Unseen
Summary: One sleepy evening in the Higurashi household, Souta happens upon a rare moment between hanyou and miko. Some things go unnoticed, but others things... InuXKag
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Stretching his arms high as they would go, Souta Higurashi let out a jaw cracking yawn that would have put the family cat Buyo to shame. Geez, he was beat...
The young school boy had endured a day of Geomotry, Physics, Gym Class (maaan had it been cold!), exams – the list of torture went on! Not to mention he'd been stressing himself stupid all day over what to get his girlfriend of three months, Hitomi, for Valentine's Day that coming weekend. He knew what girls were like when it came to this time of year. Didn't matter how old they were or how ridiculous he found the whole stupid day, Hitomi was going to be expecting something from him.
Hmm, maybe just some chocolate would do? Girls like chocolate right? Souta mulled it over in his head as he began climbing up the stairs. Or maybe... URGH I don't KNOW! Maybe Kagome has some ideas...
Reaching the top of the stair case, Souta took the few short steps to Kagome's room and raised his hand, poised to knock on her door... and hesitated.
However beat he was from the day's shenanigans, his mood would be nothing compared to his older sister's foul temperament right now. Kagome had come home from the Sengoku Jidai yesterday looking miserable as sin and barely saying two words. He could tell from the second she'd walked through the door, dumping her yellow back pack and practically stomping into the kitchen (he'd made a vow in that moment to stay far, faaar out of her way for the rest of the day). Somehow, Souta guessed, his sister's ill disposition had something to do with InuYasha. Couldn't his poor hanyou hero ever catch a break with her? Kagome was always so mean when it came to him!
Souta hadn't been able to help the pang of sympathy he'd felt, however, when he'd spied Kagome a little later that evening slumped against the landing wall, dark hair falling around her face and casting it in shadow, making the tear tracks that ran down her cheeks almost impossible to see... almost. He'd been about to call out to her, unsure what to do, when his mother had come bustling in from around the corner, ushering him into the next room and out of the way while she tended to her daughter.
Well, that had been yesterday. Kagome's mood had, if anything, gotten worse ever since. She'd gone from one extreme to the other; angry and irritable in one second and then sad and distant in the next. How did she do it, seriously? The mood switching! Whatever had happened between InuYasha and his sister this time had to be bad.
Gulping slightly, Souta took a deep breath, squared his shoulders and lightly knocked on Kagome's door. He didn't really have a death wish, really he didn't, but he so badly didn't want to disappoint Hitomi, and (he had to admit) his sister knew her stuff when it came to people's feelings, their real feelings.
She's just not always so good with her own, Souta concluded shrewdly.
The seconds that passed after his knock were a tense few . Any second now Kagome would yank open the door, yell at him to go away...
Only the seconds ticked on and on, until at least a whole minute had passed, and still, there was no response of any kind from his teenaged sister. Not sure whether to take this as a good sign or not, Souta geared himself up and instead turned the pink door knob; pushing the door open slowly, he listened for any kind of reaction within.
Nothing, not even a stir.
Deciding to test his luck a little, Souta poked his head round the side of the door. Then his eyes bugged, but he thankfully succeeded in keeping any sound from leaving his mouth.
Kagome was laying on her side on top of her fluffy pink bed, one arm bent with a hand tucked her under cheek, while the other hung over the side of the bed. Her eyes were closed, her mouth hanging open a little as she let out small, even breaths. Fast asleep, and not a trace of The Mood that she'd been in earlier visible about her. In fact, she was the very picture of contentment and calmness.
Maybe it had something to do with the hanyou who was currently crouching beside her bed, his chin resting on his red cladded arms where they were crossed on the mattress. Just looking at his sister.
Thinking this looked somewhat creepy from his out-of-scene angle, Souta very nearly slammed the door shut and high tailed it to his room. Something gave him pause though, just for a moment, when he dared a second look at the couple.
Sure, his hanyou hero was just looking at his sister, but somehow, there was more to it than that. InuYasha's face, his entire posture, gave off almost the same sense of contentment as Kagome's prone form currently did. His golden eyes were half lidded but bright with some unnamed feeling, and there was a small smile playing about his lips. He watched that smile widen slightly when Kagome mumbled something incoherent in her sleep and shuffled about a little, sliding her hand out from under her cheek to move under the pillow and then kicking the duvet between her legs. Souta watched, in sheer disbelief (and rising alarm), when InuYasha reached out a clawed hand and ran it along Kagome's cheek, stroking it tenderly with his thumb, then brushing a few tendrils of hair out of her face. Kagome murmured something again, causing the hanyou to pull his hand away abruptly as if afraid she'd wake up. Or maybe... maybe he was afraid of how caught up in the moment he'd been. Souta certainly was, even watching from afar.
InuYasha was so oblivious to anything but the girl before him; he didn't seem to have even heard Souta open the door, let alone his knock moments earlier.
Lastly, Souta heard InuYasha mumble a few words under his breath, words he supposed were not for anyone but his sister to hear.
"I'm sorry for earlier, Kagome. Please... please come back soon."
Had his gruff, tough as nails hanyou hero really just said something so... mushy? So... so sweet? Was that "sweet" was? And to his older sister?
Blushing with embarrassment, and deciding he'd seen more than enough (and knowing that sooner or later InuYasha was going to catch him in the act), Souta shut the door again as quietly as he could, then scampered off across the landing to his own room. Once behind the safety of his own walls, the school boy let out a breath he didn't realise he'd been holding.
Okay, he needed to try and forget what he'd just seen. It was just too, too weird. Sure, he knew that somewhere deep down, Kagome and InuYasha sort of... more than liked each other (heck, it was he who'd opened a conversation with the hanyou once with the question "You are boyfriend and girlfriend, aren't you?"), but actually seeing their, ahem, interactions was something entirely different.
His hero, the guy he looked up to above all things, with his older sister, the teenaged time traveller who wore her heart on her sleeve... though not always to positive effect, if her bad mood earlier was anything to go by.
Shaking his head to clear it, Souta decided to sleep on his original plan of asking Kagome what he should do for Hitomi on Valentine's Day. Weirdly, maybe it was InuYasha who'd he'd have the best luck in asking...
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Fin
A/N – Nothing special, just a silly little scene I had playing around in my head. Plus, it's been so long since I've written or posted anything – for that I do apologise, I really would love to try writing again properly soon... hopefully with a new and improved style (though still sticking with InuYasha :3). In the meantime, for all those who read this, you have my utmost thanks and gratitude!
B. W. Kirara – Jess x