InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Price of Freedom ❯ Another Close Call ( Chapter 9 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Disclaimer: same as chapter one

(A/N: Another chapter - and *Shock!!!* Inuyasha goes shopping!!)





The Price of Freedom

Another Close Call











Another week, a few calls from certain worried parents, and 'pesky' doctors later, Kagome was considerably happier. Her holiday away from home had been extended again. She didn't have to go back to school or Tokyo for another three weeks... though she did have to worry what she was supposed to do about Inuyasha during the time she was at school.

But thankfully, Inuyasha wasn't acting like a hopeless case anymore. She came into the kitchen one morning, fanning herself with a magazine and brushing her hair off her face. The air-conditioning unit was broken, and couldn't exactly pay anyone to come and fix it for them - so she was stuck with the more traditional magazine method. Inuyasha seemed less bothered about the heat... mainly because he didn't have to worry about wearing a shirt like she did.

Which was probably the reason why she stumbled over her slippers as she entered the kitchen to find him shirtless, with his back to her, and reaching for a glass in the cupboard above his head - giving her a good show of flexing muscles. Her female instincts were quickly punctured as she saw what he was doing - and the motherly instincts kicked into play. "What are you doing?" she asked anxiously.

"Getting a glass of water, haven't you noticed how hot it is?." He said, finally finding a glass. "And I ain't drinking from the toilet bowl just because it's safer."

"I wasn't going to suggest it." She watched him with scrutiny, just waiting for him to drop and shatter it.

He noticed her silence and knew she was staring at him again. "What?" he asked defensively as he moved over to the sink.

"Nothing." She said tightly. But those glasses were expensive!

"I won't drop it - oops!" he tossed the glass into the air deliberately and she squeaked and dived at it. Fortunately Inuyasha's hand caught it lazily before it had a chance to land in her out-stretched hands and he shook his head with a smile as he felt for the taps and filled the glass with water. "You should really relax you know."

"I know..." she sighed and picked herself up off the floor and dusted herself down. Great... that little burst of activity had made her feel even hotter. "I'm going out on the porch... there's a draft out there."

"I'll come with you."

And he was ahead of her, his direction sure like he'd lived there his whole life. Kagome watched him move with a delighted little smile playing on her lips. At least he'd been growing to accept this disability over the last three weeks. He'd moved more surely and when they went for walks along the beach she had trouble keeping up with him sometimes. He'd never trip up or get frustrated anymore...

"You seem happier." She commented casually as she took a seat beside him on the porch, leaning against the railing post beside her.

"Well... it's like I know... you don't have to see something to know it's there." He said simply and took a deep breath. "Like even you don't have to see the wind to feel it and know it will always be there."

"Ok... now you're freaking me out... you're getting all enlightened now." She smiled.

"And I don't have to see your smile to know your smiling either." He turned his head toward her.

For once she was glad he was blind otherwise he would have seen the amazing blush spread across her cheeks in two seconds flat... but then again he didn't have to be see her to know she was blushing too, right?

He turned his face upwards towards the sun. "And I can still feel the sun's warmth... ow..." his hands clapped over his squinted eyes.

"What's wrong?" Kagome was quick to panic.

"It's alright... just my eyes hurting again." He shrugged.

Kagome looked from him to the bright sky and then back at him again with a frown. "You didn't see any light did you...?"

"Nah... they just hurt... they do that from time to time." He shook his head and stood up. "I better go inside."

"Ok..." Kagome sounded unsure, but he was gone from sight without much delay.

Amazingly, once he was back in the house, away from the glare of the sun, his eyes felt better. "Weird..."





^_^





"I was sure we had bread left..." Kagome mumbled as she tottered around the kitchen looking for the loaf she'd had out last night. "Inuyasha!"

"I didn't do it!" he called back reflexively.

"Did you eat the last of the bread?"

"Oh - I did THAT!" he called back again.

Kagome sighed and went to find if there was any rice left. Nope... and there wasn't much of anything else either - except for a load of marmite flavoured crisps, the ones Inuyasha hated. Personally... she quite liked them...

"Damn... there's nothing else to do..." she slammed the cupboards shut and went into the living room to where Inuyasha was listening to the TV. "I'm going shopping - I'll be back in a while-"

"Wait! You are not going out there without me." He stood up quickly.

"Why? Because I'm too pathetic to take care of myself?" she smiled.

"Because you might be having a secret date with Kouga, that's what." He sounded serious and the smile slipped from her face.

"Still on about that, huh?"

"You still smell of him." He wrinkled his nose.

Kagome took a tentative sniff of her collar and pulled a face. "But I had a shower this morning."

"Obviously... he's probably trying to mark you that bastard..." he growled, narrowing his eyes.

"You should stop being so possessive." She tapped him on the nose to distract him and headed out of the room to get her jacket. "I haven't seen that guy for ages, and he's way too dull to date anyway. He's no fun."

"I'm more fun." He suddenly blocked her exit out the house and Kagome was left wondering how the heck he'd managed to move so damn fast.

"Insinuating something, Inuyasha?" she teased.

"I'm going with you." He said simply.

Kagome laughed. "Oh no you're not."

"Oh but I am." He smirked.

"But you're not! You can't!" she shifted her weight a little to her other leg, preparing herself for the typical argument. "The town is crowded - you'll get knocked over if you're blind - damn I can barely make it to the store myself without getting stepped on."

"Well I'm bigger than you, people won't be able to get their feet high enough to step on me - and if they bump into me, who's going to fall over, me or him?"

"You!"

"No him!"

"Inuyasha, it's too early to go prancing around town in your state, just give it time."

"I don't trust you not to meet up with Ookami, besides, I'm bored and I have nothing else better to do than listen to the birds in the ceiling-"

"There are birds in the ceiling?" Kagome looked upwards quickly.

"And if I'm ever going to get out into the real world, I have to start sometime. I've never been to a town before, Kagome."

She lowered her gaze from the roof to his face, and his unfocused, yet strangely focused eyes. "You want to go that bad?"

"Yeah, why not?"

Kagome sighed and took him by the hand. "Come on then - but don't you dare let go of my hand, I don't want to lose you, ok?"

The stretch of road from the house to the town was fairly vacant of any other vehicle or people, but Kagome still kept a tight hold of his hand anyway, secretly marvelling in the protectiveness of his grip. Call her an old-fashioned gal, but she liked her men macho and protective. Even though Inuyasha could be a little over-protective at times.

By the time they reached the bustling centre of the town after the long, LONG walk, Kagome was becoming increasingly impressed with Inuyasha's ability to cope with all the crowds. He didn't trip over, or bump into anyone, though his grip did tighten over her hand considerably when they walked up the steps in the town square across form the store. She could tell he was deliberately avoiding coming into contact with anyone else... he didn't like the physical touch at all from others. It made Kagome feel a little special to know she was the only one who could touch him without him flinching... only a little...

"There's a step there... and we're here!" she released his hand at last as they entered the much less crowded and cooler store. He inhaled deeply and turned slowly.

"I can smell food everywhere..." he said dreamily.

"Yeah, and I can get you anything you want here either." She smiled, walking off in the direction of the sweet section, Inuyasha trailed after her voice automatically.

"Even the little cakes with the scream and jam in the middle?" he asked hopefully.

"Miniature sponge cakes? Sure!" she turned the corner of an aisle and spotted someone familiar up ahead walking with someone else equally familiar. "Sango! Miroku!"

Both youths whirled at the sound of her voice and waved happily. Sango instantly went to greet her. "Kagome! Fancy meeting you here... and you brought your friend too?!"

Inuyasha remembered Sango from before... and remembered Miroku was that doctor guy.

"We were running short of food, so we had to go shopping. Inuyasha insisted on making sure I was alright here." She winked and mouthed a little extra. "Jealous."

"Was not!" Inuyasha had somehow heard her faintest of whispers and she rolled her eyes at him.

"I believe you now... where... oh! I forgot to get a basket from the entrance - Sango, could you just hold onto Inuyasha for me?" Sango didn't have much of a time space to object as Kagome ran back towards the entrance. She looked up at Inuyasha who seemed to be followed his nose to a Yoghurt stand. She glanced towards Miroku who shrugged.

"So Inuyasha..." Sango followed him tensely. "Don't you have parents who're worried about you yet?"

"Um..." he felt along the shelf until he found yoghurt he liked the smell of. "I guess... but they're probably all dead by now."

Sango stared at him. "All of them?"

"Well... two of them were dogs... bitches I think... they didn't get to stick around much longer after I was born." He put the yoghurt back, deciding he didn't like the smell after all and went in search of digestive biscuits.

Sango gaped after him in shock before hurrying to Miroku. "Ok, that guy has serious dysfunctional family problems. Obviously his mother had a lesbian lover and I don't think he can think much of them if he called them bitches... poor guy... and blind to top it all off."

Miroku's turn to now stare at Sango. But she hurried on after Inuyasha before she lost sight of him.





^_^





Kagome was having a lot more trouble finding the baskets than she normally did, because for a start they had been moved. She spent a couple of minutes checking around the entrance before finally discovering that they had been situated outside the sliding doors. Which meant that she had to go all the way around to the exit and then back to the entrance to be able to open the doors and get a basket again.

Imagine if she was Inuyasha and she had to go shopping as well. The world was a nightmare if you could see anything at all.

But she did spot something... and partially wished that she was blind too so she could just ignore him. But he spotted her before she could hurry off. "Hey Kagome."

"Hey Kouga..." this was bad. He was heading towards the store, like he was aiming to go shopping. If he went inside and spotted Inuyasha then all her efforts to keep him safe would be blown to hell and back. "You shopping."

"Yeah." He stopped beside her and only then did she realise that he'd kinda been walking with someone else for a change. A young woman, slightly older than herself and she looked like the person Kagome saw in the mirror every morning... but not as rough around the edges. The woman slipped past them both and entered the store with a basket in her arm. By the way Kouga seemed to ignore the other woman's presence, Kagome figured that they hadn't been together after all.

So all she had to do was stall Kouga and if possible get him away from the stall. "Found your friend yet?"

"Nope. But I'm willing to wait around for a while. I've got a place in a hotel up the street with a friend, hopefully we'll find him eventually."

"Great." Damn... so he was settling in for a long stay then...





^_^





"Wher e's the bread then?" Sango wondered as they three wondered down an aisle.

"Over there." Inuyasha pointed and pulled ahead of them. Sango just let him go as he obviously knew his way around the store better than she did.

A woman walked past her and Miroku and for a second Sango opened her mouth to call her Kagome... before she realised that she was wearing different clothes from Kagome and her hair was pinned up. She shut her mouth quickly, glad that she hadn't managed to embarrass herself just yet.

The woman carried on past the bread aisle to the tills, seconds before Inuyasha emerged from that same bread aisle heading towards them with a loaf in his hands. "I think I got the brown type."

Sango checked. "Nope, that's white, but there's not much difference, let me tell you." She caught Kagome coming towards them in the corner of her eyes and waved. "Over here Kagome!"

"God... I never thought I'd get rid of that oaf." Kagome huffed as she reached them.

"Who?" Inuyasha frowned.

"Kouga, that's who." She folded her arms crossly before realising something. "Ah! And I forget to get a basket thanks to him!"

"What did he want?" Inuyasha growled.

Kagome glanced up at him before sighing. "It was nothing like that..."

"Wanna bet?" he could tell she was flustered, either due to being agitated or being kissed he wasn't sure. But the smell of Kouga lingered around her and he didn't like it. Nothing of Kouga should even dare to touch his Kagome. Kagome was his saviour... Kouga could get someone else for himself.

"Don't start getting all paranoid again." Kagome ground out. "I am not in the mood."

"Always in the mood for him though!" he snapped.

Kagome narrowed her eyes dangerously as Miroku and Sango quickly found the cheese wrack very interesting. "You have a problem, you know that? Did you get a giant chip on the shoulder from that grenade?"

"Oh yeah, let's all poke fun at the blind guy!" he growled.

"You really are blind you know! Because you simply refuse to see that I do not like Kouga as much as you think! I give you one little kiss and you act like you own me! You need to relax a little." She hissed.

"One little kiss - Kagome - you stole my first kiss!" he half shouted.

"Could you say that a little louder?! I don't think Miroku and Sango quite heard you!" she gasped.

"Oh we heard." Miroku nodded quickly, but Sango elbowed him.

Kagome ran her hands through her hair. "I wouldn't even barely call that a kiss! For god's sakes - that's how I kiss my grandfather. A proper kiss is totally different!"

"Yeah? Show me!"

Kagome didn't quite think that Inuyasha knew what he was leading himself into, and she glanced quickly at Sango and Miroku who were now openly staring at them. But as soon as they noticed Kagome's glare that scuttled off around the corner. Kagome just shook her head. "I can't show you what a real kiss is." She told him sternly.

"Why not?" he growled.

"Because that would be a REAL kiss, wouldn't it?!" she clenched her fists in an effort to keep her voice calm.

He smirked at her. "Would that not be allowed? Seeing as Kouga is the only one you kiss?"

She clenched her teeth together for a moment before sighing. "I don't kiss Kouga, Inuyasha."

"Then kiss me and prove it!"

Kagome just stared at him, half torn between shock and a total surge of butterflies through her system. "You can't just ASK someone to kiss you!"

"Why not?"

"It's just not normal!"

"I'M not normal Kagome." He pointed out.

"You really sure you want me to take your very first proper kiss?" she twiddled her fingers. She would really love to actually...

"It's just a kiss." He shrugged.

Of course... he wouldn't really understand the implications of a proper kiss if he'd never seen anyone kiss before. He was just so naïve... and she felt like a total tramp for being more knowledgeable than a guy for once.

"A kiss, Inuyasha, is something two very intimately involved people share when they... like... each other..." she said, fidgeting nervously. "You can't just PRACTISE kissing like it's nothing."

"Why not?"

Kagome cursed the person who had ever taught him the word 'why'. "Because... it would make people think..."

"Think what?"

Also cursing the person who had taught him 'what' as well.

"That we're involved... cause we're not."

"That's just an excuse, and you're full of them." He narrowed his eyes slightly.

"Ok, I'll show you later - just not in such a public place..." she trailed off quietly.

"Ok."

And hopefully he would eventually forget.





^_^





By nightfall Kouga and Kikyo had made the journey across the waters to the little island off the coast. Not something they'd both enjoyed considering they'd had to bear each other's company for a while, alone, and together. And they dreaded coming up before Mr Naraku as usual, empty-handed with nothing but pathetic excuses to hide behind.

"This is all your fault." Kikyo hissed to Kouga as they followed the guard through the corridors to Naraku's office.

Kouga had to raise his voice over a particularly loud scream that rattled through the corridors from somewhere else in the base. "How did you figured that?"

"If you hadn't been flirting with that little bimbo and kept your mind on the job then we might have found him by now."

"Oh sure..." he rolled his eyes but quickly shut up as Naraku's door came into view.

They stepped into the much darker and minimalist room and carefully arranged themselves so they stood side by side before the long desk at the other end of the room that was set before sliding glass doors. Kouga reckoned it was so that if there were ever any problems, Naraku would always have an escape route behind him.

Typical.

"So you're empty handed." He turned slowly in his revolving chair, doing a very good impression of a James Bond villain minus the fluffy white cat. "And what, pray tell, have you got to say for yourselves this time?"

Kouga opened his mouth to lie blandly but Kikyo was too quick. "It was Kouga's fault." She glared at him.

Naraku's glare flickered briefly on the young woman before turning on Kouga. "Oh?"

"He's been dallying with a girl in the coastal town." Kikyo supplied helpfully.

"Indeed." Naraku probably wasn't even listening to her because he continued to glare at Kouga like he was a filthy little cretin. Kouga didn't even bother glaring back. "Who is this girl?"

"Just... Kagome Higurashi... on holiday... staying in a house above the shore." He said casually, trying to drop the subject for all.

"On the coast, eh?" Naraku's leaned forward on his elbows and clasped his hands under his chin. "Staying with her family?"

"No..."

"Staying with anyone else?"

"Yes." He couldn't lie. Seriously.

"Who?"

"A male friend."

"And how do you know that?" Naraku narrowed his eyes at the half-wolf and Kikyo slanted him a confused look.

"I met her while she out shopping for male accessories." He said, his eyes on the floor. "I assume it is not her family because..." he mumbled the last part.

"Sorry? Didn't catch that?" Naraku said with false pleasantry.

"I assume he was not of her family because she seemed to have been stocking up on..." he fought for the right word to come out. "Condoms."

Kikyo snorted and Naraku just looked amused.

"I see..." he folded his arms at the two employees. "It seems our little Inu friend has acquired a little woman... and doesn't appear to be wasting much time on the whole freedom idea."

Kouga's face remained neutral.

"Have you seen her male friend?" Naraku asked.

"No."

"So it could be Inuyasha. She's keeping him from you deliberately."

Kouga just nodded.

Naraku stood quickly and headed out the office. "I'll mobilise a squadron to go search out this girl's house. I expect you to lead Kouga."











(A/N: Next chapter - 'Sight Seeing'.)