It was something he just could not quite get used to.
There was the tiniest of smiles on InuYasha's face as he played with a lock of his sleeping wife's hair, whom he lay next to, propping himself up on an elbow.
This simple, easy feeling of gentle wonder continued to take his breath away, this feeling of calming peace that he had not felt in all of his long, painful years.
It was with a twinge of nostalgia he almost half wished he could return to his much younger self not to lose hope, yet, any sort of action around that sort of talk would mean he would have to get up, something he was extremely unwilling to contemplate.
It was far too chilly out there in the fresh, early morning light, and far too comfortable right here for that anyway.
The days at present were still moderately cold, a cold snap has swept through the village only the previous day, bringing icy breezes and frosty mornings like it was still midway through the last moon of winter.
InuYasha's eyes roved around the smallish hut he had completed the week just gone with a certain sense of satisfaction.
It had definately taken him longer than he had expected, with only some of the reasons belonging to the blizzard that had torn through the area that winter, one that brought about one of the heaviest snowfalls in years, according to Kaede.
The rest of these delays, InuYasha had no problem with, however they did broaden his smile.
Their hut was hidden on the very outskirts of the village; InuYasha still wasn't exactly comfortable with the idea of being anywhere near any sort of human community, however InuYasha knew it was necessary, despite his protests.
His wish to keep Kagome happy outweighed his discomfort.
And yet, another thing that he was struck by was, though he had literally built this place from the ground up, he still found it a little disconcerting to still have something to his name that was called "home".
His childhood, and everything up until now had required his constant movement, and though he had spent the last few years (the fifty years on Goshinboku notwithstanding) sort of centered around this village, he found it decidedly odd.
But, nonethless, it widened his smile ever so slightly.
'Hmmm,' Kagome stirred, rolling onto her other side, which tugged the lock from between InuYasha's fingers, before scrunching her face up, and opening one eye, then relaxing to peer up at him.
'Good morning,' InuYasha chuckled, watching her look around.
'Ah, good morning.' She responded, rubbing her eyes.
Her voice was thick from sleep, and there was something about it he couldn't help but find a little sexy, and she confirmed this fact by shifting over and cuddling up to him, pressing her cold toes under the arches of his feet. 'It's cold out there.' She murmured. 'Five more minutes.'
'There's all the time in the world.' He responded, pushing a stray hair from her peaceful face, gently tracing down her jawline, marveling slightly once again at her soft skin.
He, of course, being the inquisitive type, had explored every inch of this, and had discovered it to be this soft everywhere, something he also found physically attractive about her.
'Hey, Kagome?' InuYasha said as a thought struck him.
'Hm?' She didn't look up from burying her face in his chest.
'What's "pad tai"?'
'Pad thai?' She frowned slightly. 'It's a dish, sort of like fried rice, but with noodles. Why do you ask?'
'You were muttering about it last night.' He shrugged.
'Oh,' she turned red, peeking up at him. 'What else did you hear?'
He shrugged slightly. 'I got some ideas for our next,' he gave her a meaningful look, trailing off suggestively.
She hid her face again, flushing, but he could tell she was smiling. 'I can't believe I talked about it.'
'You've got an interesting, imagination.' He grinned back.
She laughed nervously, muffled slightly, before sighing, and sitting up, taking the blankets with her.
'Hey!' InuYasha complained, attempting to fend off the chilly outside air as it dashed across his suddenly exposed chest, before he paused.
'Oh InuYasha, don't be such a baby.' She said as she got up, stretching her hands towards the ceiling, and listening to some of her joints pop.
'I'm not a baby.' He replied a little grouchily, crossing his arms, something that caused her to chuckle behind her hand. 'Something funny?'
'No, not at all.' She smiled coyly, and he got up sourly.
'What're you in such a hurry for, anyway?'
'The last of the winter fruits need to be picked before spring.' She said, running her fingers through her hair. 'I'm going with some other women from the village to help with the harvest.' She turned back to smile at him.
The sight brought a grin to his face; Kagome's raven hair spilling over her shoulder as she picked at a particularly scary-looking knot, attempting to pull it apart, which contrasted greatly with his white undershirt that she was wrapped up in, not unlike a very short dressing gown, that quite comfortably reached a tantalizing length below where her wrists would normally hang easily, and as she turned away, back towards the morning light that streamed in through the cracks in the doorway, he could plainly see what it did not quite cover.
'Well that sounds boring.' He said, getting to his feet, approaching her from behind and wrapping his arms around her waist, nosing the collar over her shoulder and resting his cheek against the side of her bare neck.
'I'm sorry if daily life sounds boring to you.' She said in a half-offended tone, but it was decidedly distracted.
'What, it isn't boring to you? Where's the fun?'
'You call almost getting yourself killed, fun?' She shot back.
'It's interesting, isn't it?' He shrugged slightly. 'Better than this crap.'
She raised her eyebrows at him, even though he could not have seen it. 'And you call this,' she gave up on the knot and rested her hands over his. 'Crap?'
'No!' He amended hastily. 'I meant, this crap about harvest, and not doing anything, and just, nothing happening.'
'You're bored?'
'It's boring.' He confirmed, nuzzling her warm, soft skin.
She sighed slightly, only somewhat through exasperation. 'If you're that bored, InuYasha, you could go and check on Kouga's shards?'
He paused momentairily to snort. 'I could just save us the trouble and go and retrieve them. I could even go and kill that mangy wolf in the process.'
She rolled her eyes. 'You are so crude.'
'Who're you calling crude?' He grinned rougishly, his ears twitching.
'I am calling you Crudey McCrude; the crude lord over all cavemen.'
InuYasha frowned, deciding to focus on the only part of that he understood. '"Lord"? You're thinking too highly of me.'
'Oh jeez,' she sighed. 'Never mind.' She unwillingly pried herself loose, leaving his undershirt in his hands, where he pulled his hands through the sleeves, enjoying her lingering scent. 'I really should keep moving though.'
'Can't you just, not turn up today?'
'I promised them, InuYasha.' She smiled, turning and pressing her bare self against his own, trapping his face between her hands and kissing him for a moment. 'So, no.'
He stuck his jaw out disappointedly.
Hi all :)
It's been a forever, hasn't it?
Well, here it is, the sequel to "Catching One's Breath", which can be found under my authored stories. (I haven't actually been on here in so long, fanfiction doesn't allow links to be put onto webpages, do they?) the way we used to do it is www . fanfiction s/8378112/1/ Catching-One-s-Breath
While you're there, feel free to have a look at some of my other stories. I've got a few in progress at the moment, so we'll see how that goes.
To my first time readers, this can be seen as a stand alone story, if you can't be bothered reading Catching One's Breath, but if you discover that you like my style, the whole thing's finished, done and dusted in my author/stories list thingy anyway(plus the kind-of link is above).
To my second time readers, who have just come back from reading CO'sB, welcome back! I hope you're having a good year, and I hope this lives up to your expectations.
And to my long-term readers, thanks for sticking with me this long. It's been a blast, and I hope that you continue to read my works into the future.
:)