InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Source of Solace ❯ Chapter Five ( Chapter 5 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha, etc. Rumiko Takahashi has that singular privilege. This story is for entertainment purposes only.

THE SOURCE OF SOLACE

A/N: Deepest thanks go to Tausha, who listened while I rattled off bad sentences, and helped me sort them out. Further thanks to Fairia, who keeps encouraging me to update, update, update. XP

NEW A/N: I haven't updated this story on mmorg in forever. I'm taking the time to add chapters now so that it is current with the other sites I have it posted on. It may take me some time, though, as I have to go through to edit for this site. (Fate)

WARNING! Dark imagery and lime, adult situations and issues. Foul language omitted on ff dot net.

CHAPTER FIVE

Creak.

"Sango?" The voice was soft, tentative.

The scream that followed was anything but.

"Kagome?" Sango blinked sleepy eyes in confusion as two blurred shadows fought one another by the half-opened door.

"Damn it, woman!" Kouga held the wildcat away from him with one strong arm. Upon hearing his growl, Kagome quit dancing around like a martinet and relaxed.

"Oh! It's you, Kouga!" She gave him a bright smile, even though he had her shirt collar fisted in one hand, drawing the hem up enough to give a glimpse of white skin and flat belly.

"If you know what's good for you, wolf, you'll get your claws off my mate." Fangs flashed true menace as the silver-haired hanyou slammed open the door with enough force to send it bouncing back along its track.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome's smile grew even brighter. She had thought she had left him sleeping soundly as she hurried to get dressed. Walking over to Kouga's apartment early, she wanted to see how Sango had fared the night. She hadn't counted on Kouga coming to investigate her stealthy entrance and grab her up like a carry-sack. She knew Inuyasha would be hopping mad with her, but boy was she glad to see him!

Amusement glinted in the ookami's blue eyes and he took a long moment to consider the hanyou's threat. As the amber eyes darkened ominously, Kouga gracefully allowed the young onna to go, and even helped her straighten the un-tucked hem of her shirt. That didn't sit well with Inuyasha's over-protective ire, and Kouga found himself confronted by a cross-armed hanyou, Kagome shoved safely behind and out of the way.

Kagome leaned to one side and mouthed a sorry to Kouga before turning her attention to Sango. Leaving the two males to battle it out over which one was more domineering and full of testosterone, she edged her way to Sango's side and sat on the arm of the sopha’s impromptu bed at Sango's feet.

"How are you doing?" Kagome asked sweetly.

Sango's eyes slid significantly from Kagome to where the two males stood bristling at each other, posturing like wild dogs. Kagome dismissed them with an airy wave of her hand. "Don't worry about them. They'll work it out. Besides, Kouga can't be too mad---I brought breakfast."

Kagome held up a bag of steaming meat-rolls and flaky croissants with secret triumph. She had thought of everything!

Sango could only blink.

5555555555555555

"You are not going to work as a trash-collector anymore," Kagome pronounced.

Sango smiled faintly. "Sanitation engineer."

Kagome blinked. "What?"

"Sanitation engineer," Sango replied, her brown eyes serious. "That was---is---my job title."

"Huh?" Kagome shook her head. "Whatever they call it, it's still icky."

"Icky?" It was Sango's turn to blink, which gave Kagome a fit of the giggles.

"Icky." Inuyasha made a sound of disgust, already munching his way through his third meat-roll. He rolled his eyes at Kouga, who shook his head but was too busy downing a second cup of stim to add comment. The pair of them had made quite a few inroads on Kagome's edible offering, though there was still a few croissants left for Kagome to pick up two and hand one over to Sango while she fought down an acute stab of embarrassment.

Sango accepted the croissant with an absent-mindednod of thanks, and ate it almost mechanically. Food was fuel, and there was an empty spot in her belly that she hadn't realized was there until she had taken her first bite.

Kagome was not easily distracted, and she returned to her original topic with typical dogged interest. "You need to quit."

Sango choked. "Quit?"

She hadn't really thought about the future, now that she had regained some semblance of her past. It all seemed so unreal, as if the simple responsibilities and daily routine that had defined her existence on Yoro had happened to someone else, not her. But she really needed to focus on her priorities. She needed money to live, which meant work to do to earn that money. And she wasn't really bothered over the "icky-ness" of her job. She didn't relish it, and couldn't see herself a year from now still picking up garbage and sweeping floors, but what else was there?

It wasn’t as if she had any particular skills or training. It's not like she had a certificate or degree. She had never had the time to study anything normal like that---though how she knew this she couldn't even begin to guess.

"You are going to come with me and Inuyasha to Kyouko. As our guest. I insist." Kagome explained benignly. Sango started shaking her head, but Kagome went on, unheeding. "You can't stay here, on station. You don't know anybody. Besides, who wants to keep picking up trash when there's a whole wide world waiting down there?"

Sango considered. "I've never been to a planet's surface before." How she knew that was as mysterious as how she knew she had always been too busy for study.

The three of them stared at her in surprise.

"Never?" Kagome asked in dawning horror.

Sango merely shrugged, though she was startled by their reaction. What was so glorious about a planet, anyway? Wide open, dusty atmosphere…direct solar exposure without benefit of thick, protective bubbles of plaz-shield…bacterial-laden air that had not been disinfected, cleansed and recycled…a thousand and one living organisms to be wary of lest they prove dangerous to human-kind...what was so great about that?

Kagome abruptly stood up, abandoning her half-eaten croissant, and crossed her arms over her chest. Brown eyes glared from youkai to hanyou as she pronounced, "Sango is quitting her job. Right now. And she is getting a new one. With me. With us, I mean." She directed a particularly significant glare at her mate.

Sango blinked in confusion and protested. "But..."

Now she was on the receiving end of Kagome's glare. "No buts!"

And that was that.

5555555555555555

Before Sango knew what she was doing, Kagome had her hauled off and strapped into the cramped back seat of a renovated freight hauler. A siren blared out in augur as the ship disengaged from its station-side berth, and yellow lights flashed constant warning as the ship slowly backed away from the dock.

Sango's knuckles whitened over the sides of her anchored chair as the metal floor shuddered beneath her feet. The turbines fired once the hauler had drifted free of Yoro's outer bays. The ship groaned with rusty complaints, and Inuyasha growled in dissonant harmony.

"Tell me again why we had to use this damn wreck." He directed at his wife as the forward thrusters fired and the ship lurched in reply.

Kagome just tossed her head. "This was the earliest ship Kouga could gain passage for us."

"We could have waited, damn it. He'll be coming down in a couple of days." Inuyasha continued to scowl as the monitor blipped and the pilot's fingers skimmed over the archaic drive-board.

"No, we couldn't," Kagome replied serenely, her eyes darting to Sango.

Sango ignored Inuyasha's grumbling response as she closed her eyes.

Her stomach lurched in time with the ship, and she could feel her scant breakfast trying to decide if it wanted to stay in there. The ship trembled as it hit the planet's atmospheric envelope, and something fell down in back of her, hitting the metal floor with a resounding clang. Sango jumped in reaction, but the webbed restraints on her chair kept her firmly seated.

The next ten minutes were spent in a blur of nausea and tight-lipped nerves as the ship's vibrations rattled and heaved their way through Kyouko's atmosphere. The ship wrenched sharply forward as its rear thrusters were engaged, and Sango was actually relieved when they touched down with a hard thump that threw her once again into the chair restraints with a jerk. The ship wheezed and slowly coughed to a stop as the pilot disengaged the engines. Spent fuel and petrolysine burn-off wafted through the air, and Inuyasha heaved a huge exhalation of relief.

"You, wench, are never going to book us flight passage again!" His snapping growl was actually welcoming to Sango's ears, and she even managed a faint smile.

It disappeared as the pilot thumbed open the hatch, which lifted with a whoosh of compressed air. Immediately, the web restraints of her seat disengaged and Sango took a last, deep breath of clean, recycled oxygen even as it escaped past her into the great unknown beyond.

Who knew what lay out there.

Terrible stories of planetary horrors whispered across her memory, hissed half-truths and chilling murmurs in the dark among people whose faces or existence she could not recall. She could already feel the heavier gravity of the planet taking hold of her body, pulling her down, and her fingers were white-knuckled on the armrests of her chair.

Having no such cares or concerns, Kagome had already slipped out of her bolted seat and jumped out of the cabin with a happy grin on her face, taking deep, gulping breaths as if she would clean the chemically-treated oxygen of the ship from her lungs. Inuyasha was after his impetuous mate with a muttered grumble about females.

“It’s so beautiful, Inuyasha!” Kagome’s voice rose joyfully as she grabbed her mate around the waist and hugged him. Sango’s eyes flicked back to the pilot, who was swiveling his chair around to look at her with a frown.

“You can get up now, miss,” he said.

Kagome’s black head ducked back into the hatch. “Come on, Sango! The whole world awaits!”

That was what she was afraid of. Who knew what awaited her out there, in that strange environment without benefit of sanitation and chemicals, without the help of advanced technology or even the most basically standard safeguards to keep the wild unknown at bay…

Gritting her teeth (and holding onto her last breath of truly-clean air), Sango staggered to her feet. The sudden addition of the planet’s gravity had her stumbling gracelessly with the awkward unfamiliarity of it. Raised in the more gentle gravs of station and ship, Sango had to fight for balance. It was an indescribable feeling, almost like she was walking with magnetic boots on a zero-g deck. Cautiously picking up her left foot, she placed it down too hard, and almost fell over.

Flailing her arms like a drunk, Sango managed to half-step, half-fall toward the hatch. Grasping the rubber-sealed edge to catch her balance, she let out her held breath in an explosion of surprise. Before she could stop herself, her body betrayed her and took a deep breath of air---untreated and unhygienic air.

For a minute her head swam as the potently rich oxygen suffused her being. Kyouko’s atmosphere was headier than the standard kept onboard ship. Sango’s eyes widened and she felt almost giddy and light-headed as she took in deeper breaths. It was so rich and full of something that she could not name…smells and tastes and a variety of sensations that she had never, ever, experienced before.

It was…exhilarating!

“Sango?” Kagome peered at her with concern in her wide brown eyes, and white claws wrapped around Sango’s shoulder as Inuyasha lent his stronger arm for assistance.

“Sango, are you okay?” Kagome grabbed her free hand, worried.

“Steady now,” Inuyasha said, his voice gruff. “Take slow, deep breaths. Got it?”

Sango did not reply, and Kagome scanned her face anxiously, trying to see what the matter was. But Sango was not even looking at them, her attention was fixed on the vista that lay spread out before her in a wondrous multitude of colors and patterns she had never expected or considered.

Soft lips were parted in a half-gasp as her eyes drunk in the scene before her, and her senses were overwhelmed with a million and one impressions she could not even begin to analyze. They flicked by her awareness and suffused her being as if welcoming her…home.

The colors were so vibrantly alive, as if the very world was an entity in itself. Small green and brown blobs dotted out from the grassy verge to become the darker green of a shadowy growth that stood taller beyond them. Green mounds rose still higher beyond, their colors turning every shade of golden yellow to deepest emerald, until even they were dwarfed by the distant mounds that rose in jagged lines to blur into soft blues and deep purples, their peaks covered in sharp white lines or wispy mists of ethereal cloud-cover.

And above all was the unending sky that curved like a giant dome from one horizon to the other, the blue so resplendent it hurt her eyes to look too deep upon it. The sky was dotted with fluffy puffs of white that hazed in the distance until they covered the far mountains in misty outlines of obscurity. The sun, blinding in its brilliancy, made her eyes water, but she could not look away.

The world whispered to its self as if it were a living thing and the taller green growth in the distance swayed as if it danced to its own music. The closer, smaller bushes fluttered, and the green growth that covered the oval-shaped, flat field where they had landed stirred like so many tiny hairs, each dancing in its own way. Sango felt small tugs on the locks of her hair, and her bangs ruffled as if they, too, would dance, and the strangest sensation whispered across her pale skin with the faintest tickling touch. She struggled to put name to it, and almost giggled when she realized what it was.

~Wind!~

The playful breeze danced around her, sifting her bangs into wild whorls of disarray and even feathering the long tail of ebony that hung down her back, tickling her with the tiny hairs on the back of her neck and loosening the tight confines in which she kept it bound.

“Sango-chan?” Kagome asked again, confused concern.

“She’s crazy,” Inuyasha muttered low under his breath, but Sango could not hear their words. She was too busy drinking in the sights and sounds and strange new impressions of this stunningly new reality.

It was so alive, and she could feel her blood stirring as it had not ever in living memory. She wanted to shout, she wanted to dance, she wanted to sing, to run and move and then to just lay still and soak in her surroundings like a man dying of thirst. She wanted to experience, and for the first time ever in her life she felt suddenly free, and the joy of it all bubbled out of her in a laugh of such recognized homecoming that the tears ran down her cheeks unnoticed as the pure, heartfelt beauty of it all overwhelmed her small being in a vast space of pure life.

Inuyasha’s claws tightened on her shoulder, convinced the poor girl had finally, truly lost her mind. Kagome tugged on her fingers, afraid, but Sango turned to look down at her dearest friend with such a look of such utter joy and simple happiness that Kagome’s heart tightened in empathic delight, the tears sprinkling her own brown eyes, not understanding what the strange soul-lost girl was feeling, but thinking that whatever it was that made Sango so free was just exactly what Sango needed.

Fingers tightened in silent support, and Sango whispered softly, her voice hoarse with the pent-up emotions of long denial, and said simply, “Thank you.”

~For everything…~

5555555555555555

Inuyasha stared at the two women as if they had both lost their minds. And they had. Kagome was running around as crazy as her black-haired friend, telling her the names of things that Sango had known only in theory, not fact. Beyond impatient with such nonsense, the hanyou turned away in disgust. Who cared what type of tree the birch was, it was just a stupid tree.

Nothing to get so damn worked up over.

And while those two loons were running around like little kids on their first outing, he had work to do. Somebody had to be rational enough to arrange their few articles of luggage to be taken to the home he had purchased sight unseen. Kouga had driven a hard bargain for it, saying it was one of his favorite hunting cabins.

Inuyasha just bet that damn wolf had stuck him with some damn pit, happy to be rid of it and unable to resist the temptation of getting back at him for a few pranks he had pulled on the stupid wolf back in the day. He knew he wouldn’t have been able to resist the temptation…

~Damn wolves.~

But better some old, broken-down relic that he might be able to fix than being saddled with one of the more primitive dwellings that ookami favored. He could just picture Kagome’s horrified expression if the home he had dragged her across the known galaxy for was nothing more than a dry cave with moldy straw strewn across the floor to serve as a bed…

His ears twitched, and Inuyasha jerked his head around. A faint whiff of distinctive scent and the creak of wheels accompanied by the nervous whicker of a horse-drawn cart caught his attention. The cart was to haul their supplies across the valley and over the low hills in the west where Kouga had told him his new purchase lay nestled at the base, just inside the thick forest’s edge.

Inuyasha made a face at the primitive contrivance. Damn, one would think Kouga would have more imagination than that. It was hardly anywhere near the luxury the ookami brat usually surrounded himself with. But then again, that stupid lordling had some strange damn notions in his fool head.

Though Inuyasha couldn’t fault him. Kyouko was a beautiful planet, and he agreed with his old friend that it would be a waste to despoil it, like so many other worlds had been. Kouga had strict rules regarding this particular part of the world he claimed for his Clan, and it was only by virtue of their friendship that Inuyasha had been allowed to come here at all, let alone to purchase his new home.

Still…damn.

The horses, sturdy ponies with thistle manes and bottle-brush tails, started nervously at the strange scents as they neared the landing site. Another facilitating gesture on Kouga’s part that Inuyasha owed to their old friendship. Ships were rarely allowed to land in this part of Kyouko at all. Most supplies were shuttled down to the small, southern continent that was little more than an over-big island that lay on the other side of the globe. The eager colonists who flocked to Yoro rarely realized that that big island was all they would ever see of Kyouko. The rest of the planet was off-limits, by wolfly decree.

~Damn right.~ Inuyasha thought to himself. He whole-heartedly agreed with Kouga’s plans to keep most of Kyouko away from the degradations of aggressive expansion and over-settlement. It was the Ookami Clan’s homeworld after all. Those damn humans were lucky Kouga was allowing them entrance at all to the formerly interdicted planet.

It was a perfect beginning for him and Kagome.

He looked for his mate, and his expression softened for a moment as he watched the pair of young women catch sight of the bristly ponies and the gray-haired ookami who drove them. The girls seemed entranced, and Inuyasha was about to growl at the timidly smiling driver until he recognized who it was.

Now how in all the hells had Ginta managed to get here before them, and the only passage Kouga could get for Kagome was that old rust-bucket they had just been forced to endure in teeth-rattling---

Realization dawned and Inuyasha glowered, even as the pilot called out for help off-loading supplies that would only have to be re-loaded onto Ginta’s too-handy cart.

Damn Kouga and his damn pranks. Damn him for his damn paybacks.

He was going to kill that mangy son of a wolf.

5555555555555555

“Can I take my shoes off?” Sango asked shyly.

Kagome giggled. “Of course, silly. The grass won’t kill you.”

Sango, of all the strange things in the universe, returned her giggle. “You never know, and I certainly don’t!” She said with a grin as she stooped to take off the soft, rubber-soled deck shoes that were standard issue among personnel on station.

~I need to get her some real shoes,~ Kagome thought idly as she watched Sango wiggle her bare toes into the soft grass. It kept surprising her how, just, well, different, Sango was acting. It was as if another person had taken hold of the quiet young woman’s soul and drawn it anew.

~Well, duh!~ Wasn’t that exactly what had happened? Kagome had to keep reminding herself that the Altered individual she had first met onboard the Eminence was nothing like the girl who now stood burying her toes in the grass and sighing like it was the softest velvet.

But then, again, this strange girl with her childlike wonder of the strange new world around her was hardly like the quietly, self-contained person who held such deep, abiding pain in her heart. Why, it was only yesterday that Sango had even begun to remember some bit of her past, and had tentatively started to open up, like some cautious little flower in the dawn’s light of revelation.

Sango, Kagome decided, was exactly like a flower. The poor thing needed nurturing care, and perhaps, over time, she might be healed enough to open herself up even more, one delicately fine petal at a time, until she blossomed into the young woman Kagome just knew lay hidden and bruised deep inside…

Trust it to Inuyasha to stomp on that flower, and make the petals snap tightly shut once more.

“Are you two done running around like a bunch of crazy lunatics and ready to go?” His voice was laced with irritation, and Kagome looked up to see his silver-white hair hung in sweaty tangles. He must have been working hard, and she felt a pang of guilt that she had taken the time while he had been unloading and reloading their supplies to just laze around.

But Sango’s guilt was far worse. She immediately wilted, and it was that soft little hesitant whisper that Kagome hated that said ashamedly, “I’m sorry.”

Kagome shot her mate a murderous look, and Inuyasha crossed his arms with usual thick-headed obtuseness and demanded, “What?”

5555555555555555

“Oh, Inuyasha! It’s perfect!”

Sango stayed back by the tall entrance-way, feeling like an interloper as Kagome threw her arms around her hanyou mate and hugged him for all she was worth. Her irritation with Inuyasha suddenly forgotten, Kagome dragged the hanyou’s head down for a kiss so full of ardor that it made Sango blush furiously to see. She stepped back, seeking to melt away and leave the two alone, but she bumped right into Ginta, who was coming in with a heavy crate from the laden cart outside.

Sango murmured an apology even as the rather diffident youkai offered one of his own. Ginta gave her a lop-sided grin for their mutual sorry’s, but Sango just looked down at her feet, unable to meet his eyes. Her feeling of earlier elation was gone, leaving her drained and weary. She felt out of place, and did not want to intrude on Inuyasha and Kagome, who were murmuring to each other as they walked further into the large, wide-opened “cabin”, arm in arm and eager to explore their new home.

Sango hated to trouble even Ginta, but she had no idea where she should go. Biting her lip and feeling like a fool, she admitted softly, “I do not know where I am supposed to bunk.”

Ginta dumped his heavy burden down with a thunk and scratched the back of his head with a nervous air. “Well, I’m not sure where Kagome might want you, but this place isn’t all that big, for all its space. I’ve been here plenty of times with Lord Kouga, and there’s really only two chambers that you might call bedrooms.”

His brow scrunched in a way which would have made Kagome laugh but only made Sango feel bad that she had put the young ookami to so much trouble. But Ginta finally just shrugged, and said, “I can take you to the downstairs one. The upstairs is bigger. More impressive. Kagome and Inuyasha should probably have that one.”

“Let me just get my carry-sack,” Sango said, eager to hole herself up in her own spot where she might not feel so out of place, and where she might be able to hide her nervous exhaustion and strain from Kagome’s ever-watchful concern. She didn’t want to ruin her friend’s first night in her new home, and she felt too tired to even put up a token smile.

“I can---” Ginta started to offer, but Sango had already stepped out to pull her small carry-sack from the empty remains of the horse-drawn cart. Ginta blinked when she hurried back inside, loath to make the ookami wait on her and put him out more than she already had.

“Is that it?” Ginta peered back through the opened door, as if expecting her to have more bags lurking undetected on the wide stone steps of the wide-flung porch that fronted the cabin.

“Should I have more?” Sango asked, worried that something was wrong. But all she possessed in the world was in that one sack, and it was only half-filled. She really didn’t need or have anything else, and Ginta’s bewildered expression made her feel stupid. Perhaps she was supposed to have brought other things, like her own water tablets and nutrition bars…

“Uh, no. Sorry,” Ginta said, “I’m just used to Ayame, I guess.”

“Ayame?” Sango asked, her curiosity slightly stirring.

“She is…was…the boss’s woman,” Ginta supplied, though he still made no sense to Sango. Ginta went on, pantomiming a wide load with out-stretched arms. “She always had a thousand and one boxes and bags she could never leave behind.”

He smiled, pretending to stagger under a heavy weight, and Sango dropped her eyes back down to her feet, feeling oddly shy. The young, gray-haired ookami was only being nice to her, but she still had difficulty knowing how to react to others, especially youkai. Ginta was not like anyone she had known before.

But then again, none of the ookami she had met in the last two days were really like anyone she could ever recall…

Ice blue eyes, hard and unrelenting and yet oddly compassionate, filled her mind’s eye, and Sango blushed.

Ginta mistook her blush for embarrassment, and said in a gentle voice, treating her like glass, “This way, miss.”

Sango followed silently as the ookami led her past the large, divided space and into the dim hall behind. It was short, and the stone floor was chilly under the thin soles of her deck shoes. Ginta paused before the first door on the right, and did a strange thing that made Sango blink in surprise.

Used to the taken-for-granted technological conveniences of space, she had never seen anyone have to push open a door before. Usually one only had to place their palm on the identilock---if the door was not open-access, and programmed with motion detectors---and it would slide open automatically.

This door was designed the same, though it was made of a thin, rich material that made Sango think of some of the tall, leaf-feathering trees she had seen growing outside as they had walked from the initial landing site to the cabin nestled at the base of the first hills, along the edge of the forest that had beckoned green shadows to her as she passed. Ginta had to physically push the door aside to allow entrance, and it didn’t seem to be too difficult for him. Still, it surprised her.

Yet something else to make her feel strange and alien.

Ginta made a grandiose gesture, as if presenting her with a gift. Sango ducked inside, her brown eyes widening in wonder as she contemplated the rich space spread out before her.

“It’s a little small.” Ginta said apologetically, and Sango blinked.

Small? How could this room be ever considered small? There were few furnishings, only a couple of chests and a bed that could have easily slept five or six. The walls were unadorned, and made of the same rich wood as the manually-operated door. The floor was sanded stone, like the rest of the cabin, but the bed and cushion that spread across the chest that stood under the wide-flung window on the far wall were in coordinating shades of sand and dark chocolate. The resinous wood that made up the walls gave off a piney hint of the deeper forests, and Sango could not believe that this was where she might stay.

Steeling herself, she had to ask, “Are you sure this isn’t for somebody else? It’s too…” She couldn’t finish.

Ginta grinned, fangs flashing. “Well, to be honest, this is it. The cabin isn’t really all that big.”

That was ridiculous.

“Most of us would just pile up on the floor upstairs if the pack was all here. The hunting’s great, you know. Kouga’s gonna miss this place, but the Stars know he’s got plenty of others. And ever since the last time he was here, when Ayame was too, he hasn’t come back. He was sure glad to hand it over to the hanyou.”

Looking around the room, he smiled. “This was Kouga’s room you know.”

Ginta was getting downright chatty, and Sango just looked at him in confusion. Ginta cleared his throat, turning red with embarrassment. “Sorry,” he muttered, “You look bushed.”

Sango had to fight back a yawn as her body agreed, even if she didn’t understand what the word meant. The last two days had held such excitement that she had not known for more months than she cared to remember.

Ginta’s claws rasped the door panel and he started to pull it helpfully closed for her. He gave her a half-smile. “Good night, miss. Hope you sleep good.”

Sango blushed as the door snapped shut.

5555555555555555

Kagome slowly stretched, feeling absurdly happy in the luxuriant expanse and softness that made up her bed. Man, she had slept like the dead---and no wonder! Inuyasha had done his hanyou best to ensure she was worn out from his particular attentions, and she remembered the past night with a sensual smile that curved across her soft lips.

Opening her eyes, she murmured his name, thinking it might be fun to see if she could try and wear him out, now that she was rested. “Inuyasha?”

She blinked, realizing her mate was gone. Perturbed, and feeling vaguely put out, she pouted. But the morning was too glorious to waste away feeling sorry for herself, and Kagome tossed back the covers, ready to embrace the new day and this new world she would now called home.

Her toes curled into the soft rugs that dotted the wooden floor of her upper bedroom. The place was perfect, and she could never believe Inuyasha had such taste, or could understand how delighted she would be with their new “cabin”.

Cabin! It was a palace! Why, this room alone was bigger than her whole family’s quarters back on Thetis. It took up one whole side of the house, and even if it was wide-open from one end to the other, so that the “seating area” on one side, grouped around a small fireplace, was within sight of the cavernous bed she had just spent the best night of her life in, she preferred it to the usual, many-small room spaces she had always known.

The cities of Thetis, where her family had lived, were so crowded that you needed many small rooms to feel as if you had some privacy in an over-crowded, cramped world. But here…here there was nothing and no one to bother her, and the wide open spaces of her new home were just so, well, homey, that Kagome wouldn’t have changed a thing about it.

Take, for instance, the colors of her new “bedroom”. They were perfect, for both of them. Done in rich shades of red, it was as if it were made especially to combine both her taste and Inuyasha’s. Perhaps it had been…

A delicious smell rose up through the open window, and Kagome’s belly growled at the enticement. Taking a deep sniff, Kagome smiled softly. If she wasn’t mistaken, Inuyasha was done there in the kitchen making breakfast, and by the wonderful smells, was doing his own skills no shame.

Learning that Inuyasha was an exceptional chef was one of the things that still surprised her. One of the many talents that she had never expected her rough-edged barbarian hanyou to have…

Hurrying through her morning routine, Kagome merely paused to brush out her thick, black hair and smooth her arching black brows down with a wet finger. Her stomach protested even that small delay and she whisked down the stairs to greet her mate with a morning kiss.

The main living room was even more impressive by day. The ceiling in the main seating area went up two stories to match the wood-roofed canopy of her bedroom. This half of the house was left open and airy. Her bedroom was the only thing on the upper floor, and Kagome approved the design. She glanced to the right, where Inuyasha stood over the primitive heating unit, his back toward her but his cute white ears swiveled in her direction.

Something sizzled, and Kagome grinned. Scooting around the long counter that served as a half-wall between the main room and the kitchen, she soon had her arms wrapped securely around her mate’s waist. Standing on tip-toe, she reached up to give him a peck on the cheek before nestling into his side with easy familiarity.

“Smells wonderful,” she said, staring at the frying strips as he deftly turned them over. Inuyasha merely grunted, but he dropped a quick kiss to the top of her head.

“Almost ready,” he said, nudging her with his hip. “You wanna go see if that crazy friend of yours is up yet?”

A frown puckered Kagome’s brow. Her first instinct was to protest Inuyasha’s casual disregard of Sango, but then she realized that it was just his way of not showing that he even cared one way or another about the girl. If she were someone he truly didn’t give a damn about, he would hardly have made her breakfast. For the most part, he was too blunt to ever give a rat’s ass about another’s welfare. But his kind heart was already making room for Sango, even if it was mostly for his wife’s benefit.

Kagome drew his chin down for a warm, lingering kiss of happy gratitude. Inuyasha was quick to respond, until something snapped in the sizzling pan and he broke the kiss off with a muffled curse. Grinning, Kagome slid out of her hanyou’s side and went looking for her friend.

She felt a little guilty about just going off and forgetting all about Sango last night. She hoped she had found her own room…Kagome had been a little busy being distracted by Inuyasha last night to even remember that Sango would have no idea where to go or what to do. But then, helpful Ginta had been there to see them all settled in. She wondered if he, too, had stayed the night.

Crossing the wide space, she tried the first door she came to. It was an over-sized closet of crates and supplies. Trying the next, she smiled happily over what she realized was a rather comfortable library, done in the same deep reds as her bedroom upstairs. It was a cozy space, with an eclectic spread of the useful to the out-dated. A modern vid-screen hung on one wall, while a hideous relic of a desk sprawled across one corner with a waiting computer and portable data-link on its knobby surface. Shelves held everything from various vid-disks to a rather archaic collection of paper-backed books. Kagome was enchanted by the cluttered charm, and she toured the other three rooms with equal delight. A san-unit, with sunken tub (a luxury she had never seen but had read about---water was too precious a resource to waste on such flippancies as a bath in Thetis’ crowded human cities) made up the first, and a small, sun-lit sitting room with windows marching along its cornered walls above a L-shaped sopha long enough to sleep two comfortably the second. The last room, thankfully, was where she found Sango.

Kagome slid open the door, and looked in with approval at the simple, sturdy furnishings. This room was more masculine than womanly, but Sango didn’t seem the type to complain. If she wanted to change it, Kagome had no problem helping her. The bed was neatly made, and she spied Sango sitting on a cushioned chest, gazing out the single wide window that looked out on the forest beyond, her hands clasped around her drawn up knees, and one cheek resting on her arms as she gazed out with singularly focused attention.

She hadn’t even heard Kagome come in, and Kagome sang out, “Good morning!”

Sango jumped, and looked guilty as she clambered down off the chest. “Kagome,” she said, blushing.

Kagome giggled at Sango’s discomfiture, and went to hug her friend in reassurance. “Did you sleep well? Do you like your room? I still can’t believe that this is our new home. It feels like I’m walking around in a daze, that this all a dream. But, there, enough about me. You’re too sweet to let me babble on like I do, Sango-chan. Anyway, Inuyasha has made breakfast if you’re hungry. Come on. I can say honestly that Inuyasha makes the best scrambled eggs I’ve ever tasted…”

Kagome bustled the hesitant girl out of the room, mentally adding to herself that she really needed to get the poor girl some proper clothes. Sango had donned another of her utilitarian coveralls, this one in a hideous gray color. It was too baggy for the girl’s slight frame, and Kagome’s bright blue sundress made it look even shabbier.

But there was time enough for that.

Sango was acting once more like the quietly shy girl Kagome remembered, and so she kept up a stream of inane chatter as she led Sango out to the main room, plopping her down on the bench beside her at the rough-hewn table that served the main space as a dining room. The need to buy some proper chairs---and cushions---was added to Kagome’s mental list, and she wondered idly when she might be able to persuade Inuyasha to take her out on a shopping spree. There were a few other things she could use…

There was little ceremony between Inuyasha and her, and Kagome picked up her chopsticks with greedy anticipation as Inuyasha plunked down a heaping plate in front of her. Kagome paused to take in the delicious smells as the contents steamed gently in the air, and she smiled happily before digging in.

Inuyasha grinned and ruffled her hair in passing. His mate could be so direct sometimes. Sango’s plate hit the wooden table with a thunk before Inuyasha went around to the other side with his own breakfast and straddled the bench. His own meal was quite different from theirs, mostly consisting of meat and eggs. He had made a hash of potatoes for Kagome’s preference, and added some fresh fruit out of deference to her more diverse dietary needs.

The first bite was heaven itself, and Kagome couldn’t stop her sigh of pure contentment. Sango had mechanically picked up the helpful spoon she had been provided, and followed suit. Used to the rather bland, if nutritionally accurate, flavors onboard station, her expression was priceless as the girl took her first taste.

Even Inuyasha chuckled as Kagome’s white teeth flashed in a smile.

“Great, isn’t it? There’s nothing in the world like Inuyasha’s eggs.” She demonstrated by taking another bite.

“Is that what this is?” Sango asked shyly, scooping up the yellow stuff on her plate.

Inuyasha and Kagome just stared at her.

Sango flushed. “It’s very good,” she said hesitantly. “Thank you.”

Inuyasha just grunted, though Kagome could tell that he was pleased by the girl’s reaction. He was making deep inroads into his own breakfast, but Kagome was surprised at how quickly Sango’s plate disappeared. She had rather assumed that the girl was a dainty, even picky, eater. But perhaps it had been more the quality of food offered, than fastidious taste buds. Sango was eating like a trencherman, and almost wolfing her breakfast down as fast as Inuyasha.

Rather than be offended, her mate seemed impressed. He even filled up a second plate before the girl could ask, not certain if she would even have dared. The second disappeared as quickly as the first, and Sango’s eyes closed as she savored the last bite, as if she could draw out the experience as long as possible.
Inuyasha’ ears pricked when a rather distinctive burp erupted from the girl, and Kagome could not help giggling at her friend’s rather startled expression. One small hand covered her mouth as mortification lent fierce color to her cheeks, and it was Inuyasha’s laugh that shook the table.

“Now that is a compliment.” He smirked.

Kagome’s eyes sparkled.

She was glad they were home.