~Smell, a fluffy InuKag oneshot
Despite his ears, his fangs, his silver hair and yellow eyes, she never thought of him as anything less than a man.
The very act that had spurred their current argument should have been proof enough of that.
But he didn't understand her motives, and now she had to track him down and explain.
Leaving her friends to sit and wait on the dirt road, Kagome ventured into the tree-line to find her half-demon friend. She hoped he was willing to be found, because if he wasn't then she would likely be walking around this forest for days.
Wandering somewhat aimlessly and calling out his name, Kagome let her mind wander, knowing that sooner or later she'd either happen upon him, or he'd come to her. 'Just like a puppy' she thought with a giggle, and then quickly sobered as the thought triggered her memory of why she was out here looking for her friend in the first place. He could be so sensitive sometimes….
He had come to fetch her from her era that morning – she had been expecting it. In fact, she had been preparing for him. After one too many after-school chats with her friends and some frivolous shopping with her aggressively supportive mother, Kagome had decided to step up her game in the ongoing battle of trying to have a relationship with Inuyasha. They were best friends, protected each other, trusted each other with their lives… but the dolt had never so much as said she was pretty.
With the logic that only a fifteen year old could concoct, Kagome had decided that if she couldn't attract his eyes (not even bathing in a hot spring a mere ten feet away was enough to shake him) then she would just have to try and attract his nose. So with a few recommendations from her friends and an indulgent sum of money from her mother, Kagome had purchased one of the fanciest perfumes she'd ever seen and would never have dared buy were she not trying to impress the love of her life.
She had been careful to not change anything else about her appearance or mannerisms that morning – no need to make him suspicious. It would be much better if the attractive scent were a surprise, no doubt prompting some response like "Gee Kagome, you smell nice today" or "wow, you smell like heaven" or perhaps he'd just grab her and bury his nose against her neck, and perhaps his lips as well….
Her blushing, hormonal self was kind of hoping for the latter.
She'd even applied a little more than necessary to her neck as a hopeful incentive.
He'd come to pick her up, grumbling as usual but grabbing her heavy bag before she could reach for it, and it wasn't until they exited the well on the other side of the time-slip that she noticed any reaction.
It was subtle, and she almost missed it, but she knew she saw him sniffing as he set her down, and as she walked ahead of him (hoping the wind would blow more of the luxurious scent his way) she swore she heard him sniffling after her.
He hadn't said a word though (or grabbed her as she'd hoped) but she guessed it was due to the sudden arrival of Shippo, happily bounding up to lead them back to the village.
They had set out on the road not long after, and Kagome supposed that Inuyasha was just waiting until they were alone to make a comment. She knew how shy he got about those kinds of things when their friends were around.
After a few hours of walking and considerable grumbling from the half-demon about their sluggish pace, Miroku, Sango and Shippo took to Kirara and Kagome climbed aboard Inuyasha's back, secretly thrilled to be this close to him and in relative privacy. There were at least a few dozen feet of distance between the pair and their companions – surely he'd say something now.
As they'd set off once again, Kagome noticed Inuyasha sniffling every now and then, and in her eager state of mind, she figured he was trying to get a better whiff of the alluring aroma coming off of her. She happily obliged, moving her hands from his shoulders to link around his neck, leaning forward more until her face was nearly next to his.
And just as she was congratulating herself for being so bold, he reacted… and not in any way she could have predicted.
He was sniffling uncontrollably, and Kagome stared in shocked fascination as his nose twitched and his face contorted in bothered grimaces, his head shaking as if to dislodge an irritant, and then – he sneezed.
And not a regular human sneeze as she would have done or as even he had done in the past. He barely made a sound as a succession of short, wet sneezes escaped him, wracking his frame, and with a spark or realization Kagome placed where she'd heard such a sound before: Buyo.
She hadn't thought before reacting, and that had been their undoing. It had just been so far from the reaction she had wanted, so unexpected, so… cute… that she could do nothing but laugh.
Kagome hadn't even realized at first that he'd set her down until he turned around to face her with the most hurt expression and she quickly sobered.
"Oh very funny Kagome." Was all he'd said before bounding away into the trees, leaving their friends staring in puzzlement and Kagome standing in shock.
Well so much for her plans of seduction.
Really, she should have known better. Or at least realized just how sensitive his nose was.
So caught up in her musings as she searched for him was Kagome that she jumped as his voice spoke unexpectedly above her.
"What, come for round two?"
Her startled brown eyes met his steely yellow ones as he glared down at her from his perch on a branch, looking very much like the cat she had earlier mentally compared him to. She mentally slapped herself for the thought.
"Inuyasha, please come down? I'm sorry I laughed at you, but it wasn't what you think!"
At least he didn't hate her, she thought with relief, as he hopped down from his perch. He kept his distance though.
"Well, what was it then? At first I thought you just used some bad shan-poo or whatever that junk is in your bath this morning, but then you deliberately tried to suffocate me with it while I'm trying to give you a ride, and then you up and laugh as it's doin' hell to my nose! If you have some kind of explanation, you better damn well say it, because that sure seemed deliberate."
He finished his tirade with crossed arms and a blatant glare, but Kagome saw the sadness back behind the harsher emotions, and she knew she had to do something to fix it.
"Inuyasha" she began softly, wanting to approach him but not wanting to aggravate his senses any further, "I wasn't trying to play a trick on you. I just… wanted to see if you'd notice!"
This didn't seem to be the right thing to say however as Inuyasha's eyes narrowed and he turned away with a huff. "Oh, I get it. You wanted to test the 'doggy', right? See if I'd 'pick up on the scent' and tell you what it was or something. Lucky for you, you just happened to get a show from it as well."
She could have slapped him. She really wanted to, but thankfully her brain was acting quicker than her emotions and she realized just how counter-productive such an act would be.
"Inuyasha," she said, her voice controlled but tone dripping with irritation, "that is not what I meant."
He didn't say anymore (thankfully) but his face carried an obvious message of 'I'm waiting', the claw tapping impatiently against his arm finishing off the look.
Kagome opened her mouth wide, eager to set him straight and prove to him how ridiculous he was being about this, but before she could utter a word she remembered why she had done what she did… and suddenly her eagerness to prove her point vanished like a puff of smoke.
"Uhh…."
… He didn't show any signs of letting go of the topic, and with a sinking feeling Kagome realized they'd probably be here for a while.
She hoped Sango and Miroku were setting up camp… and that Shippo was behaving himself.
"Um, uh….."
Inuyasha's foot was now tapping in time with his finger, and Kagome figured it was just a matter of time before all fingers joined in the rhythm, and his ears would start swiveling, then his eye would twitch, and sooner or later he'd explode.
She desperately hoped that something worthwhile would come out of her mouth before that happened, but it wasn't looking good.
"Well you see… I…"
By this point Inuyasha had skipped the finger rapping and ear twitching and had gone straight to agitated eyebrows. Kagome hoped that once the proverbial volcano blew, it would be enough of a distraction to make him forget why he was so angry in the first place. She could put up with ringing ears and some hurt feelings if it meant she didn't have to explain to him why she'd doused herself in expensive perfume.
Only the eruption never came; instead, Inuyasha's shoulders slumped and his ears drooped, and his hardened eyes turned to glare at the ground as he said in a defeated tone "Dammit Kagome, you can tell me if it was just a joke. Th-that's what friends do, right? Play jokes on each other?"
She couldn't take it – she just couldn't take him looking like that! So sad and small and defensive… like a kid on the playground that always got picked last.
It was in that moment that her earlier courage returned and she decided to be bold again, because it was what he needed. She'd worry about his disgust with her later. Right now he needed to know what she really thought.
"Inuyasha, 'playing jokes' is what children do, or little brothers… or sometimes fox-demons." She smiled, and was happy to see a quirk to his lips as well. "But that wasn't what I was doing. I just… I was trying to get your attention."
His defeated look lessened as confusion took its place, and he responded somewhat frustrated "but… it wasn't like I was ignoring you."
"Well, not exactly."
He opened his mouth to protest, but she quickly cut him off before she could lose her nerve and said "I wanted you to notice me… as a woman."
His mouth shut with a snap, and his confusion increased. "What's that supposed to mean?"
Suddenly Kagome's shyness came back with a vengeance, and her gaze fell to her brown loafers shuffling in the dirt, her fingers playing with the edge of her green skirt. "Well you see, what you smelled… it's called perfume, and… in my time, women use it to, uh… smell nice and… attract men."
Hesitantly she glanced back up at him, but his face hadn't changed from its perplexed state. If anything, he seemed even more confused than before. "But Kagome… you already smell great."
She lost track of how many minutes it took her to process that statement. By the time she came back to earth, he was back to tapping an impatient clawed finger.
"You… you really mean that?"
His head fell to the side in a comic look of exasperation and he said animatedly "Well yeah, I mean… didn't I already tell you that? That night with the spider-heads?"
Through her amazement she managed to ask the burning question "You remember that?!"
"Sure" he said nonchalantly, scratching the back of his head, "I was kinda dying and lying on your lap, so of course I'd remember."
His statement filled her head with all sorts of butterfly-inducing thoughts, but she pushed those aside to deal with another time. They still had things to sort out and she was going to need to ruminate on what he had said for a long time.
"So… it wasn't just the poison talking?"
Her hopeful eyes must have caught him off guard, because his cheeks tinged pink and he scratched his head more furiously as he mumbled "Duh, I mean… I just said it again, didn't I?"
Kagome looked away, the ground suddenly fascinating as she just couldn't bring herself to meet his eyes.
"So… wh-what you're saying…."
She glanced at him from beneath her bangs as he stuttered through his sentence, "what you're saying is that… you were… t-trying to attract me?"
She looked away again but nodded resolutely. At least he had said it and not she.
There was silence for a few minutes while each person digested what had been said. At least he wasn't running away, but Kagome still didn't know what to make of Inuyasha's response to her sort-of confession.
Breaking the silence Inuyasha cleared his throat before saying hesitantly "Well, I guess human men might like it, but I'm… I'm not human so… yeah. Sorry."
"Oh Inuyasha," Kagome said with a hint of frustration "do you really think that matters to me?"
He wasn't looking at her as he responded without hesitation "You laughed at me."
Her heart cracked a little at his obviously wounded tone, and she quickly explained "I wasn't laughing at you really, I was… laughing at the situation! That wasn't exactly the response I was hoping to get out of you, and… okay, I'll admit, the way you sneezed was really cute, but it was mostly because it was so unexpected!"
He glanced at her, not with anger or hurt but with mild scrutiny. Seeing he needed a little more convincing, she continued "Inuyasha, I don't mind your more canine-behaviors. No matter what you do or how you look, you're all 'man' to me." He responded with a cocky grin that seemed to be just another habit of his, and Kagome smiled softly in return, saying once more for clarity's sake "It's okay that you don't like it Inuyasha. If you prefer my natural scent, then I won't wear it anymore. I mean, I was doing it for you after all. Normally I wouldn't have bothered."
She looked up to see him staring at her with an even darker blush than before, and she smiled at the wonder she saw shining in his eyes, as if he couldn't believe what she had said. Catching her staring at his flushed face, Inuyasha scowled and turned away abruptly, saying with forced confidence "Good! Cuz… you definitely smell better without that crap."
Shaking her head with a smile at his attitude, Kagome stepped forward and lightly touched his arm, causing him to look back at her with a raised eyebrow.
"C'mon Inuyasha, lets head back. The others are probably wondering where we got off to."
He nodded absently and started in a seemingly random direction but one she trusted was correct. He did have better senses than her after all… something she had all but forgotten earlier that day and wouldn't forget again.
They had only walked a few feet before he spoke again, and this time his hesitant tone held something else… was it… excitement? "Kagome, how were you expecting me to react?"
Kagome almost stopped walking, but quickly distracted herself with the crunching brush under her feet as she responded "I- I guess I was just hoping to get you… uh… closer to me."
"Closer than riding on my back?"
She was sure she blushed from head to toe as she responded "Well… yeah."
It was only a few more steps before he was saying "So then… you put that stuff all over your neck… on purpose?!"
Her responding "Mmhm" came out as little more than a squeak, but he understood nonetheless.
"Damn, woman… I mean… if you really…. That is…. I guess if you want… I mean we could… hell, if you'll let me I… maybe sometime… damn."
The eagerness in that last word hit her hard, and by the time they reached their makeshift camp, Kagome was more than ready to scrub the over-priced chemicals off her body and find out what that little exclamation really meant.
*Author's Note:
Kagome has nothing further than making out on her mind in this. She's still fifteen here, and she's not ready for anything beyond kissing. But darn it she wants that kissing already!