his pajama bottoms and a t-shirt, what he’d had on all day. Not usually ever leaving the house meant that he didn’t usually ever need to get dressed, although he showered regularly because unlike Shiro, he didn’t hate baths.

 

The rest of the afternoon went by fairly quickly, the hanyou getting lost in YouTube again. Kagome heard his occasional laugh from across the hall but didn’t want to intrude, so she left him be until it was time to start getting ready for dinner. Letting Shiro out, first, so that the dog could do his business and be all set to stay in the house by himself for a couple of hours, she then went back up to her room and played the usual game of figuring out what to wear. This time, because she wanted tonight to be special, she decided to ask Inuyasha what he was planning on wearing.

 

“I dunno,” he answered with a shrug, glancing up at her as he put the video on pause. “Did you want me to wear something specific?” he asked her then. “That’s fine by me. Just tell me what.”

 

“How about a black shirt and jeans?” she stated since he’d given her the option. She had a nice black blouse that the locket he’d given her would look good against, and she really wanted to match him if at all possible.

 

“Sounds good,” he answered.

 

“Okay cool. I’m going to start getting ready,” Kagome said then before disappearing into her bedroom and closing the door.

 

Inuyasha finished watching the last video in the series he’d been watching, first, and then getting off the computer, he too started getting dressed for dinner. Putting on a nice pair of bleached jeans with a nice solid black t-shirt, his still-canine ears swiveled on the top of his head a few minutes later as he heard Kagome approach his bedroom doorway.

 

“Knock knock,” she said, in her usual cheery tone. She was dressed in darker blue jeans and a black blouse, the locket he’d given her two nights ago hanging around her neck, the silver and pink a nice contrast against the black fabric of her shirt.

 

“Hey,” he replied in greeting, before turning his attention to the mirror on the wall, above his dresser.

 

He watched his own reflection as the change consumed him, then, his silvery white hair bleeding to black at the same time that his ears morphed and moved, simultaneously changing shape and relocating until they became human ears on the sides of his head. The sensation was weird, and unpleasant, but it wasn’t actually painful. At least not when it wasn’t brought on by a bolt of reiki. What bothered him the most was the changes he could feel happening deep inside his head, as his very skull changed shape, his inner ear canals and ear drums relocating themselves, and then after that there was the precise moment his sense of hearing, and smell, switched from demonic in nature to completely, fully, utterly human.

 

It was a surprisingly abrupt change for a process that took several seconds to complete. Despite his outward appearance during the change, his heightened demonic senses were a result of his youki, and that part of him more or less flipped off like a light switch at the very end of his transformation. His hearing didn’t just gradually get less and less sensitive, like listening to a steady sound getting farther and farther away. Perhaps it did to a point, as his canine ears became elfin before rounding at the tips, but then at the very end the biggest drop in hearing, and smell, was always abrupt, and he was always unprepared for it, no matter how many times he watched himself change in the mirror.

 

He’d explained it to Kagome when she’d asked. He couldn’t blame her for being curious, and he’d done his best to come up with an appropriate analogy.

 

Like an open window letting in a cold winter’s breeze, he’d explained, as the window was closed it would allow a little bit less of the cold to come through, but leave it open even a crack and you’d still be able to feel the chill of the outside air getting in. Close the window that last tiny bit of the way and there would be a resounding click as suddenly, the cold was completely shut out, and you would immediately feel the significant difference.

 

Of course, that analogy hadn’t been perfect as it’d compared his youki to something unpleasant and the losing of it as a relief, but she’d still understood what he’d been getting at. That last sudden ‘click’ as his ears lost so much sensitivity, so quickly, was the auditory equivalent of suddenly being plunged into darkness, without his demonic night vision of course. Trying to listen to the world around him as a human was as disconcerting as trying to see in the dark as one, without even the moon to light his way.

 

But he was used to it, and even with as unpleasant as his human nights were, for the past year he’d actually found himself looking forward to the experience. Sure, it was harder to keep his emotions in check, and after realizing he was in love with Kagome a part of him was terrified that he’d one day accidentally do something to let her know how he felt while they were out on their little excursions, but be that as it may he wouldn’t give up his monthly nights out with Kagome for anything.

 

While in a way, yes, it was torture to be with her on his human night, it was also actually better, because of his feelings for her, that they were always out in public. Being around other people helped to keep him on his best behavior. He didn’t even want to think about what he might unintentionally say or do if they spent a new moon night all alone together at the house. Besides all that, the new moon was also more simply his only time of the month when he could, in fact, leave the house, and the fact that Kagome took him out, that he got to go do things on his human nights now – his mother had been too afraid to risk it before, and alone, after her death, he’d been too frightened, too, and had spent his human nights awake and afraid up in the attic – he wasn’t about to walk away from this opportunity to go experience things in the human world, burdensome human emotions be damned.

 

Their monthly ‘date night’ had evolved naturally from Kagome originally thinking of other stuff they could do together on his human nights after their trip to the mall. She’d suggested they just go out to eat at a nearby restaurant on their third ever new moon together because she’d wanted to do something with him that wouldn’t be so overwhelming in comparison to the mall. Dinner had then turned out to be such a good idea that the next new moon she’d just picked a different restaurant, and then again the new moon after that, and then the new moon after that. Now it was a given, their monthly tradition, and Inuyasha was looking forward to seeing where she took him this month.

 

Sure, she could always order food to go from these various restaurants so he could try the dishes as his hanyou self, and in fact she had brought home various meals when he’d been torn regarding what to order so he’d picked one thing with her promise that she’d bring him the other meal the next night, but trying the cuisine was really only part of it. She also wanted to show him the world, let him interact with other people when he was human and as far as they were concerned he was always human. With nobody aware he was actually a hanyou he got treated with respect by everyone, including the wait staff. He’d never been called sir before, and it was a rare and special treat. Kagome was glad she could give it to him.

 

Not that there was really anything wrong with being hanyou in Kagome’s book, but considering society’s view, she really did wish, for Inuyasha’s sake, that purification had turned out to be an option for turning him human at will. Sure, he still couldn’t have truly existed as a functioning member of society, considering he had no paperwork and therefore no identity, but being able to go out and about more often than one night a month would have been worth it in and of itself, even without having an ID or birth certificate.

 

Still, both of them would take what they could get. Inuyasha got to experience what being ‘normal’ was like one night a month, and Kagome got to pretend she and Inuyasha were more than just friends and roommates, because yes, she was well aware of what their little monthly ‘outings’ looked like to random outside observers not in the know, and just like Inuyasha enjoyed letting everyone assume he was human, she enjoyed letting everyone assume they were together. She even suspected the hanyou-turned-human shared a similar fantasy, but she hadn’t braved broaching the subject yet.

 

At any rate, with Inuyasha’s transformation complete, it was time to hit the road. With each of them unaware of what the other was thinking, they each told themselves that now wasn’t the time for such thoughts as it was time to simply focus on living in the now and enjoying their new moon night out together.

 

“Be a good boy while we’re gone Shiro,” Kagome said to the dog that’d been resting on Inuyasha’s bed the whole time.

 

Shiro, used to the occasional change in Inuyasha’s scent and no longer freaked out by his transformations, merely cracked an eye open to look at them both before getting up and readjusting himself before plopping back down, his back turned to the humans.

 

“So sorry to have disturbed you,” Inuyasha drawled sarcastically, and then smiling as Kagome giggled, they headed out.

 

The drive to the restaurant was peaceful, Inuyasha doing an expert job of keeping his heightened human emotions under wraps. He grinned at Kagome whenever she smiled his way, but made sure not to stare at her for too long at any point. She’d told him she was taking him someplace special this time, which was a funny thing to say when, as a hanyou, going to any restaurant was special, but he realized what she meant when they pulled up at a cute little ramen shop.

 

“Ramen!” he blurted before he could contain himself, earning a snorted laugh from the miko.

 

“Happy anniversary,” she joked, earning surprised eyes of chocolate brown from her temporarily human companion as a faint blush rose up on his cheeks.

 

Of course, he understood what she meant, that it’d been a year since they’d met, but his traitorous human emotions wanted it to mean so much more. Especially since she was wearing the necklace he’d given her, as if she understood that it too had been an anniversary gift in addition to merely a thank you.

 

Mentally kicking herself for the comment upon seeing his reaction, Kagome abruptly decided she was not yet ready to brave having any kind of a discussion along those lines, and so to hopefully seem oblivious she immediately started rambling.

 

“I just realized the other day, like, I know how much you like ramen, so how the hell have I never taken you to a ramen shop before now, right? On the other hand, be prepared for this experience to ruin instant ramen for you forever because nothing compares to the real thing.”

 

Recovering quickly when Kagome kept talking, taking advantage of those precious few extra seconds to get his heart rate back under control, Inuyasha offered her one of his perfected ‘normal’ smiles, then, and replied that it was better late than never, in regard to her taking him to a ramen shop.

 

“I promise it won’t turn me off to the instant stuff,” he added with a genuine chuckle because there was no way he’d ever stop liking instant ramen. That freshly made ramen was even better, though, was undoubtedly the case, and so he was definitely looking forward to this experience.

 

Getting out of her car, then, awkward moment successfully behind them, they went together into the cute little noodle shop. It was nowhere near as fancy an establishment as a lot of the other places she’d taken him to, and she’d never taken him to a really fancy restaurant because even she felt out of place in those places, but the smile on Inuyasha’s face as his human nose worked overtime trying to take in what he could of all the various smells told Kagome she’d made the right decision. She might just bring him back to this place from now on if he loved it as much as she thought he was going to. She’d also make sure to bring home the occasional dinner from there for him to enjoy when he was his hanyou self, too.

 

It took the hanyou-turned-human a few minutes to decide what to order, because he couldn’t put food away as a human the same way he could as a hanyou, otherwise he would have wanted to order one of every flavor, but finally deciding on beef ramen because come on, it was beef, his eyes nearly crossed when he took his first bite from how absolutely unbelievably good it was.

 

Kagome smirked. She would definitely be bringing him here from now on.

 

Dinner was a quiet, peaceful affair, Inuyasha even letting Kagome take a picture of him with her phone for her locket because she wanted to capture that beautiful smile of his while he was so happy. A smile that grew when she whispered to him that she’d bring home dinner from there on occasion so that he could really smell and taste it. With as amazing as the freshly made ramen was even to his human palate he couldn’t wait to try the stuff as a hanyou. He would still like the instant stuff, because it had its own certain charm, but he understood, now, when she’d joked that the real thing would ruin instant for him. He would just try to think of them as two separate food entities, because while the instant was good, it certainly didn’t compare to freshly made.

 

In fact dinner was so good that Inuyasha asked Kagome if they could order two more meals to go when they were finished eating, and laughing, she agreed. It wouldn’t be the first time he’d had ramen for breakfast, but she imagined that even a day old and microwaved the instant stuff would pale in comparison.

 

Arriving back at home a short while later, Shiro happily greeted the duo, and then slipping off their shoes in the entryway, Inuyasha headed over to the couch and grabbed the TV remote while Kagome put the bag with their to-go containers of ramen in the fridge. She then came back into the living room and joined Inuyasha on the sofa while the hanyou-turned-human flipped through the channels to find something good.

 

Even though he knew he was safe now, he hadn’t slept on his human nights since his mother’s death, and when he’d originally told Kagome, after they’d gotten back home after dinner at her family’s house that first new moon night eleven months ago, she’d both surprised and truly touched him by insisting that she’d stay up with him, to keep him company, and it had become another one of their monthly new moon traditions ever since.

 

She’d take him out of the house for a little while so that he could go do something in the human world, but then when they got back home the two of them plopped down in front of the TV together. Fortunately the new moon had not yet ever coincided with her training with the Spiritual Forces, which was the first weekend of every month. If the new moon ever fell on a night when she had training the next day he wouldn’t let her stay up with him, insisting she get some sleep, but so far so good, and with Kagome having no plans the following day they found an entertaining channel to lose themselves in for the rest of the night.

 

oooooooooooooooooooo

 

The next couple of weeks went by uneventfully. With Kagome having no job to go to she kept herself busy most days by doing housework, because that place definitely needed it. It was a decent size house, after all, and there were lots of things to dust, the floor needed to be cleaned regularly thanks to Shiro, and even if she took to wearing the same thing most every day like Inuyasha did she still knew she’d wind up with a pile of laundry somehow or another.

 

Inuyasha helped with the chores, of course. He’d had to let the place go on purpose, before, when it’d needed to appear completely abandoned. In fact a lot of the time that’d meant staying up in the attic so as not to get footprints in the dust, except whenever he’d deliberately left footprints in the dust to freak someone out, but now that the two of them were living together like normal people he definitely wasn’t going to make Kagome do all the work when it came to taking care of his mother’s home. They had a routine where they did various cleaning chores together in the mornings and then enjoyed TV in the afternoons, usually something simple like the game show network, and then in the evenings they’d do their own thing, which was when Inuyasha spent most of his time online, as did Kagome, although her computer time involved email and Facebook more than anything else. Not that she posted much about her life on social media – and certainly nothing about Inuyasha’s existence – but she used the platform to stay in touch with her family and friends more often than talking or texting on the phone.

 

It might seem like a boring life, and in some ways it was, which was one of the reasons why she’d joined the Spiritual Forces, because that monthly training mixed up her routine and gave her something to do, but boring was also peaceful and hey, the kami had gifted her with lottery winnings, so she was damn well going to enjoy not needing to work for a living. Plus living with Inuyasha made a world of difference, because she wasn’t alone, then, just living by herself. Now that would have been boring. But so much of their world was still new to Inuyasha, and one thing she absolutely enjoyed was watching him watch all of her various favorite movies that he’d never seen before.

 

She also took advantage of having so much free time to read, because she loved reading fiction, although ever since realizing her feelings for Inuyasha she stayed away from romance novels. Her imagination didn’t need any help, for one thing, and she certainly didn’t need to get any ideas in her head to try something that might turn out to be a horrible idea in her situation. The last thing she needed to do was start ‘innocently’ acting provocative in an attempt at getting under his skin. She just needed to find her courage and talk to him, tell him how she felt and ask him straight out how he felt for her in return, and she did plan on doing that...eventually. In the meantime, she’d continue to ‘release some tension’ in the shower whenever the situation called for it – she knew better than to do anything in her bedroom, hanyou ears and noses! – and maybe one day he’d end up being the brave one, telling her how he felt. If he ever did, she would definitely immediately tell him how she felt in return.

 

Hey, she could dream.

 

Oh boy did she have dreams.

 

But the problem was she didn’t really know how he felt for her in return. Sometimes she suspected he might love her as she loved him, but then she’d convince herself it was just her imagination. Wishful thinking. She didn’t even know how he thought, much less how he felt, about...well, anything. On the one hand yes, he was half human and therefore had the mind of a human, but he was also half canine, and as such had canine traits as well, so what if the love he felt for her, that she thought she saw in his eyes on occasion, was really just like the love Shiro felt for her? What if it was just really powerful platonic love? Shiro wasn’t in love with her, after all. He was a dog, and she was his human. What if it was the same for Inuyasha? Well, except for his human nights, of course, and there were times when she was sure she’d caught him staring at her, but like the chicken shit that she was she’d pretended not to notice.

 

Oh well, one of these days she’d work up the nerve to broach the subject. Either that or one day something would happen that would thrust the conversation upon them, and for better or worse she’d roll with it. In the meantime, though, she was just going to enjoy her boring, peaceful day-to-day life with Inuyasha.

 

She had no idea how soon her ‘boring, peaceful’ life was going to get a major shakeup.