InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Possessing ❯ Chapter 7

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

 

Chapter 7

 

 

 

 

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Inuyasha asked as he watched Kagome fiddle with her wig.

 

“That depends on what you mean by good idea,” Kagome giggled as she put the last pin in place. “Only other reiki users will be able to sense what you are, but they’ll also be able to sense what I am, and I have your card in my wallet, just in case.” She patted her right hip.

 

Taking a page from Inuyasha’s playbook, she was wearing a thin pair of shorts under her traditional hakama so that she had pockets, because a purse would not go with this outfit.

 

Giving herself a once over in the mirror, she nodded to herself at a job well done. For someone who’d never really learned how to sew, the facsimile of Inuyasha’s archaic suikan jacket looked pretty good if she did say so herself. It was made from woven cotton fabric she’d found in the right shade of red rather than the fur of the fire-rat, as fire-rats were bred for their wool by daiyoukai, not humans, and with Inuyasha being unwelcome in the youkai world there was no way she could have gotten her hands on the demonic fabric, but that was all right. She probably wouldn’t have been been able to cut or sew it, anyway, or at least not without charging her scissors and sewing needle with reiki. It was a thought to ponder another day, as she turned this way and that in the mirror. The replica suikan was a pretty close color match to her miko hakama, so she hadn’t bothered attempting to make herself a pair of hakama in Inuyasha’s specific style. Hers were more modern, and miko garb, but it was a minute distinction the average person probably wouldn’t notice, or at least care about. Lots of people hobbled together costumes from whatever they could, after all.

 

“As far as all the regular humans of the city will be concerned, you and me are both just fellow humans dressed up as inu-hanyou for Halloween,” Kagome said then, play tweaking one of her own fake canine ear.

 

“Except my ears move,” Inuyasha pointed out, as he deliberately turned his ears back and forth for emphasis.

 

“Just...try not to move them too much,” Kagome said, offering him a small smile as she shrugged. “Most people will probably be too drunk to notice and like I said, I have your card, just in case. Worst that could happen is we’re asked to leave. It’s not like I’m actually breaking any laws by having you with me. I could claim we’re actually working, just in case other youkai thought to infiltrate the city during everyone’s Halloween celebrations. We’re there to keep the public safe.”

 

Inuyasha snorted, but didn’t argue. It was a good cover story, especially since if any random youkai actually did decide to start some trouble he and Kagome would indeed take care of it. And higher youkai could suppress their youki to a point, which probably meant that Kagome wouldn’t be able to sense a troublesome youkai in the city until they were relatively close by. He, on the other hand, would be able to smell the evidence of another youkai, even if they’d passed by that way hours earlier. He might be at the mercy of the direction of the wind when it came to detecting scents on the breeze, but a scent on the ground was a different story, and so logically the more ground they covered while out tonight, walking up and down the streets, heading from bar to bar and club to club, the better. If they got caught, she could claim she was having him scent all the streets to make sure the area was free of other youkai.

 

Adding the finishing touches to her costume, Kagome put in her yellow contact lenses, pocketing their container, before then also applying a set of acrylic fangs over her eye teeth and then putting on white claw press-on nails over her real nails. The result was she was a pretty convincing second inu-hanyou, her wig covering her real ears while it had white dog ears sprouting from the top of it that aside from being immobile looked pretty close to the real thing.

 

Kagome grabbed a handful of sealing ofuda, then, and tucked them into her left pocket, just in case, before the two of them headed downstairs and slipped their bare feet into matching pairs of traditional zori sandals. Heading out the door, Inuyasha found himself sincerely hoping they had a trouble-free night. Having grown up knowing what Halloween was, and having missed out on the childhood experience of Trick or Treating, he was actually looking forward to enjoying the adult experience of a street party.

 

Hell, he’d always look forward to anything that involved an activity shared with Kagome, but getting to do it as himself, without his overwhelming human emotions, meant he could hopefully enjoy their night together without those pesky fleeting moments of longing and depression getting in the way. It was what it was, and tonight was Halloween, which as Kagome had explained meant that for tonight, at least, he could walk around town in all his hanyou glory with everyone none the wiser, and he damn well planned on enjoying it.

 

Heading out front, though, he still couldn’t help glancing around nervously from house to house, as if someone were going to see him and realize what he was, which was silly considering he’d already gone into the city with Kagome once before as a hanyou, and in broad daylight no less. Of course, none of their neighbors had been home then, the adults all at work and the kids at school. Now, though, while the neighbors were all home, and there were actually already kids in the street giddily going from door to door, nobody was paying them any attention as the ‘two hanyou’ got into Kagome’s car and slowly pulled away.

 

“Wow, okay, so here we go. My second time out into the world as my hanyou self, but my first time just hanging out with other people, as if I’m human,” he said excitedly.

 

He’d never even gone out while he really was human until Kagome had entered his life, and now, in just a year, here she had him in his hanyou form, sitting in her car, an approximate half hour drive ahead of them because the Halloween celebrations in their little border town were – according to Kagome – nowhere near as marvelous as the massive street party they threw in the city, on a closed off strip of road where all the best bars and nightclubs were located.

 

Would his demonic senses be overwhelmed in that environment, from too many sounds and smells? Probably. But it was nevertheless an experience he was looking forward to, and in preparation he’d watched videos people had posted online from previous years so he could at least more or less know what to expect. Hoards of drunk humans dressed either as ghosts and youkai, anime characters, or totally random albeit funny and innovative creations. Someone in the background in one of the videos had been dressed as a piece of sushi.

 

He snickered at the memory. Then, as he watched the buildings zip by as Kagome drove down the road, a random idea that popped into his head had him laughing even louder.

 

Grinning herself at the sound of his merriment, Kagome glanced Inuyasha’s way and asked him, “What’s so funny?”

 

“Oh nothing,” he said, as he pushed the button that rolled his window down. “A part of me’s just always wanted to do this, and I suddenly realized I could.”

 

That said, he stuck his head out the window, his mouth open and tongue hanging out as he got blasted in the face by the wind. It was Kagome’s turn to bust up laughing.

 

A little over twenty minutes later, Inuyasha knew they were close when he started to notice cars parked on the sides of the streets everywhere, and then he started to notice costumed humans, adult humans instead of children, some by themselves, others in pairs or groups, all walking in the same direction. A mix of different loud club songs rang out in the air, decipherable to his demonic hearing, but he was sure once they actually arrived at their destination the nearest music would probably be loud enough to prevent him from hearing the other songs clearly.

 

“I guess we should have gotten here earlier,” Kagome said, more talking to herself, as she drove them up and down a few side streets looking for a place to park.

 

Shrugging, Inuyasha said, “I can walk.”

 

Nodding, Kagome turned down another road, and then instead of turning again at the intersection to come back up again, she kept going, down three more blocks, until finally the sides of the road started to open up a bit with multiple places to parallel park. Finding a spot that was just as good as any other on that particular road, knowing that before long all the other free spots would also be filled, Kagome joked, “I guess if I’m too tired to walk back you’ll just have to carry me,” as she and Inuyasha got out of the car.

 

He blushed at her obvious teasing, but then, thinking he’d get her back, he said, “I can also carry you there, if you’d like.”

 

It was her turn to blush, and Kagome knew she’d better not dare try calling his bluff because she wouldn’t put it past him, embarrassed or no, to one up her once again by not conceding defeat. Knowing Inuyasha, he’d actually swoop her up in his arms if she dared him to, smirking at her red cheeks even while conveniently ignoring his own. So instead of egging him on, the miko just laughed again and said “Maybe next year,” before taking his hand and walking down the street with him towards the nightclubs.

 

Smiling one of his rare, genuine smiles, Inuyasha gave Kagome’s hand a little squeeze back when he felt her squeeze his own, realizing as he walked down the street with her that yes, they could do this again next year. And the year after that, and the year after that...

 

For right now, though, Inuyasha wanted to live in the now, and not worry about the future.

 

Arriving on the scene, the music was loud, the smells were overwhelming, and Inuyasha could not have wiped the fang flashing smile off his face if his life depended on it. Kagome grinned his way, her own fake fangs shining when the occasional moving party light hit them just right, and with nobody screaming and running away or even giving them nervous glances the hanyou and miko-dressed-as-a-hanyou both made their way passed the wooden barriers that closed off the main street to traffic, hoards of people milling about in the middle of the road with a giant stage built at the end of the block where a lot of people were gathered for what Kagome had told Inuyasha would be a costume contest held later on in the night for those who wished to participate.

 

They would obviously not be a part of the costume contest, of course, but tugging on his hand, Kagome excitedly rushed Inuyasha towards the bar-slash-nightclub that wouldn’t start carding people at the door for another couple of hours. Inuyasha’s aging had slowed tremendously once he’d reached adolescence, but he wasn’t baby faced, and he could pass well enough for someone roughly around her same age, but with no ID they couldn’t risk him getting carded. As if he wasn’t old enough to drink. She snorted at the thought. The man was three years shy of a hundred. He certainly didn’t act it, though, and Kagome had teased him repeatedly that she hoped she still looked half as good as him when she was in her nineties. The truth was they were both lucidly aware of her mortality, but she was only twenty three and had her whole life ahead of her still, so they’d more or less made a silent agreement to not dwell on it.

 

For the next several decades, at least, Inuyasha would not be alone. And in fact, Kagome realized as she went up to the bar to get their drinks while Inuyasha waited for her at the table they’d miraculously managed to nab, now that he was registered as ‘her’ hanyou with the Spiritual Forces that meant that he would be protected even after her death. After all, the youkai the taijiya used, such as nekomata like Kirara, would all outlive their original human handlers. Normally, Sango had explained, they were kept in the family, meaning her and Miroku’s future children and grandchildren, and so on, would eventually be responsible for Kirara. So assuming she ever did eventually marry and have children, and at least one of those children was a reiki user who wanted to join the Spiritual Forces, Kagome knew Inuyasha would be taken care of that way, but if not, if she died without a family of her own, she was sure Inuyasha would still be taken care of by somebody. There would be Sango and Miroku’s descendants, after all, or perhaps even her own future nieces and nephews as Souta would be continuing the Higurashi family line.

 

All that was a worry for another day, of course, and so as Kagome collected and paid for their first round of drinks she vowed to push such random thoughts to the back of her mind. Tonight was about having mindless fun. But she was glad she’d thought of it because she’d make sure to ask Sango about it later, and if there was any sort of a Will she could leave with the Spiritual Forces that dictated what was to become of Inuyasha. After all, what if she didn’t have decades? What if she accidentally got killed on assignment?

 

Of course, with Inuyasha there by her side as her protector she didn’t honestly fear that outcome ever coming to pass. He would protect her with his life, he’d already told her so to her face, and so if she did fall in battle it would only be because Inuyasha had already fallen, himself, in which case she wouldn’t want to live without him, anyway.

 

Whoa...where did that thought come from?

 

Schooling her features to flash Inuyasha a huge smile as she returned to their table with their drinks, she was grateful the overwhelming mix of smells meant he wouldn’t be able to detect her momentary change in mood.

 

Get it together girl. Okay yes, you know you love him, but it doesn’t matter. And sure, that probably means you’ll never get married, but how could I marry anyone else when I love Inuyasha, anyway? That wouldn’t be fair to anyone involved.

 

“Thanks,” Inuyasha said as he accepted his vodka and cranberry from the miko who then took a sip of her own screwdriver.

 

Kagome had spent the last few days playing bartender at home so Inuyasha could decide what drinks he liked, or didn’t like, so that on Halloween night she could order his drink in confidence and neither of them had to worry about it being something he couldn’t handle. Unsurprisingly, it’d turned out he had a fairly high tolerance for alcohol, but also unsurprisingly he didn’t like the taste and smell of a lot of the darker liquors.

 

“So now what do we do?” he asked her in practically a shout to be heard over the loud club music.

 

Kagome took another sip of her drink then said, “Now, we people watch! And after I’m drunk I’ll want to dance with you so watch out,” she added with a laugh and a wink.

 

He just laughed as well and took a sip of his own drink. The bar they were in was comprised of two large rooms, the main room they were currently in having a giant square shaped bar in the middle with standing-room-only tables lining the walls. There weren’t any seats at the bar, either, he noticed, but figured it was because the place was so packed with people coming and going that sitting casually at the bar was not practical for the time being. The bartenders weren’t even acknowledging anyone who walked up to the bar at some other random spot along its surface, as there were two long lines at the two wells on either side and the bartenders were both continually just helping the next person in line while the bar backs worked tirelessly to keep the ice stocked and to clear off the empty glasses from the people who had left. The room off to the side was the dance floor, and even for as many people that were in the main room with them, the dance floor seemed to house twice as many, everyone dressed in some kind of costume or another, most of them on the risqué side, as they danced together as one giant flowing mass of people moving in time to the music.

 

Glancing at Kagome as she took another sip of her drink, Inuyasha thought about the two of them joining the throngs of people dancing and felt a blush creeping up his cheeks at the mental image of a drunk Kagome throwing herself all over him, but hey, whatever she wanted to do, he was all for it.

 

That thought led to a forbidden thought that had him blushing even darker. He could feel the heat in his cheeks and knew it wasn’t from the alcohol, and he was grateful that Kagome didn’t notice as she was indeed amusing herself by watching all of the other costumed people milling about.

 

The songs all blended together one into the next as the night wore on, literally, because the DJ up in the booth above the dance floor was awesome. The cotton balls Inuyasha had shoved down into his ears prior to leaving the house, both to help with the noise level and to help disguise the fact that his ears were real, only helped a little bit on either front, but he tried his best not to cringe against the loudness of the club music so that his ears wouldn’t involuntarily flatten against his head. It helped that it was not unpleasant noise, like squeaking or grinding metal. He actually liked the modern day dance music, and so as he downed the rest of his drink in a single gulp he tried to just allow the sound waves to wash over him in a loving embrace.

 

“Want another drink?” Kagome shout-asked over said music.

 

“Sure!” he enthusiastically agreed, handing her his empty glass.

 

Taking her drink with her as well, Kagome finished the last of her drink while waiting in line to buy their second round.

 

“Cute costumes!” the woman who came up behind her in line said after a moment.

 

When Kagome turned to look the other woman’s way, the woman, who appeared like she might be dressed as some kind of cat or dog hanyou, herself, nodded her head in Inuyasha’s direction, a huge smile on her face that showed off her own fake fangs.

 

“I think it’s awesome that you got your boyfriend to go along with the whole matching costume thing,” she complimented then.

 

“Thanks!” Kagome replied, easily playing along.

 

Eyeing the woman up and down, she took note of the orange-brown colored ears clipped to the top of her head, her hair brushed forward to hide her real ears, and a matching fluffy tail sticking out of the back of her dress. When the woman saw Kagome giving her outfit a once over she turned to the side to let the miko take it all in, even going so far as to wiggle her butt to make the tail swish back and forth.

 

“Cute!” Kagome said then, as realization dawned. “A kitsune, right?”

 

Of course, the woman wasn’t a real kitsune. There was no way Kagome wouldn’t notice her aura from such close proximity, even with Inuyasha in the same room.

 

“Yup!” she answered with a smile.

 

“I couldn’t talk him into adding a tail,” Kagome ad-libbed then, while making sure to pay attention to the slowly shrinking line of people ahead of her, moving up when everyone else did.

 

“You look fine without one," the woman assured her with a wink.

 

“Thanks,” Kagome answered again, and was thankfully spared needing to come up with any more small talk because right then it was her turn to order. After getting her drinks she said a polite “Have a good one,” that received a “You too,” from the woman in return, and then the miko-turned-hanyou made her way back to the real hanyou who’d just unofficially passed his first test.

 

Most people probably weren’t giving them a second thought, but this woman had obviously been admiring their ‘costumes’ from across the room, and she hadn’t seen anything out of the ordinary when it came to Inuyasha’s appearance.

 

“So far so good,” Kagome said as she got back to the table with their drinks and relayed her brief conversation.

 

A few minutes later, when Kagome was finished with her second drink, she decided to hold off on ordering a third for a little while to let them settle although she gladly got Inuyasha his third when he asked. Knowing how high his tolerance was, Kagome knew he’d go through way more drinks than she would by the end of the night, especially since she couldn’t drink as much as she would if she weren’t driving.

 

Although he ‘did’ offer to carry you to the car, and I bet if you asked nicely he’d carry you all the way home... she thought with a giggle that she couldn’t keep on the inside as it bubbled to the surface, prompting Inuyasha to quirk his own lips in amusement as he asked her what was so funny.

 

“Oh nothing...” she waved off before chuckling again. “I definitely think I’m starting to feel those two drinks, though.”

 

“Does that mean you want to dance now?” he asked with his own chuckle as he quickly downed the rest of his drink.

 

“You know what?” she said then. “Yes, yes I do. We can’t just waste the night away sitting here, after all.”

 

That said, she took Inuyasha’s empty glass to the bar and then the two of them made their way into the adjacent room, where the club music seemed three times louder. A couple other people didn’t hesitate to swoop in and claim their table in their absence, so with that avenue now securely closed behind them there was nowhere else to go but forward, onto the dance floor. The hanyou felt a little nervous at first, especially since if they were ‘caught’ dancing, with his miko being tipsy to boot, it wouldn’t work well towards their excuse that they were just undercover in order to sniff out potentially troublesome youkai, but after glancing around the room and realizing with the crazy flashing, moving lights there was no way any of the way-drunker-than-Kagome humans were going to notice something odd, like his ears moving, Inuyasha decided to stop worrying about all the possible what-ifs and just let himself have a good time.

 

Kagome had certainly adopted that philosophy. The lightly buzzed miko didn’t hesitate to grab Inuyasha’s hand and drag him into the middle of the melee. The hanyou had never done this kind of dancing before, of course...or any dancing, truth be told...but there had been plenty of examples on the Internet, not to mention the other people all around them in that moment. He was a fast learner and just went for it, copying what he saw, Kagome’s laughing, smiling face making his heart feel light even as the loud ass music vibrated in his brain.

 

As a particularly sexy song came on, with the perfect rhythm for pole dancing, Kagome had a split second to make a decision, and thanks to her liquid courage she decided to just go for it. Maybe this was the moment she’d been waiting for, to finally be brave enough to be honest about her feelings. Even though her outfit wasn’t exactly sexy – the baggy suikan and hakama combo left everything to the imagination – when she wrapped her arms around Inuyasha’s waist and wove their legs together, mock-grinding against him to the rhythm, he flushed a deep scarlet as he went along with it. She wasn’t sure if that was a good sign or a bad sign, but for the time being she’d just move to the music and worry about facing the music later, after she sobered up.

 

Inuyasha actually had no complaints. She’d definitely caught him off guard, but he was enjoying every minute of this extra close proximity. He knew everyone would assume they were ‘together’ from the ‘matching costumes’ – and indeed, nobody was giving them odd looks – so he allowed himself this moment to hold Kagome close, the way he’d wanted to for months now.

 

It was excruciatingly intimate, rocking with her in time to the music. Her crotch wasn’t actually touching his thigh, she was sober enough to know not to take things too far into the realm of inappropriate, but he had one of his hands on her back, the other on her hip, and as he moved with her he couldn’t help but let his mind travel in forbidden directions.

 

How he loved this woman. And she swore up and down that she saw him as a person, a man, not an animal, so was it really too much to dream that she could possibly find him as attractive as he did her? That her feelings for him could go beyond mere friendship? She certainly didn’t have to dance with him so intimately, but then again, maybe to her it was no big deal? He wished the entire room didn’t reek of a combination of booze, sweat and arousal so that he’d be able to tell if the last of those three smells was also present on the woman he was holding in his arms.

 

Of course, soon enough the song changed again, and Kagome detangled herself from him and continued dancing as if it was the most natural thing in the world and nothing even remotely awkward had just taken place between them. He again went along with the change and continued dancing with her, until she announced she was ready for a third drink and excused herself to get her third and his forth.

 

Not wanting to be alone on the dance floor, he wandered into the other room after her, and once she acquired their drinks they found a new out of the way place to stand while drinking them.

 

“Wanna get out of here after this?” Kagome asked him over the music. “There’s lots more to see still.”

 

“Sure,” he agreed, finishing his vodka cran in a few big gulps, although he let her take her time with her screwdriver, sipping at it through two thin cocktail straws.

 

Casting his gaze around the room as he waited for her to finish her drink, Inuyasha couldn’t help the renewed smile that climbed its way onto his face as he took in all the costumes. Some people were in scary or gross costumes, like decomposing zombies, while others were in sexy, alluring costumes, like the couple on the other end of the room where the man was a sexy vampire, shirtless but with the traditional cape and fangs, while she was in a short, low cut sleeping gown with the only bit of Halloween makeup being the bloody bite mark on her neck. There were tons of women dressed in sexed up versions of innocent outfits, like school girl uniforms, nurse and doctor uniforms, etc., and there were also tons of men in over the top, glamorous drag, which Inuyasha didn’t have a problem with, because why should he? People were free to be themselves...so long as they were people...

 

Sighing, he shook it off and refused to let his lot in life sour his mood. He could be depressed again tomorrow. Tonight was for Kagome.

 

Oh sure, she’d said the night was for him, and indeed he was having a good time, but the main reason he was enjoying himself was just from watching her have so much fun. He’d never in a million years want to do anything like this by himself. It was all about Kagome. Wherever she wanted to lead him, he would follow her without question.

 

Heh, I guess I really am her loyal guard dog, after all...

 

Even though he wished it could be more than that, he knew not to get his hopes up. Even if she did miraculously return his feelings she would probably not allow herself to be close to him in that way. Half human or not, he was a youkai, and she was a miko, and that gave the term ‘forbidden love’ a whole new meaning.

 

Snapping out of his rumination when Kagome grabbed his empty glass out of his band before taking both of their empty glasses back to the bar, he was all smiles again when she returned and eagerly followed her out of the club.

 

“Sorry if I was a little too forward in there,” she said once they were back out on the street, already starting to feel nervous about it.

 

“Feh, no you weren’t.”

 

“I wasn’t what?” she asked, trying to laugh but also secretly getting worried. “Too forward, or sorry?”

 

His eyes widened as he realized how what he’d said could easily be taken either way.

 

“I meant you weren’t too forward!” he clarified immediately. “Did it look like I didn’t enjoy it?” Even though he could feel heat climbing his face as he asked the question, he tried to keep the look in his eyes serious, wanting to get his point across.

 

Kagome blushed as well, and nervously raised her hand to tuck her hair behind her ear before belatedly remembering she was wearing a white wig that matched Inuyasha’s wild locks, her real hair, and her ears, securely hidden underneath.

 

“I...had a good time, too,” she said after a moment, meeting his eyes with a nervous smile.

 

He swallowed, and looked like he might be getting ready to say something serious, which Kagome had thought she wanted, but then suddenly getting hit with a feeling of panic she frantically changed the subject, instead.

 

“Well, come on!” she said then, a little too enthusiastically, as she grabbed his hand and dragged him down the street towards another club.

 

Laughing it off, ‘cause he realized Kagome was still a little tipsy, and honestly, he found this side of her totally adorable, Inuyasha went with her to the club down the street.

 

Unfortunately, when they got there, it turned out that this club was already carding people at the door. With that putting a stop to those plans, Kagome led Inuyasha into the smaller bar next door. There were a lot fewer people in there, because the business held a lot fewer people, but the place was full and there was still a short line at the bar to order drinks.

 

Kagome just got a soda this time, done drinking for the night because she knew she needed to sober up for the drive home later, but she got Inuyasha another vodka cran because he hadn’t come close to his limit yet and he’d asked her for another one.

 

He had no intention of getting drunk off his ass, of course, but a light buzz would definitely be nice. Maybe he’d even feel brave enough to tell Kagome how he felt. It’d certainly be better if he could do it while hanyou so that his heightened human emotions wouldn’t muck everything all up.

 

In the meantime, he glanced around the room and again took in the costumes of everyone around him, a lot of the folks in this particular bar having gone the youkai route, which he found amusing. Lots of people either had animal ears on their heads, their human ears concealed by their hair (or wigs), or alternatively, pointed tips applied to their real ears for the elfin look of more powerful daiyoukai.

 

Most people dressed up as youkai also had colored contact lenses in, like Kagome’s, but not necessarily golden yellow. There were also people with bright yellow-green eyes, or brilliant turquoise, and because of the nature of the holiday lots of people were also going the mid-transformation route, sporting red contact lenses and jagged facial stripes with extra large fake fangs in their mouths. Some of the makeups were so well done in fact that Inuyasha kept discreetly scenting the air to make doubly sure everyone was human.

 

They stayed in that bar long enough for Inuyasha to have a couple more drinks, Kagome sticking to soda and completely sober by that point, although she was still having a wonderful time. So was Inuyasha, who’d finally started to catch a light buzz.

 

“Thank you for dragging me out,” he said over the music in the bar, which was still loud although thankfully nowhere near as loud as the music had been back on the dance floor in that other club. This also wasn’t club music, but rock and roll, and while he liked it fine, the lower volume was definitely appreciated.

 

“You were right when you said I’d enjoy it,” he added then, nowhere near drunk enough to accidentally say anything aloud that he knew he shouldn’t.

 

Like he’d hoped earlier, though, he was finally feeling brave enough to speak freely to Kagome, strangely not bothered by the fact that they were surrounded by scores of people. Maybe he felt protected by their presence, because even though they meant he couldn’t really speak freely freely, neither could she so she couldn’t tell him to his face that she couldn’t be with him because he’s a hanyou.

 

Not tonight, while she was also a hanyou.

 

His lips quirked up in a half smile at the thought. She’d done that for him. This entire evening was for him. How could she feel nothing for him?

 

Not with the way she’d been dancing earlier...

 

“Kagome...” he started then, pausing to swallow when she flashed him a warm smile.

 

“You’re welcome,” she said in reply to his earlier comments.

 

He nodded, then plowed forward.

 

“I...you...that is, you don’t know what something like this means to me,” he began. “And you...”

 

Pausing again, he mentally braced for impact when her eyes widened a little bit.

 

“You don’t know what you mean to me.”

 

There, he’d said it.

 

Well, sort of.

 

At least he’d said something. But the question now was, what would she say?

 

Eyes wide in surprise, her shock did not last long. Kagome knew they had to be careful what they said in public, and could thankfully tell that Inuyasha still understood that as well, but she quickly decided that this moment was just as ‘right’ as any other, and after all, she’d originally hoped that her stunt on the dance floor could breach this subject before she’d then stupidly chickened out yet again. That he now felt brave enough to voice his feelings aloud meant they could no longer do their silent dance, and her choice was either deny it or tell the truth.

 

She would not lie to him.

 

“I think I do,” she said then, in regard to his claim that she did not know what she meant to him. “If it’s even remotely similar to what you mean to me.”

 

He sucked in a sharp breath, but before he could say anything more the miko-turned-hanyou continued.

 

“If we’re on the same page here, then I figured we both kind of already knew how we felt but there’s also been a silent agreement not to talk about it, and...and I’m glad you decided it was time to end that silence.”

 

“I had hoped you felt something for me,” he confessed then. “But I couldn’t be sure. At least, not until earlier tonight.”

 

She knew he was referring to the dance floor.

 

“Come on,” she said then. “Let’s get out of here.”

 

Always paying cash for his drinks, Kagome had no tab to close out at the bar and immediately led him outside, the hanyou quickly placing the empty tumbler he’d been holding on the bar for the bartender to collect before following Kagome back out onto the street. The street was just as crowded, of course, loads of costumed people milling about, and the crowd was especially thick near the makeshift stage where the costume contest was now in full swing, the host’s voice almost loud enough to overpower the mix of music from the various bars and clubs along the street as it blared from a massive set of speakers set at either side of the stage, but heading in the opposite direction, hanyou and miko found that the crowd was thinner at this end of the street, and it was much easier for them to hear each other.

 

“We are both on the same page, right?” Kagome asked once she didn’t have to raise her voice to be heard over the blaring music and the cheers of the crowd as they judged the ongoing costume contest.

 

“I fucking hope so,” Inuyasha said before noticeably gulping, earning a giggle from the miko before his serious expression captured her full attention. “I love you,” he blurted then, refusing to look away when she gasped as he met and held her eyes despite the explosion of heat he could feel staining his cheeks. “I’ve been afraid to tell you because I was afraid you’d think my feelings aren’t real, that I just think I love you because you’re the first hu...woman I’ve gotten to know since my mother’s death.”

 

They both glanced around nervously at his near slip, but thankfully there weren’t too many people around right where they were standing and nobody seemed to be paying them any attention.

 

He met her eyes again, then, and grabbed her hands, pouring his sincerity into every word, even as he lowered his voice to ensure they could not accidentally be overheard.

 

“I’ve had that same argument with myself, believe me,” he nearly whispered. “But the truth is, if you were different, if you acted differently, treated me differently, if you weren’t you, then I wouldn’t have fallen for you. I’m not so desperate for companionship that I’d compromise my principles. My mother taught me that I deserve to be treated like an equal, that society is wrong, and I’d never lower myself to be the lapdog of someone who agreed with society’s views.”

 

Glancing around briefly to make sure they still weren’t attracting any unwanted attention, and they weren’t, Inuyasha continued then.

 

“The only reason I finally allowed myself to accept how I feel about you is because I started to realize...hope...that you actually felt the same way. I told myself that even if you thought nothing could ever come of it, even if you were too afraid of the consequences, that you were even capable of having those types of feelings for me proved to me that you really do see me no differently than anyone else, just like you’ve told me time and time again. If you didn’t, if you honestly thought of me as nothing more than a talking version of Shiro, you wouldn’t be attracted to me.”

 

Looking into her eyes, it was hard for Inuyasha to read her because of her contact lenses, but as they gazed at one another Kagome could easily read the sincerity in his eyes, and she knew he deserved just as much honesty from her in return.

 

“Let’s go for a walk,” she said first and foremost, as she headed down the street away from the stage and costume contest, away from the throngs of people flitting to and fro between bars.

 

Coming upon the intersection that functioned as the end of the street, where barricades had been placed to close off the road and prevent cars from heading down that way, Kagome walked not towards the direction her car was parked in, but rather, she turned and headed down the main street, towards the fast food restaurants that stayed open all night.

 

She’d wanted the brief reprieve to gather her thoughts, but she’d also thought that they might as well take advantage of it being Halloween night to go grab a bite to eat, and do anything else Inuyasha wanted to do, without worrying about his appearance.

 

“You’re right, of course. I love you, too,” she confirmed after only a few brief moments of silence had passed between them. “How can I not? You’re...you,” she finished lamely, unable to explain, although based on the details of his own confession she suspected she didn’t really need to explain. He understood.

 

Indeed he did, as he nodded at her words. Nevertheless, she tried to continue in a way that made sense to her own ears.

 

“I tried to deny my own feelings, too. You’re right. But not because I’m afraid of what society would think or anything like that,” she assured him then. “I was more just arguing with myself the same way you were, with yourself. Do I only love you because I’ve lived with you for a year? Because you’re the only man I’ve ever known on a one-on-one basis and we see each other every day? I was trying to reason with myself, convince myself I was just confused and what I was feeling wasn’t really love.”

 

Inuyasha couldn’t help but grin that even now, as she explained her own emotional second guessing, she referred to him as a man. That she shouldn’t harbor such feelings for a hanyou hadn’t been what her moral dilemma had been about, which she’d just made abundantly clear.

 

If it was possible, he loved her even more now than he had a moment ago.

 

She continued, then.

 

“But like you just said, I imagine that if you’d been different, if our personalities had clashed, I wouldn’t have fallen for you,” she agreed. “I would never have backed out of my promise to let you live with me, kicking you out of what really is your own home,” she assured him then, “but I’d have just thought of you as a roommate, and nothing more. My old high school friends who went off to college used to tell me stories. Roommates can definitely be someone you just put up with.”

 

She laughed as she said that last part, thinking of some of the stories her old friends Yuka, Eri and Ayumi used to tell her, back when they’d stayed in touch more regularly.

 

Unfortunately the four of them had kind of drifted apart, even before she’d won the lottery, since she had opted not to go to college like the rest of them. Kagome had actually worried for a time that one or more of them would try to rekindle their friendship with ulterior motives after finding out about her winnings, but fortunately that hadn’t been the case. They were all aware of her good luck, and that she’d been able to buy the house she’d always wanted, and they’d each told her at some point in time that they were extremely happy for her, but they also had their own lives to live and career paths to follow and honestly, that was all right with Kagome. Truth be told, she didn’t feel as close to them anymore, either, and it was just as well, really. She’d never told any of them about Inuyasha, and if their relationship was about to head in the direction this conversation seemed to be implying it was, then that wasn’t something she would have wanted to share with them, either.

 

Even though yes, she did see Inuyasha as a man, and she’d been honest with him just now regarding what had been her reasoning behind her mental self-examination of her feelings for him, it would be stupid to ignore the elephant in the room, or inu-youkai, as it were. She wasn’t stupid. Just because she didn’t care what society thought didn’t mean she was unaware of what society thought, or would think, if anyone ever found out they were together. It wasn’t illegal, like bestiality, because youkai were a step up above mortal animals in that their higher intelligence was acknowledged – which included their ability to consent to a relationship with a human – but she would be looked down on as a sexual deviant.

 

“We have more to discuss, of course,” she acknowledged then. “But we both know certain subjects shouldn’t be discussed in public, so we’ll have to have that conversation when we get home.”

 

Wishing to reassure him, though, as Kagome saw the nervous look in his eyes at that statement, the miko then added, “But if we both want the same thing, and it sounds to me like we do, then I don’t see a reason why we should deny ourselves.”

 

That said, she leaned in and, before she could second guess herself, gave him a quick chaste peck of a kiss, directly on his lips.

 

He relaxed immediately, before a goofy grin curled up his still tingling lips.

 

“I’m looking forward to that ‘conversation,’” he said, with a deliberate teasing edge to his voice as he waggled his eyebrows at her, which had Kagome blushing again while he chuckled

 

“Seriously, though,” he added after clearing his throat, “we do need to have a serious conversation, and I really am looking forward to it.” He visibly sniffed the air, and then pointed at the nearby fast food restaurant they were approaching. “In the meantime, those burgers up there smell fucking awesome. Way better now that I can smell things properly...now that I’m over that cold, so let’s eat.”

 

He added the part about a cold ‘just in case’ although they were close to the only ones on that part of the street at the moment. There were a few people walking several paces ahead of them, and also some other people several paces behind, but even while consciously trying to keep his ears as immobile as possible he could still hear bits and pieces of the others’ conversations which was enough to let him know nobody was listening in on their conversation.

 

“I agree, they smell awesome,” Kagome agreed honestly, since even her human sense of smell was strong enough to pick it up. She couldn’t even imagine what they must’ve smelled like to his nose but she was glad to have given him this opportunity.

 

She was also glad she’d brought her debit card along with a bunch of cash, because after depleting a good deal of her money paying cash for drinks she decided to use ‘plastic money’ to buy their little midnight snack.

 

A little snack that ended up consisting of a cheeseburger, small fries and a small soda for her, and two cheeseburgers, large fries and a large soda for him. He was happy to get some liquid in his system that wasn’t alcohol.

 

She had to take her fake fangs out to eat, of course, but to conceal the fact that Inuyasha did not remove his fangs they sat in a back corner booth with Inuyasha’s back to the room, so even though nobody was staring at them in the first place, if someone just happened to glance in their direction they would not notice that Inuyasha still had his fangs in while eating. After they were done eating he made a show of pretending to reattach his fangs, his hands up at his mouth for a moment, while Kagome legitimately reattached her own, and then they were back out on the street again, both of them feeling victorious that so far their night out together was going off without a hitch.

 

They should have realized it was too good to last.