Disclaimer: I don't own D. Gray-Man or InuYasha
Intermission: Close Calls
"Lavi!" Allen called, pushing open the door to Lavi's room. "Come on! Let's go!"
"I don't want to!" Lavi wined from under his covers, pulling them tighter around his body.
"But you promised…" Allen's hushed voice caused Lavi to peer out from under his blankets, and he very nearly threw the covers back over his head when he saw the pitiful look Allen was giving him. His face turned red, and he pulled the covers as tightly as he could around him. "Please, Lavi?"
"W-where are we going?" he asked in a squeaky voice, pulling some of the blankets over his cheeks.
"Tokyo…" Allen said innocently, coming closer to the bed and playing with the sleeves of his shirts. His lip jutted out in a too-cute pout. Damn Allen for knowing exactly how to get to him!
"Isn't that a little…far?" Lavi asked, beginning to edge closer to the other side of the bed. Allen just shook his head no, reaching the edge of the bed. "Why do you want to go there?"
"Because…" Allen muttered, bringing himself onto the bed and sitting there, staring at Lavi. "You said we could go and see a shrine, and buy some souvenirs, and eat Japanese food." Lavi knew that the last part was the real reason Allen wanted to go. He could almost see Allen sitting in a ramen shop, eating twenty bowls of ramen at once.
"Do we have to go this early?" Lavi asked, looking over at his alarm clock. It was seven in the morning. How did Allen wake up so early?
"Yes, because otherwise we won't get there in time for anything good." Allen replied, crawling closer to Lavi. The redhead tried to edge away, but found himself immobile from being wrapped up in the blankets he was in. He knew Allen was using it to his advantage, and he came as close as possible to Lavi's face without touching him. "Please?"
That one word was able to make Lavi do anything if it was uttered from only Allen's mouth. Temptation seized him, and he leaned closer to Allen, puckering his lips slightly, and just as he was about to claim his prize Allen moved back. Lavi fell forward into empty air, his face planting itself in his sheets.
"Allen!" Lavi wined, looking up. Allen just gave an innocent smile.
"Yes, Lavi?" he asked, looking like an innocent little child. Lavi glared, knowing he had done it on purpose.
"Fine." He muttered, knowing it would be the only way Allen would give him what he wanted. The smile on Allen's face immediately melted the annoyance Lavi had felt, and Allen leaned down, giving Lavi exactly what he wanted. Thank heavens his grandfather was out today.
("…")
"InuYasha!" Kagome called, clearly irritated. With a sigh, she opened her bedroom window and peered outside. The half-demon was nowhere to be found. She knew he was here in her time, since she had been gone two days already and he always got impatient by the second day, but it seemed he had disappeared after being spotted by Souta.
"Down here, honey!" her mother suddenly called, and Kagome tensed. InuYasha was downstairs? He was interacting with her family? Her face beet red, she quickly ran downstairs and found Souta teaching InuYasha how to play one of the more popular videogames of today. InuYasha looked like he was having the time of his life.
"Hey! Don't hit me!" he cried out, moving with the controller as he tried to move his guy on the screen. Souta just laughed.
"Well that's sort of the point!" Souta cried over him, and InuYasha cursed as Souta depleted all of his health, causing the screen zoom in on the half-demon's character with big bold letters saying 'K.O.'
"InuYasha, what are you doing?" Kagome asked cautiously, standing in the doorway and watching the white haired demon in pure amazement. He looked up at her, his golden eyes wide in surprise before a light blush crossed his cheeks and he quickly threw the controller away.
"Keh, nothing." He snapped, standing up and crossing his arms. "When are we leaving?"
Kagome bit back the response she wanted to say, and any further inquiry of his sudden taste for videogames, and replied as calmly as possible. "I still need to pack my things, and I was sort of planning on going out tonight and enjoying myself around town."
"Go out?" The idea seemed to be almost difficult for InuYasha to understand, and Kagome sighed heavily.
"Yes, InuYasha. Out. If you want…" Now she wasn't too sure what she was saying, but it was too late to turn back now. "Well, if you want you can come along."
There was a very silent pause, in which even Souta turned to look at her in surprise. Grandpa, sitting on the couch with his paper, had brought his paper down just enough for the teenaged girl to see his shocked eyes, and her mother had a knowing smile on her face that Kagome didn't like much. InuYasha, however, only paused because he was unsure of what to do. Kagome knew what was going on in his mind—go hunting for jewel shards or stay in this time and learn some more of what goes on here.
Finally, he seemed to come to a decision. "All right. I'll come." He said, nodding his head firmly as if he were also trying to convince himself. He seemed completely oblivious of all the smiling faces in the room, and only seemed to notice the fact that Kagome had suddenly gone scarlet. "What's with you? You look like a tomato."
"Sit!" Kagome snapped, and watched as InuYasha plummeted to the floor. Souta reached for him hesitantly, but pulled back immediately when he heard InuYasha's stream of curses. Kagome's mother looked a little disapproving, but said nothing all the same.
"Kagome dear, why don't you take InuYasha to try some of your father's old clothes on. He looks about the right size, and we can't have him going out in such an attention grabbing outfit." InuYasha seemed to be trying to find something wrong with his haori when Kagome began to pull him up the stairs, her face still red.
("…")
The plane ride was a lot shorter than Allen had anticipated, but that was to be expected from a private jet. Honestly, just how much did Lavi have access to? He didn't even recognize the name of the company his grandfather ran, and yet they seemed to be richer than Bill Gates. Of course, Allen knew nothing of money. He did, however, know of Lavi's weaknesses.
"Lavi…" he wined, looking over at the redhead, who had just closed his single visible eye. He cracked it open, annoyance flitting across his face until he looked at Allen. Then, the annoyance turned into a blush. Allen was using his secret weapon again—the puppy dog look that he used whenever he wanted something.
"Y-yes?" He asked, sitting up a little straighter. Allen loved how he could control Lavi with a single look.
"I want to go around town. I'm tired of sitting in a taxi." He declared, although on the inside he was laughing.
"Well, we're not in town yet…" Lavi replied, looking out the window. Allen gave a dreadful sigh, which was also completely fake. Sometimes he wondered if Lavi knew—no, he didn't wonder if Lavi knew he was faking all of this, he knew Lavi knew. Lavi missed nothing. However, it didn't mean it didn't work.
"Well then, tell the driver to go faster." Allen was acting like a temperamental five year old on purpose. Lavi gave him a heated glare before turning to the driver and saying something Allen didn't understand. It was a miracle Lavi actually knew how to speak Japanese, and German, and Chinese, and Korean, and…well, there were a lot more, but Allen didn't feel like remembering all of them. The driver gave a slightly lengthy reply, and Lavi gave a small sigh before leaning back in his chair and looking at Allen.
"He says we'll be there in a few minutes." He muttered. Under his breath, it sounded like he had said "and to stop complaining."
"But I'm not complaining." Lavi looked like he had been caught red handed in stealing something when Allen said this.
"I didn't say you were," he said weakly, laughing nervously. Allen sighed.
"Lavi, Lavi…" Allen chided. "Nothing for the rest of the day." The look on the redhead's face was priceless.
("…")
"InuYasha, stop playing with that hat. If you take it off then everyone will see your ears and I'll have to make some stupid excuse about why you have furry white fluff balls on top of your head." Kagome muttered, and InuYasha stopped tugging on the thing that was on top of his head. Honestly, how did people go around wearing these things all the time? It was so itchy and hot! And his ears were starting to ache.
Another one of those things that moved on their own zoomed by, but by now InuYasha had gotten used to them. After all, they were absolutely everywhere, and from the looks of where they were headed there was going to be tons more. Kagome hadn't really said much about them, but InuYasha had the general understanding that they were actually driven by humans by using some sort of wheel, and that it ran on something called a battery.
"I'm hungry." He suddenly declared aloud. Kagome glared at him. Why did she always get so mad at him for wanting food?
"We can stop at a ramen shop, just promise you wont do anything stupid, and if we see someone I know don't talk to them." She said, looking the other way again. InuYasha grumbled in response, but silenced when she turned to glare at him again.
They walked for a ways, and InuYasha examined the people that went by. There were people who wore similar things to what Kagome wore, which she called a school uniform, although there were no men wearing it. Of course, men didn't wear skirts, but how was it that they had 'school uniforms' for everyone, and everyone had the same thing, if men didn't wear the same thing as women? It wouldn't be the same thing then, now would it?
Kagome came to a sudden halt, and an enticing smell filled the half-demon's nose. Following the scent, he found himself going through a doorway and into an odd looking place with tons of people and a long counter with weird, high chairs and trapped people in a sort of circle, where the smell was coming from. If InuYasha was right, the people trapped in the circle were working, cooking food.
"Well, let's go find a seat at the counter." Kagome sighed, and walked ahead of him. Distracted by the smell, InuYasha fallowed absently behind her. She sat beside a weird looking boy, with snow white hair and a weird tattoo under his left eye. He looked like a demon, but no odd smells were coming off of him. "InuYasha, hurry up and sit down."
"Huh?" InuYasha looked over at Kagome, who was looking a little impatient, and quickly sat next to her. He looked back over at the kid with the white hair, and saw that his companion looked equally strange, with bright red hair (not orange like Shippou's, but actually red), and only one emerald green eye, the other covered by an eye patch. They were talking to each other in a foreign language. "Hey, what are they saying?"
"Who?" Kagome asked, and then looked beside her. "Oh. I don't know. It's in English." InuYasha frowned. That wasn't very helpful.
"What can I get you?" he looked up, and found one of the people trapped smiling at him. How could he smile when he was being forced to work?
"Two bowls of ramen, any kind will do." Kagome said, smiling kindly at the man, who gave a small nod. Maybe it was because Kagome came here often and showed him kindness, but as InuYasha looked around he found that all of the trapped people were being nice.
"Why're they so happy?" InuYasha asked. Kagome looked a little confused, and he tried to explain it better. "They're trapped in there, aren't they? So why are they being so nice to people?"
"They're not trapped," Kagome said, suddenly smiling. "They're working, and they're being paid for their work. They can get out whenever by going into the kitchen, there—"Kagome pointed to a set of doors behind all of the trapped (working) people, and InuYasha slowly began to understand.
"Excuse me, could you pass me the salt?" InuYasha and Kagome both looked over at the same time, facing the redheaded foreigner, who was, after having been speaking whatever language that was, now speaking their language fluently. The white haired kid looked a little irritated, as if he couldn't understand what was being said.
"Yeah, sure," Kagome reached over InuYasha to grab the odd thing in the white container beside him, at the same time the redhead did, and their hands met at the same time. InuYasha stood up, turning on the redhead in an instant, not sure why he suddenly felt so angry, and was about to tear off his hat in order to fight a little more comfortably (though these odd clothes weren't helping at all) when Kagome stepped in front of him. As he reached for his sword, he realized he didn't have it, and instead attempted to pull Kagome out of the way.
"InuYasha, stop it, now." Kagome hissed under her breath, and then gave a friendly smile to the redhead. "I'm sorry, he gets…jealous easily."
"I wasn't jealous!" InuYasha snapped, snarling a little. However, how else was he to explain the angry feeling that had risen up in him when the redhead had touched her? It wasn't like he was about to hurt her. The white haired kid was standing now, speaking in that foreign language and looking extremely worried. He was probably asking what was going on. Kagome turned on him sharply.
"InuYasha, if you're not careful about what you do around here, bad things are going to happen, and even though it won't be trouble for you it will be for me!" She snapped, giving him a threatening glare. "And besides that, I saw you reaching for your hat. If you take that off I swear I will S-I-T you until you reach America."
"America?" InuYasha asked, confused, but said nothing more when she continued glaring at him.
"One more wrong move, InuYasha, and I will personally make sure you go back to the Feudal Era, and I will block the well so you can't come back." She snapped, which was easier for him to understand. He swallowed.
("…")
"Calm down, Allen, it was nothing." Lavi said calmly, giving Allen a bashful grin. He didn't seem to be buying it, though.
"Why would he attack you for no reason, though? What'd you do, threaten them for the salt?" Of course, he wasn't angry about the weird guy trying to attack him, but was angry with him. Although, admittedly, it did seem a little odd to attack for no reason at all. All the girl had said was 'he gets jealous easily'. Had the guy noticed him touching her hand?
"Don't blame me for this, Allen," Lavi pouted. Allen just glared at him.
"Apologize for whatever you did wrong and get me the salt." He replied. "Then, maybe I'll believe you."
"You'll believe me if I apologize for something I'm trying to say I didn't do?" Lavi asked. "Isn't that a little backwards?"
"Well, if you really didn't do something wrong, then you shouldn't have a problem with it. If you did do something, then of course you would be this defensive. I know you, Lavi." Allen did know him, and it was almost frightening how much. No one had ever seen through him as easily as Allen always had, even on the first day they had met. Not even Kanda.
"Fine, whatever." Lavi turned to the black haired, blue eyed girl and the boy who had the long hair that was the same color as Allen's. When they had first arrived, Lavi had immediately pointed out the odd hair to Allen and had made fun of him for it, saying that at least he fit in somewhere in Japan, and Allen had immediately started up a quarrel. Lavi easily slipped into Japanese as he spoke to the girl. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean any offense."
"Oh no, you did nothing wrong." The girl replied. "The only person at fault here is InuYasha, this idiot here." She pointed to the white haired boy with the golden eyes, then cold shouldered him. He glared at Lavi silently as if he had taken the highest offense possible from the redhead. Had this really only been because of an accidental touch of the hand?
"See, Allen?" Lavi turned to Allen, slipping back into English. "She said that it was that guy's fault." Lavi pointed at White Hair, who seemed to catch on that he was talking about him and barred his teeth in a too realistic growl.
"Don't point," Allen snapped. "And how do I know you're not lying? You know I can't understand them."
"Well then, go by their body language." Lavi said simply. He turned back to the girl. "Sorry for the trouble, again. Would you like me to treat you to another bowl of ramen?"
("…")
How they had ended up leaving the shop with the two foreigners, Kagome had no idea, but she didn't mind. The redhead was extremely funny, and the white haired boy was extremely interesting. At one point, Kagome had quietly asked InuYasha if the boy were a demon, but he had replied no. Kagome supposed foreigners really did like to do weird things to themselves.
The redhead, Lavi, said they had come to Japan just for the day so that his friend, Allen, could try the food and see a new country. Kagome had stared at him in amazement for this, considering he had to be extremely rich in order to take a simple day trip to a country on the other side of the world, but Lavi had just waved it off.
InuYasha, however, didn't seem to be enjoying himself at all, and had a hard time understanding anything that was being said. He had no idea what a plane was, or a passport, or what America was. In fact, every time something was said that he didn't understand, his face would turn darker and darker. The other person who seemed to be having just as much difficulty was the white haired boy.
Basically, this outing was for Kagome and Lavi.
"So you come from Canada?" Kagome asked. She didn't know much about the country, but it was still familiar to her.
"Yeah, from British Columbia. It's really nice there. We live in a pretty small town, but that's okay." Lavi gave a wide grin, and Allen gave him a suspicious look. He asked Lavi something in English, and he replied easily in the same language. Kagome had understood, vaguely, a few of the words from her English classes.
"Kagome, when are we leaving?" InuYasha asked, glaring at the redhead. What grudge did the guy have now? The way he was looking at Lavi; it was like Kouga was standing there instead.
"You were the one who wanted to come along." She replied.
"You were the one who invited me." Kagome said nothing to this, hiding the sudden blush that had come up.
"Allen wants to check out that place," Lavi said beside her, and she turned. He was pointing to a small stall with many different souvenirs, an old man standing behind it and smiling pleasantly directly at them.
"Okay. Come on, InuYasha." Kagome said cheerily, pulling InuYasha's hand. She thought she saw a light flush in his face when she dragged him towards the stall, but dismissed it as an angry flush. They reached the stall and Allen immediately bent over the trinkets, examining them with surprisingly concentrated eyes. Lavi was watching him, an odd look in his eyes, almost content.
"Why do we have to look at these things?" InuYasha asked, pouting. Kagome rolled her eyes, bending over to peer at the items as well.
"Why don't you just try to enjoy yourself, InuYasha? This place really is nice." Kagome said gently, touching a small necklace with three metal Sakura petals attached. InuYasha just scoffed, and stood there in a stance Kagome had grown used to.
It took a while for him to break and lean over as well, when Kagome pointed out a necklace that had a familiar looking fang on it. Kagome had only just realized how tall InuYasha was—the top of his hat touch the canopy of the stall, and slowly began to lift itself off his head the more he leaned down. "Ah, crap!"
("…")
The Japanese girl suddenly stood up straight, pushing the boy—InuYasha, he was pretty sure—with her. Allen frowned, confused, as she secured the out-of-place hat. For a moment, Allen thought she was about to kiss him, but when she instead glared at him and whispered an unknown threat (to his ears, but Lavi looked pretty amused) Allen turned away from them.
"Lavi, do you like this one?" Allen asked, pointing to a chain bracelet with little cats dangling from it. Lavi peered down at it curiously, before smiling.
"Sure, if it were less feminine. Maybe Lenalee would like it. Should I buy it for her? Maybe give it to Yuu, and he can pretend that he got it for her instead." Lavi smirked at this, and Allen rolled his eyes. Then the redhead frowned. "But Lenalee would probably know I gave it to Yuu. She knows him too well to be fooled that he would get her something so cute."
"Then you could always just give it to her yourself," Allen suggested. Lavi just shrugged.
"I could, but then she might get the wrong idea." He winked at Allen, who sighed as if annoyed, but honestly he was glad. The Japanese girl asked Lavi something, and of course Allen didn't understand, so he just ignored them as they chatted away. He didn't like the fact that he couldn't understand, but that other white haired boy did, so he would be able to tell if Lavi said something flirtatious, since InuYasha seemed likely to blow up again if something were said like that.
("…")
Kagome was being annoying. She wouldn't let him take off the hat. Even after they left, she had watched him like a hawk. All he had done was lean over to see what she was pointing out, and she had gotten angry about it! So what if the hat came off? She could make up some sort of excuse, couldn't she? His ears really were getting cramped, and his hearing really wasn't as good with it on. These clothes were limiting his movement, too. He was afraid to rip them.
Twice since they had left the trinket stall Kagome had gotten mad at him. Both times it had been because his hat had almost come off, once from an overly strong breeze and the other from some kid sitting on his dad's shoulders and trying to take it off him. Of course, Kagome blamed him for these things, instead of just accepting that they were all accidents. What did she think he was trying to do, anyways? Make her more angry than she already was? No thanks.
That redhead kid was getting more and more annoying. Him and Kagome didn't stop talking and laughing with each other, and whenever he decided to start talking to that white haired boy Kagome would just get all absent and wait by staring off into space, instead of talking to him. Keh! What was he, a ghost?
He wasn't sure Kagome had noticed it, but those two boys had something more than just friendship. He could tell by the way they would stare at each other when the other wasn't looking, the way they stood so close together, and the way they would almost naturally understand each other just by a mere look. Twice InuYasha had seen them leaning too close together, and for some reason it didn't disturb him. Usually, something like that did (especially with Jakotsu, who he was definitely happy was dead for good now) but those two seemed to just fit together.
Of course, that was when the redhead wasn't talking to Kagome. He only wished the white haired kid would be able to understand the two of them. maybe then, the redhead would stop talking to her so easily. After all, the kid had to be on his side, didn't he? He wouldn't want his lover to be having such conversations with a girl, would he?
Then again, InuYasha didn't know the boy at all. In fact, the boy was a complete and total mystery to him. There was definitely something wrong with his scent, something not necessarily human, and it slightly reminded InuYasha of Kikyou, but the boy was very obviously not made of clay. Sometimes, there would be an odd look on the boy's face that he couldn't quite grasp, something that reminded him of how he could look and feel sometimes when he thought of his past.
However, every time that stupid redhead looked at him it was like the boy had switched personalities. InuYasha was sure that, if he were able to understand them, he would have been amused by their conversations. The redhead looked almost submissive.
Suddenly, the top of his head was a lot cooler.
"Ah! Dog ears!"
("…")
What in the hell were those? Lavi had no idea. He couldn't decide between a dog and a cat, but he supposed a dog, since cats seemed to have rounder ears than dogs when it came to them pointing up. Of course, he hadn't been expecting this when he had slyly pulled the hat off the unsuspecting figure.
Kagome looked positively shocked, staring at InuYasha as her face grew more and more pale. Then, her face began to turn red. It was like there was a sudden flame in her eyes, and obviously this had scared the golden eyed boy.
"K-Kagome, I don't know what happened!" he stuttered, raising his hands in defense. The ears tweaked.
"What are those?" Allen whispered behind him, but Lavi shrugged.
"No clue. Looks like he's in for it, though." He whispered back.
"That's not good! Lavi, apologize now, before the poor guy gets pummeled!" Allen whispered hurriedly, and pulled on the hat that was still in Lavi's grasp. Lavi tried to snatch it back, but it was too late. Allen stepped right in between the two Japanese people. Man, he really was a daring kid. Allen used some of the only Japanese he knew—I'm sorry. It was one of few things Lavi had taught him on the way here.
There was an extremely long pause, and the redness began to ebb away from Kagome's face. She seemed to understand that Allen didn't really know any Japanese, and that he was using one of few phrases he knew, and instead turned towards Lavi. "Why is he saying sorry?"
"Well, you see, it wasn't actually him, it was me," Lavi replied hesitantly. "He's just apologizing for me."
"Why? Shouldn't you apologize for yourself, or are you too scared?" InuYasha snapped, glaring at Lavi. He shivered.
"No, he's just too virtuous. Honestly, I wouldn't have even said a thing." Lavi waved a hand absently and gave a sheepish grin.
"Keh." Well, there was one thing Allen would be able to understand. After all, Yuu said it all too often. In fact, Yuu and InuYasha would probably go hand in hand with each other. Either that, or they would fight constantly.
"Lavi, what are they saying?" Allen whispered, having already handed the hat over to Kagome.
"InuYasha's asking if I'm too scared to confess I did it, so I said that I wasn't scared I just wouldn't have said anything so he would get into trouble." The glare Allen gave him was more scary than the angry face Kagome had just had on. "Okay, okay, I didn't say I wanted him to get in trouble, but I did say I wouldn't have said anything."
"Jeeze, you really are terrible." Allen muttered, but his eyes strayed absently to InuYasha. Lavi couldn't help it, either. They had tried to not look at the ears, but they were just too fascinating. Kagome saw their gaze, and turned scarlet.
("…")
"I-I can explain this!" Kagome said nervously, fuming on the inside. Curse InuYasha for being so careless! If he hadn't of let his guard down, Lavi would have never been able to sneak the hat off! What the hell was the half-demon even thinking about that would get him like that, anyways? "See, InuYasha has…uh…a birth defect! He was born like that! The doctors say it was just a small defect, but when they tried surgery his mother got really protective and fought them off because she thought the ears were so cute! Yeah!"
She could see the disbelieving look on Lavi's face, as well as Allen's after Lavi spoke to him quietly in their language. A moment passed, and then Lavi shrugged. "All right, we'll buy it."
"Thank goodness…" Kagome whispered, placing a hand over her heart. InuYasha gave her a weird look, and she glared at him. Immediately he looked away. She would get him for this later.
"Of course, it really isn't all that believable, but that's okay. Everyone has their secrets. We have our share, too." Kagome stared at Lavi for a long moment, surprised. She could see that he really did understand, the way he was looking at her. For the first time, she noticed the guarded look in his eyes, so like InuYasha's when she had first met him.
"Thank you." Kagome whispered, bowing. InuYasha just scoffed, but she could tell by looking at his face that he, too, was at least a little grateful. Kagome looked to the sky, the full weight of the day bearing down on her. It must be late by now. "We should head home, InuYasha."
"Yeah." InuYasha muttered, and crossed his arms. "You look dead on your feet."
"Well, it's been a bit of an exhausting day." It was the first time that day that Kagome had bothered to actually converse with InuYasha. She looked over to Lavi and Allen, who were leaning close to each other, speaking in low voices. Allen suddenly leaned his head on Lavi's shoulder, his eyes closing, an she noticed for the first time two things.
One, Allen was very obviously tired, with large bags under his eyes and his whole body limp with exhaustion. Two, they were much too close for just friends. A little surprised with her sudden realization, she blushed before turning away from the scene. A moment later, and a hand was on her shoulder. This time, InuYasha didn't attack the redhead for touching her.
"Thank you for your company," Lavi said when she turned to him. "It was a pleasure to meet you, and your friend. Maybe we'll meet again."
"The same goes to you," Kagome bowed, and Lavi quickly copied her. "Thank you for your company."
Only a few more words were exchanged, as everyone began to feel the full effects of the day and how much they had really done, though it had only been walking around town. Honestly, Kagome had spent too much energy on trying to cover InuYasha's ears. Now, she didn't even bother. Who cared if everyone was staring at them? She was too tired to be that one person.
They separated paths, waving goodbye, Allen saying a relatively well pronounced goodbye before following after Lavi like a puppy, and InuYasha followed after Kagome in a much less cute manner, but in the same general analogy. It had been a good day. The ground was beginning to blur under Kagome's feet, and she thought she was about to feint, before she realized that she was being held by strong, familiar arms. InuYasha really could be a gentlemen sometimes.
("…")
The plane ride was considerably silent, the two boys too tired to exchange very many words. Allen was almost asleep, sitting on top of the redhead, when Lavi finally spoke. "There was something weird about those two."
"What do you mean?" Allen mumbled, rubbing his eyes in an attempt to be more awake to talk with Lavi.
"I'm not sure. It was like they were…magical or something." Lavi shrugged, and Allen felt the motion. He could tell by Lavi's voice that he was really thinking hard about the two Japanese people. Allen, too, found them a little odd, even if they were from a different country with different customs and a different culture, but he didn't have the same knowledge Lavi had. After all, it wasn't like Allen had understood a single word that had been said all day. Maybe he'd pick a less frustrating place to go to next time, a country where English was a bit more common.
"Magic's going a little too far, don't you think?" Allen muttered, nuzzling his face deeper into Lavi's shirt, feeling the warmth of his chest on his cheek. For a moment, Lavi's embrace tightened before going back into a loose hold.
"You're not really one to talk, are you?" he whispered, and Allen felt him stroking his left arm. Allen shivered, but covered it with a laugh.
"Yeah, I guess so." There was a long silence afterwards, and Allen almost fell asleep again before a question suddenly popped into his head. "Hey, do you think InuYasha was a demon or something?"
"Now look who's going too far," Lavi laughed, but Allen could tell he didn't really find it funny. "Well, who knows? It's doubtful we'll ever see them again. After all, Tokyo is a place that's way too big for casual running into."
"Who knows?" Allen muttered, "but it was still fun."
"Yeah. Really fun. Pretty funny, too. Our dog-eared friend was the most amusing part of the day, I think." Allen was silent, and then he chuckled.
"I would've thought our morning was the most amusing, but maybe it was just for me." When Lavi didn't reply after thirty seconds, Allen looked up. His face was bright red. Allen chuckled, and, in his haze, leaned up to give a small kiss. Lavi's face turned more red, but a sly grin slowly came over his face.
"So much for nothing for the rest of the day."
"Oh, whatever. It's probably already past midnight." Allen muttered in reply, and kissed him again.
("…")
InuYasha looked down at the sleeping girl, who had fallen asleep in his arms while he had been jumping from building to building. From the look on her face, she was dreaming of something nice.
Kagome was always able to entrance him, sometimes more than Kikyou had. Especially when she slept so peacefully. Hesitantly, he reached out a hand, gently caressing her cheek. Sometimes, he could do this, right? It wasn't like she knew, and it wasn't like anyone else would know. Why couldn't he be honest with himself every once in a while?
Kagome really didn't know anything about the feelings she would sometimes give him, such feelings where he had to wonder whether he was demon at all. The feelings were too human to have any trace of a demon inside of him. Whether it was anger, nervousness, fear, hatred…love…she could make him feel all of these things, and during those times, he would feel human.
Silly girl. Dropping his hand, he sat on the edge of her bed, staring out the window. Her behavior today had confused him. He had never seen her act like that before, so casual and carefree, but at the same time guarded. He knew that the only reason she had been guarded was because he had been there. He always caused her trouble in this time, just like he had used to claim that she did to him in his, even though it was a lie.
She must hate him. Either that, or feel like he was a huge burden. At least while he was here. Maybe he really should just leave her here in peace, take the jewel shards so that she wouldn't be able to come back. After all, Kagome should have a normal life in her own time. She didn't belong with him, and he didn't belong with her.
"Inu…Yasha…" InuYasha looked down at her in surprise, thinking she was awake, but she was still sleeping. She turned over in her sleep, letting out a gentle sigh, and a small smile graced her lips. A funny feeling settled in the pit of his stomach.
Tonight, just tonight, he would stop lying to himself. Gently, making sure not to disturb her, InuYasha lay down, placing his face directly behind her neck and pressing his nose against her hair. Carefully, he draped an arm over her slender waste, and closed his eyes. Just tonight, he would allow himself to feel what he had denied since he had first seen her cry for him.
End Intermission
FYI: These chapters go along with the story Fate, although, if you had read it, then it should be rather obvious that this is very far ahead in the story. I've made quite a few hints in this, besides the fact that Lavi and Allen are 'together'. Now, most of the intermissions will be at least this far in the story, since it makes it more fun to write, but every now and then I will probably actually go with the story.
Each of these chapters will involve Lavi and Allen going on little adventures and meeting characters from different stories, and sometimes the characters will come to them. I am willing to take requests, but if this doesn't bode well then I will just remove this and never do it again. So, let me know what you think of my new idea (because I need a break from the actual story line every now and then, and have some fun).