LANGUAGE AND MATH
By: The Lady Amarisa SilverMoon
Finished: 12/8/02
Disclaimers: Normal stuff. Don't own them, just the idea. Please don't
sue me. This is just your normal basic story full of fluff. I tried to
make them as "in character" as possible, like what would happen if this
actually happened, that sort of thing. Hope you like it. Thus far,
surprisingly enough, this was the hardest thing I had to write. Like, you
know what's going to happen you just don't know how to get there sort of
thing. Anyway, enjoy!
Brown eyes stared at a pencil balancing on a delicate nose before they looked gloomily at the pile of homework nearly covering the desk beside them. Kagome sighed and leaned her head on her wrist; all the homework had been from all the missed days from school, days she spent in the past with Shippo, Myouga, Sango, Miroku, and Inuyasha. It was all well worth it, of course, they had more shards than before and the Shikon jewel was starting to become more and more complete each time she traveled to that land. Of course, this was in addition to the fact that she could see her friends every time she went there. However, she wasn't there now, and no one was with her in her time. She was stuck at her desk in her room, doing homework she did not want to do in the first place and facing mounds and mounds of more homework to go. It seemed infinite, the pile sitting there, and not all this was counting all the worksheets crammed into various designated pages in her textbooks that made up an entirely different pile all together.
Sighing in frustration, helplessness, and sheer boredom, Kagome rose to her feet and went over towards the window while at the same time dropping her pencil and leaving it lay. It was open and revealing a beautiful Sunday afternoon with a few clouds dotting the sky here and there. A fresh wind blew signaling the coming of spring rain and the current warm temperatures. Kagome sighed again and leaned on the windowsill. If there was one person she missed out of all the people in the past, it was Inuyasha. She actually wouldn't mind hearing his voice right now. She chuckled and closed her eyes.
"If he were here he'd say, 'Why are you doing all that homework in the first place?! It just takes up time and it's completely useless!'" Kagome smiled, lost in her own thoughts and daydreams.
"Why are you doing all that homework in the first place?! It just takes up time and it's completely useless!"
Kagome chuckled and continued to lean against the windowsill. "Yep, that's exactly what he would say."
"Hello! I just said it! It's not like I'm not here, you know!"
Kagome gasped and spun around. "Inuyasha!"
There he sat, on her bed with legs and arms crossed in his usual fashion, dressed in what he always wears. He glared at her with his yellow eyes. "Where have you been? We need to continue to look for the shards and find Naraku to destroy him! I can't do that without you sensing everything for us!"
Kagome could not believe her eyes. "I-Inuyasha . . . you're here?"
"Well I'm certainly not back in the past now am I?"
"B-But . . ." She noticed he was a little damp. "Why are you all wet? And why aren't you in the past?"
Inuyasha sighed and rolled his eyes before closing them, still in his normal fashion and attitude. "It's raining. I'd rather come here than be cooped up in that temple all day, and I do not mean that as a compliment, but take it whatever way you want."
Kagome blinked. "Y-you'd rather be here with me?"
"I told you to take it whatever way you want!" Inuyasha exclaimed as his eyes snapped open and he glared at her once more. "But if that's the way you think it is, then I definitely say no. I got bored, that's all. So don't take it any other way than that, I got bored."
Kagome smirked at him and returned to her desk. Well, at least he was here and she wanted this, even the berating. She sighed and picked up her forsaken pencil. "Yes, well, as you can see I have a mountain load of homework to do and I have to get back to work."
"Fine," said Inuyasha as he looked away. "But I'm not leaving."
"I can tell that," Kagome smirked again. "Just try not to bother me."
'That's going to be hard to do, considering the fact that I'm here,' thought Inuyasha as he watched her work. "So what lame thing are you attempting to do now?"
"English. And it's hard, so shut up."
"Fine." He sat there and stared out the window, completely bored. Kagome looked back at him and sighed, twisting her body around to stare at him. His long white hair floated in the soft breeze from her window and his eyes almost seemed . . . serene. Inuyasha blinked and looked back at her, the normal annoyance overtaking the serenity in his eyes once more. "What are you staring at?!"
Kagome grinned. "Nothing."
Inuyasha snorted. "Then would you mind not doing that?"
"Why? Am I scaring you?"
"No! You're just annoying!"
Kagome huffed. "Fine. And just what did everyone say when you started to come here?"
"No one said a thing because they didn't know I came," he answered simply.
Kagome blinked. "N-No one knows you're here?"
"That's what I said, isn't it?"
"But – what if they need you?"
Now Inuyasha huffed and turned his head away. "I doubt they will. Demons really don't do anything when it rains."
"And why is that?"
"How should I know?!"
"Well you are half demon!"
"So?! That's supposed to make me an expert at everything?!"
"No, I suppose not."
"Well then, lay off! Don't you have homework to do?"
"Alright, alright, fine," Kagome huffed and turned back around. Inuyasha continued to stare out the window.
A few minutes later, once Inuyasha let out a sigh, Kagome stood and stretched, hearing her back crack a few times. She turned her neck back and forth and heard it crack as well. "So this is all you're going to do?" she asked as she went to her dresser and picked up her comb, beginning to run it through her hair.
"Do you have a problem with it?"
"Not really. You're going to be really bored here. I just think you would be able to find something better to do in the past, that's all."
"I doubt it," he answered simply.
Kagome closed her eyes and continued to run her comb through her hair. "Is it really that boring when I'm not there?"
"I didn't say that. I just said that I got bored, not that it's boring all the time. You really need to start listening more often."
"And you really need to start telling me things so I can start listening!" Kagome snapped in return.
Inuyasha frowned, "Feh, whatever."
"Ow!"
Inuyasha's head snapped over to Kagome to see her struggling with her comb in her hear. It seemed to be stuck, obviously. She had come across a huge knot and now she was literally pulling at it with both hands because it refused to come loose. A few tears welled up in her eyes as she continued to whimper and repeat that one word over and over again, trying desperately to get the comb out. If this continued, and she succeed at removing the comb, then a large chunk of hair would come out as well and she would more than likely have a bald spot where the hair once was. When Inuyasha saw the tears one of his eyes ticked and he got to his feat. He walked over to her desk and picked up her book, her pencil and an eraser. Then, with these in one hand, he headed towards Kagome, grabbed her arm gently but firmly and led her to her bed. She stared at him with a confused look, unable to understand exactly what he thought he was doing.
Inuyasha put Kagome's things on her lap and took her hands off her brush. Gently prying the hair off the brush, he sat cross-legged behind her and began to run it through her hair.
"Inuyasha? What are you doing?" Kagome asked in such a way that it clearly told him she thought he had gone insane.
"What does it look like I'm doing?! Just do your homework and let me help you."
"But, why?"
"Because I'm bored that's why!"
Kagome heard the tone in his voice, and yet his movements were completely different. It was hot meets cold, day meets night, and hate meets love . . . It seemed that all Inuyasha would ever be to Kagome was a paradox, a walking paradox, tormented since birth with a tragic history, not able to fully live. Glancing down at her homework, she felt a tug as Inuyasha came upon the knot she was trying to get out. She sat in pure amazement as he took his hand and held her hair firmly in his grasp just inches above the knot to keep the hair from moving. With his other hand, he took the brush and started to comb out all the tangles, holding firmly onto her hair with his other hand so whenever he pulled it, and it would have normally hurt, it wouldn't budge because he would refuse to let it.
Kagome smiled in wonder at this. Who would have thought that Inuyasha, of all people, would know how to brush hair? It certainly didn't seem as if he brushed his normally, and he never showed any signs that he knew how. Nevertheless, here he was, brushing her hair for her without her even asking him to. It was so gentle and thorough that it sent shivers down Kagome's spine. She could hardly concentrate on her homework because Inuyasha's movements were nearly . . . sensual. She closed her eyes and felt his hands run through her hair to check to see if he had gotten all the tangles out. It was amazing the way he was making such a simple task such a pleasurable one. She sighed in content and nearly dropped her pencil; she was concentrating so closely on Inuyasha's movements that she completely forgot about her homework. Buckling down, and trying hard to ignore the feelings he was sending through her body, Kagome stared at her homework and finally restarted it.
A good while later, with Kagome's attention now on her homework instead of a certain half-demon, she effectively forgot he was even there. In fact, she wasn't even aware of his movements even as he, still playing with her hair, moved in a little semi-circle around her. In addition to this, as time quickly lapsed away, Inuyasha forgot about his surroundings. All of his attention centered on what he was doing and nothing else, all of his attention centered on the girl in front of him. Neither of them noticed when a door slid open and then shut again and little footsteps sounded throughout the house.
When Kagome's bedroom door opened, both of them jumped. There stood her little brother, first with a shocked expression on his face that soon dissolved into a huge grin.
"Ahem . . . well, I'd hate to interrupt, but I just came in here to tell you that mom said she's going to be a little late and that Grandpa is still out in the temple praying and doing who-knows-what-else," Souta explained with an inerasable smile.
"And your point?" Kagome leered.
"Just wanted to tell you so you would know you'd be alone for a while. Which it looks like that's a good thing considering the fact that your boyfriend's here."
Kagome pushed aside her books and stood as Inuyasha glared at the young boy, daring him to say more, ignoring the fact that Kagome's younger brother idolized him. "Souta, out!" Kagome ordered while pointing her finger past her door. "NOW!"
"Hey, don't mind me. I'm just a messenger boy. Continue with what you were doing. Pretend that I'm not even here."
"OUT!!" Kagome fumed, rushing towards him to force him out.
Souta held up his hands in mock defense as Kagome roughly pushed him out her door. "Okay, okay, fine, I'll leave," he grinned. "I'll let you two be aloooone." He ducked before Kagome could take a swing at him. "By the way sis," he added as he ran down the hall laughing. "Nice hair!" With that, he was gone.
Kagome slammed her door in frustration, nearly making her windowpanes shudder. "Little brothers," she snapped vehemently. "Some days they're little angels, some days they're demons! No offense meant, of course," she added quickly.
Inuyasha merely shook his head. "None taken."
"Besides," Kagome stated as she walked past her dresser mirror to her bed. "Exactly what did he mean by nice hair?" Inuyasha stared at her, taking a small gulp in what must have been a hint of fear. He watched her as she strode past her mirror, caught her reflection and spun around to stare at it in disbelief. "Inuyasha!"
He merely stared at her as she turned around to see her hair fly out in a little circle before falling back down. She looked very shocked, but he couldn't tell if she was pleased or not. She took up one of the closest braids and looked at them. While she was studying, and after Inuyasha had gotten all the tangles out of her hair, he had continued to play with it by making a few tiny braids as a top layer to the rest of her hair that lay as it usually did. He thought he had done a good job, actually, owing to the fact that they all were very neat.
"You don't like it?" he asked as his tone dropped to an almost disappointed level and his eyes stared at the floor.
"I love it!" she exclaimed.
"You do?" he asked as his eyes snapped up to look at her.
"Of course I do," she answered as she turned to him. "How did you learn to do this?"
"My mother," he answered simply.
"Your mother?"
"Yeah." His tone dropped again. "When I was little she always used to play with my hair. She loved it long. She taught me how to braid. After she was through with my hair I always played with hers . . . I guess it just sort of stuck . . ."
"Inuyasha . . ."
Inuyasha merely shook his head and continued to stare out the window. "That's in the past now, there's nothing I can do about it."
"But you just did something about it," explained Kagome as she went and sat beside Inuyasha, obstructing his view of the window. "You kept the memory of your mother alive by using what she taught you on me."
Inuyasha stared at her for a few moments before looking away again. "It was nothing, so don't make such a big deal out of it."
Kagome smiled at the stubborn half-demon and picked up her homework. She had finished it while Inuyasha was braiding her hair and now she had to start on Algebra. Taking her English book back to her desk, she sat down and began to work on the math problems assigned to her, which was practically the entire book. Sighing, she took out her graphing calculator and started on the first problem. Staring at her for a few moments, Inuyasha fell over and stretched on her bed, watching the shadows on the ceiling that the tree next to Kagome's window cast.
A good while later, after Inuyasha had more than once gone into a trance from the moving shadows, the chair on which Kagome was seated creaked when she stretched and began to rub her shoulder, repeating "Ow" over and over yet again. Inuyasha turned his head and stared at her. Now she had moved from her shoulder to her lower back, trying to rub in little circles to no avail. She moaned and returned to her right shoulder.
"I knew math was hard on the brain, but I never thought it could be hard on the body as well." She would have continued but two strong hands fell upon her shoulders and started messaging them gently. Kagome gasped and looked back at Inuyasha. He merely glared at her, took his hands and turned her head back around, ordering sharply one word, "Study." With that said, he continued working on her shoulders, moving slowly down her back. Kagome gave a sigh of thanks and started on her homework again.
"You know, this is your fault. I wouldn't have so much homework if I didn't need to keep going back to your time."
"Which is exactly why I'm helping. The faster you complete that stuff the faster we can go back and continue looking for the shards."
"Oh, that's nice to know," she grumbled. "Thank you for being so supportive."
"Honestly, I don't know why you're even doing the stuff. You don't need it."
"I already told you, I do if I want to get into High School and College and get a job."
"You won't need all that if you come back and stay in the past."
"No thank you, I'd rather have a life here." Inuyasha's constant rhythm faltered. "Not that it's not great there," Kagome quickly added. "I mean, I wouldn't have much of a future if I'm living in the past, you know."
"Feh. And that's a problem because . . . ?"
Kagome didn't answer which Inuyasha took as a good sign. He continued to message her shoulders, gently moving her hair over her right shoulder. Her fragrance floated up to his senses and he breathed her in. The truth of the matter was he did not hate her scent . . . he had lied. When Kagome moaned softly, his eyes snapped open, since he had closed them at one point or another, and he looked at her to see that her head hung forward and she seemed to be enjoying his administrations a great deal. When she sighed in content, he smiled. He closed his eyes as he took in her scent, never missing a beat as his head moved closer and closer to her bare left shoulder. Kagome did not seem to notice. He was only inches away from her, millimeters. Taking one last breath, drinking in her fragrance, he parted his mouth slightly and ever so gently scraped his fangs against her pale skin, giving her a tiny love bite. She gasped and raised her head to look at him, though his position never changed. They stared at each other for a few minor seconds.
Before Kagome could say anything, not that she was going to anyway, Inuyasha leaned in a kissed her. It was sweet, gentle, and loving. Kagome's eyes fluttered close, never once objecting to his bold movement, and answered. And from the doorway, peering through a tiny crack made by the door opening slightly and silently, Souta smiled.
Disclaimers 2: Did you get the meaning of the title? You know, "International Language of Love" and Inuyasha + Kagome = you do the math. She had to do English and Algebra. And instead of studying French, which is the international language of love, Japanese commonly study English. Get it? Ha Ha? Never mind . . .
Brown eyes stared at a pencil balancing on a delicate nose before they looked gloomily at the pile of homework nearly covering the desk beside them. Kagome sighed and leaned her head on her wrist; all the homework had been from all the missed days from school, days she spent in the past with Shippo, Myouga, Sango, Miroku, and Inuyasha. It was all well worth it, of course, they had more shards than before and the Shikon jewel was starting to become more and more complete each time she traveled to that land. Of course, this was in addition to the fact that she could see her friends every time she went there. However, she wasn't there now, and no one was with her in her time. She was stuck at her desk in her room, doing homework she did not want to do in the first place and facing mounds and mounds of more homework to go. It seemed infinite, the pile sitting there, and not all this was counting all the worksheets crammed into various designated pages in her textbooks that made up an entirely different pile all together.
Sighing in frustration, helplessness, and sheer boredom, Kagome rose to her feet and went over towards the window while at the same time dropping her pencil and leaving it lay. It was open and revealing a beautiful Sunday afternoon with a few clouds dotting the sky here and there. A fresh wind blew signaling the coming of spring rain and the current warm temperatures. Kagome sighed again and leaned on the windowsill. If there was one person she missed out of all the people in the past, it was Inuyasha. She actually wouldn't mind hearing his voice right now. She chuckled and closed her eyes.
"If he were here he'd say, 'Why are you doing all that homework in the first place?! It just takes up time and it's completely useless!'" Kagome smiled, lost in her own thoughts and daydreams.
"Why are you doing all that homework in the first place?! It just takes up time and it's completely useless!"
Kagome chuckled and continued to lean against the windowsill. "Yep, that's exactly what he would say."
"Hello! I just said it! It's not like I'm not here, you know!"
Kagome gasped and spun around. "Inuyasha!"
There he sat, on her bed with legs and arms crossed in his usual fashion, dressed in what he always wears. He glared at her with his yellow eyes. "Where have you been? We need to continue to look for the shards and find Naraku to destroy him! I can't do that without you sensing everything for us!"
Kagome could not believe her eyes. "I-Inuyasha . . . you're here?"
"Well I'm certainly not back in the past now am I?"
"B-But . . ." She noticed he was a little damp. "Why are you all wet? And why aren't you in the past?"
Inuyasha sighed and rolled his eyes before closing them, still in his normal fashion and attitude. "It's raining. I'd rather come here than be cooped up in that temple all day, and I do not mean that as a compliment, but take it whatever way you want."
Kagome blinked. "Y-you'd rather be here with me?"
"I told you to take it whatever way you want!" Inuyasha exclaimed as his eyes snapped open and he glared at her once more. "But if that's the way you think it is, then I definitely say no. I got bored, that's all. So don't take it any other way than that, I got bored."
Kagome smirked at him and returned to her desk. Well, at least he was here and she wanted this, even the berating. She sighed and picked up her forsaken pencil. "Yes, well, as you can see I have a mountain load of homework to do and I have to get back to work."
"Fine," said Inuyasha as he looked away. "But I'm not leaving."
"I can tell that," Kagome smirked again. "Just try not to bother me."
'That's going to be hard to do, considering the fact that I'm here,' thought Inuyasha as he watched her work. "So what lame thing are you attempting to do now?"
"English. And it's hard, so shut up."
"Fine." He sat there and stared out the window, completely bored. Kagome looked back at him and sighed, twisting her body around to stare at him. His long white hair floated in the soft breeze from her window and his eyes almost seemed . . . serene. Inuyasha blinked and looked back at her, the normal annoyance overtaking the serenity in his eyes once more. "What are you staring at?!"
Kagome grinned. "Nothing."
Inuyasha snorted. "Then would you mind not doing that?"
"Why? Am I scaring you?"
"No! You're just annoying!"
Kagome huffed. "Fine. And just what did everyone say when you started to come here?"
"No one said a thing because they didn't know I came," he answered simply.
Kagome blinked. "N-No one knows you're here?"
"That's what I said, isn't it?"
"But – what if they need you?"
Now Inuyasha huffed and turned his head away. "I doubt they will. Demons really don't do anything when it rains."
"And why is that?"
"How should I know?!"
"Well you are half demon!"
"So?! That's supposed to make me an expert at everything?!"
"No, I suppose not."
"Well then, lay off! Don't you have homework to do?"
"Alright, alright, fine," Kagome huffed and turned back around. Inuyasha continued to stare out the window.
A few minutes later, once Inuyasha let out a sigh, Kagome stood and stretched, hearing her back crack a few times. She turned her neck back and forth and heard it crack as well. "So this is all you're going to do?" she asked as she went to her dresser and picked up her comb, beginning to run it through her hair.
"Do you have a problem with it?"
"Not really. You're going to be really bored here. I just think you would be able to find something better to do in the past, that's all."
"I doubt it," he answered simply.
Kagome closed her eyes and continued to run her comb through her hair. "Is it really that boring when I'm not there?"
"I didn't say that. I just said that I got bored, not that it's boring all the time. You really need to start listening more often."
"And you really need to start telling me things so I can start listening!" Kagome snapped in return.
Inuyasha frowned, "Feh, whatever."
"Ow!"
Inuyasha's head snapped over to Kagome to see her struggling with her comb in her hear. It seemed to be stuck, obviously. She had come across a huge knot and now she was literally pulling at it with both hands because it refused to come loose. A few tears welled up in her eyes as she continued to whimper and repeat that one word over and over again, trying desperately to get the comb out. If this continued, and she succeed at removing the comb, then a large chunk of hair would come out as well and she would more than likely have a bald spot where the hair once was. When Inuyasha saw the tears one of his eyes ticked and he got to his feat. He walked over to her desk and picked up her book, her pencil and an eraser. Then, with these in one hand, he headed towards Kagome, grabbed her arm gently but firmly and led her to her bed. She stared at him with a confused look, unable to understand exactly what he thought he was doing.
Inuyasha put Kagome's things on her lap and took her hands off her brush. Gently prying the hair off the brush, he sat cross-legged behind her and began to run it through her hair.
"Inuyasha? What are you doing?" Kagome asked in such a way that it clearly told him she thought he had gone insane.
"What does it look like I'm doing?! Just do your homework and let me help you."
"But, why?"
"Because I'm bored that's why!"
Kagome heard the tone in his voice, and yet his movements were completely different. It was hot meets cold, day meets night, and hate meets love . . . It seemed that all Inuyasha would ever be to Kagome was a paradox, a walking paradox, tormented since birth with a tragic history, not able to fully live. Glancing down at her homework, she felt a tug as Inuyasha came upon the knot she was trying to get out. She sat in pure amazement as he took his hand and held her hair firmly in his grasp just inches above the knot to keep the hair from moving. With his other hand, he took the brush and started to comb out all the tangles, holding firmly onto her hair with his other hand so whenever he pulled it, and it would have normally hurt, it wouldn't budge because he would refuse to let it.
Kagome smiled in wonder at this. Who would have thought that Inuyasha, of all people, would know how to brush hair? It certainly didn't seem as if he brushed his normally, and he never showed any signs that he knew how. Nevertheless, here he was, brushing her hair for her without her even asking him to. It was so gentle and thorough that it sent shivers down Kagome's spine. She could hardly concentrate on her homework because Inuyasha's movements were nearly . . . sensual. She closed her eyes and felt his hands run through her hair to check to see if he had gotten all the tangles out. It was amazing the way he was making such a simple task such a pleasurable one. She sighed in content and nearly dropped her pencil; she was concentrating so closely on Inuyasha's movements that she completely forgot about her homework. Buckling down, and trying hard to ignore the feelings he was sending through her body, Kagome stared at her homework and finally restarted it.
A good while later, with Kagome's attention now on her homework instead of a certain half-demon, she effectively forgot he was even there. In fact, she wasn't even aware of his movements even as he, still playing with her hair, moved in a little semi-circle around her. In addition to this, as time quickly lapsed away, Inuyasha forgot about his surroundings. All of his attention centered on what he was doing and nothing else, all of his attention centered on the girl in front of him. Neither of them noticed when a door slid open and then shut again and little footsteps sounded throughout the house.
When Kagome's bedroom door opened, both of them jumped. There stood her little brother, first with a shocked expression on his face that soon dissolved into a huge grin.
"Ahem . . . well, I'd hate to interrupt, but I just came in here to tell you that mom said she's going to be a little late and that Grandpa is still out in the temple praying and doing who-knows-what-else," Souta explained with an inerasable smile.
"And your point?" Kagome leered.
"Just wanted to tell you so you would know you'd be alone for a while. Which it looks like that's a good thing considering the fact that your boyfriend's here."
Kagome pushed aside her books and stood as Inuyasha glared at the young boy, daring him to say more, ignoring the fact that Kagome's younger brother idolized him. "Souta, out!" Kagome ordered while pointing her finger past her door. "NOW!"
"Hey, don't mind me. I'm just a messenger boy. Continue with what you were doing. Pretend that I'm not even here."
"OUT!!" Kagome fumed, rushing towards him to force him out.
Souta held up his hands in mock defense as Kagome roughly pushed him out her door. "Okay, okay, fine, I'll leave," he grinned. "I'll let you two be aloooone." He ducked before Kagome could take a swing at him. "By the way sis," he added as he ran down the hall laughing. "Nice hair!" With that, he was gone.
Kagome slammed her door in frustration, nearly making her windowpanes shudder. "Little brothers," she snapped vehemently. "Some days they're little angels, some days they're demons! No offense meant, of course," she added quickly.
Inuyasha merely shook his head. "None taken."
"Besides," Kagome stated as she walked past her dresser mirror to her bed. "Exactly what did he mean by nice hair?" Inuyasha stared at her, taking a small gulp in what must have been a hint of fear. He watched her as she strode past her mirror, caught her reflection and spun around to stare at it in disbelief. "Inuyasha!"
He merely stared at her as she turned around to see her hair fly out in a little circle before falling back down. She looked very shocked, but he couldn't tell if she was pleased or not. She took up one of the closest braids and looked at them. While she was studying, and after Inuyasha had gotten all the tangles out of her hair, he had continued to play with it by making a few tiny braids as a top layer to the rest of her hair that lay as it usually did. He thought he had done a good job, actually, owing to the fact that they all were very neat.
"You don't like it?" he asked as his tone dropped to an almost disappointed level and his eyes stared at the floor.
"I love it!" she exclaimed.
"You do?" he asked as his eyes snapped up to look at her.
"Of course I do," she answered as she turned to him. "How did you learn to do this?"
"My mother," he answered simply.
"Your mother?"
"Yeah." His tone dropped again. "When I was little she always used to play with my hair. She loved it long. She taught me how to braid. After she was through with my hair I always played with hers . . . I guess it just sort of stuck . . ."
"Inuyasha . . ."
Inuyasha merely shook his head and continued to stare out the window. "That's in the past now, there's nothing I can do about it."
"But you just did something about it," explained Kagome as she went and sat beside Inuyasha, obstructing his view of the window. "You kept the memory of your mother alive by using what she taught you on me."
Inuyasha stared at her for a few moments before looking away again. "It was nothing, so don't make such a big deal out of it."
Kagome smiled at the stubborn half-demon and picked up her homework. She had finished it while Inuyasha was braiding her hair and now she had to start on Algebra. Taking her English book back to her desk, she sat down and began to work on the math problems assigned to her, which was practically the entire book. Sighing, she took out her graphing calculator and started on the first problem. Staring at her for a few moments, Inuyasha fell over and stretched on her bed, watching the shadows on the ceiling that the tree next to Kagome's window cast.
A good while later, after Inuyasha had more than once gone into a trance from the moving shadows, the chair on which Kagome was seated creaked when she stretched and began to rub her shoulder, repeating "Ow" over and over yet again. Inuyasha turned his head and stared at her. Now she had moved from her shoulder to her lower back, trying to rub in little circles to no avail. She moaned and returned to her right shoulder.
"I knew math was hard on the brain, but I never thought it could be hard on the body as well." She would have continued but two strong hands fell upon her shoulders and started messaging them gently. Kagome gasped and looked back at Inuyasha. He merely glared at her, took his hands and turned her head back around, ordering sharply one word, "Study." With that said, he continued working on her shoulders, moving slowly down her back. Kagome gave a sigh of thanks and started on her homework again.
"You know, this is your fault. I wouldn't have so much homework if I didn't need to keep going back to your time."
"Which is exactly why I'm helping. The faster you complete that stuff the faster we can go back and continue looking for the shards."
"Oh, that's nice to know," she grumbled. "Thank you for being so supportive."
"Honestly, I don't know why you're even doing the stuff. You don't need it."
"I already told you, I do if I want to get into High School and College and get a job."
"You won't need all that if you come back and stay in the past."
"No thank you, I'd rather have a life here." Inuyasha's constant rhythm faltered. "Not that it's not great there," Kagome quickly added. "I mean, I wouldn't have much of a future if I'm living in the past, you know."
"Feh. And that's a problem because . . . ?"
Kagome didn't answer which Inuyasha took as a good sign. He continued to message her shoulders, gently moving her hair over her right shoulder. Her fragrance floated up to his senses and he breathed her in. The truth of the matter was he did not hate her scent . . . he had lied. When Kagome moaned softly, his eyes snapped open, since he had closed them at one point or another, and he looked at her to see that her head hung forward and she seemed to be enjoying his administrations a great deal. When she sighed in content, he smiled. He closed his eyes as he took in her scent, never missing a beat as his head moved closer and closer to her bare left shoulder. Kagome did not seem to notice. He was only inches away from her, millimeters. Taking one last breath, drinking in her fragrance, he parted his mouth slightly and ever so gently scraped his fangs against her pale skin, giving her a tiny love bite. She gasped and raised her head to look at him, though his position never changed. They stared at each other for a few minor seconds.
Before Kagome could say anything, not that she was going to anyway, Inuyasha leaned in a kissed her. It was sweet, gentle, and loving. Kagome's eyes fluttered close, never once objecting to his bold movement, and answered. And from the doorway, peering through a tiny crack made by the door opening slightly and silently, Souta smiled.
Disclaimers 2: Did you get the meaning of the title? You know, "International Language of Love" and Inuyasha + Kagome = you do the math. She had to do English and Algebra. And instead of studying French, which is the international language of love, Japanese commonly study English. Get it? Ha Ha? Never mind . . .