Real Illusions
Ch.2
by Badiyannu
a.n: sorry I haven't updated this in awhile, but lately I've been in a Kag/Inu mood so I decided to sit down and go to work. This chapter is short, but I hope you like it. :)
"Go on, Inuyasha," Kagome ushered the hanyou into a dressing room located in The Express. He was carrying a heap-full of clothing selected by Kagome and a few chosen by himself.
Inuyasha threw the clothes onto the floor of the stall in a pile and stared after Kagome as she began to close the door from the outside. "Aren't you coming in with me?" he asked, gruffly.
Kagome blushed and poked her head in the door quickly, "No! Unless you would like me to watch you undress..."
The half-demon shrugged as he began to strip off his robe, "Frankly, I don't really care."
Kagome stared at him, "Erm... no, you know- I'll just wait right out here. Just tell me when you have something on so I can see...umm, okay?"
Hastily, she shut the door behind her as she stepped outside once more. Just one look at Inuyasha bare-chested would have her goggling. And with the thought of that, she flushed once more. Suddenly, a new revelation came to mind.
Did he actually SAY that he wouldn't have minded if Kagome was in there with him? Well, not in those exact words, but was that really what he meant? She thought this with pink cheeks as she wondered if Inuyasha was so comfortable enough around her so that he wouldn't mind...
"Kagome."
The raven-haired girl gasped as she was snapped out of her reverie to find Inuyasha sticking his head out the door.
"Oh, erm... what is it?"
"All the clothes you picked out for me are WAY too small. I'm not going to try them on and look ridiculous!" Inuyasha exclaimed, opening the door a little wider and Kagome caught a glimpse of his chest.
"Well, I'm sorry for trying to be helpful! Good lord. Just try on the clothes YOU picked out then!"
"That's what I was planning on doing!" he snapped back, and shut the door. Kagome rolled her eyes and sighed. He was such a stubborn idiot sometime. She had no idea why she felt for him the way she did. Every time she would see him after going back and forth between the Feudal Era, her heart would beat faster and her face would get warm. He was getting more prone to smiling at her more often and it just made it all the better.
"Kagome!"
Snapping her head up, Kagome looked at the door, expecting Inuyasha, but instead, Hojo was standing next to her.
"H-Hojo! Heh! What a surprise to see you here!" she stuttered out, glancing at the dressing room door.
"How are you feeling, Kagome? Okay? Those ulcers go away?" Hojo questioned, politely while Kagome just sighed; Grampa had made up another stupid thing.
"I'm feeling really good now, Hojo. Thanks for asking," Kagome said sweetly, and her eyes darted to the door, Inuyasha still fumbling with his clothes.
Hojo looked kind of bashful, as he looked down at his feet, "Hey, Kagome- remember last week when I said I wanted to meet you at the festival that's tomorrow? You said you would go with me, remember?"
The raven-haired girl gasped as she recalled that particular conversation. Of course, at the time, she didn't know that she would have Inuyasha here and he'd have to come along. She groaned, "Oh, Hojo... I kinda have company so I...well, he's going with me, so..."
"Oh! I understand! If you're going with someone else, that's fine..." Hojo rambled out, flushed.
Kagome felt bad for ditching him as always. He was so sweet and just wanted to hang out once in awhile with her.
"Hey, why don't you come with us? It'll be fun. Please?" Kagome asked, sympathetically. Hojo's head snapped up.
"R-really?" Kagome had never asked HIM anywhere before. "Of course! That'll be cool."
"Alright then. I guess I'll see you tomorrow night at the festival then!" Kagome said, cheerfully, as she turned towards Inuyasha's door.
"Wait!" Hojo said, "Umm, one of my mom's friends has this limo-type-car. She said I could use it whenever I wanted, but she has to drive it. Would it be fine if I picked you and your friend up for the festival?"
Kagome smiled, "That's so cool, Hojo! Of course it'd be fine!"
Hojo beamed from ear-to-ear and said to Kagome, "Okay! Then I'll see you! Bye!"
"Bye!"
Kagome smiled again. This would work out fine, and she would not have to ditch Hojo for once. She just hoped with all her heart that Inuyasha would be fine with it...
"HEY! Kagome, I'm done!" Inuyasha's voice said. "I've been calling you for 10 minutes! Sheesh."
"Oh, I'm sorry, Inuyasha..." Kagome turned around and her sentence trailed off as her mouth was left agape. She was not expecting Inuyasha to look so damn good in regular clothes.
He was donning a snug maroon turtleneck sweater, which fit ever-so-good on his toned chest, and dark baggy blue-jeans, which were loose at the leg, but defined his cute tushie even more. On his feet were a pair of white sneakers (Kagome had no idea where he got them from, since they didn't sell sneakers at The Express). On top of all that, Inuyasha had tied his long white hair into a ponytail with his robe tie.
Kagome continued to stare. She had never seen Inuyasha's hair pulled back before, and it looked very VERY sexy.
"I...erm, wow... umm... you... look... good," Kagome managed to get out as Inuyasha smirked at her through her reflection in the mirror.
"Yeah, I do look pretty damn good, eh? Except this thing"-he pointed to the sweater- "is so freakin' itchy."
He looked at himself in the mirror for a few more minutes before closing the door once again and dressing back in his robes, as he tossed the clothes over the door for Kagome to hang up.
Inuyasha finally emerged from the dressing room with his chosen clothes in hand. He followed Kagome over to the registers, and she pulled out her mother's credit card, which her mom told her to use in emergencies. Well, it was an emergency now.
"That'll be $209.86," the clerk, who's nametag read Kika, said. She gave a strange glance over at Inuyasha, who was curiously peering over Kagome's shoulder as Kagome swiped her credit card through the slot and signed for it.
"Thank you," Kika said, and bagged Inuyasha's clothes, handing him the bag when finished, "Come again!"
Kagome turned quickly as she noticed the clerk was giving Inuyasha strange looks. She stopped and looked up at Inuyasha, pulling down Sota's baseball cap farther down on his head.
"Just wanna make sure..." she muttered, and hurriedly walked out of the store, Inuyasha struggling for a bit to keep up. He finally fell into step beside her.
"Damn, woman- what's the rush for?!"
"I just want to get home in time for dinner. We're having BBQ- some American custom meal. It's supposed to be really tasty. I told Mom to make you an extra helping since I KNOW you'll love it!" she replied, happily.
Inuyasha just growled but didn't say anything. Maybe it was because he was too hungry and this idea appealed to him as well.
Tentatively, he slipped his hand into Kagome's slender one. He kept his gaze up ahead, as he felt Kagome's sharp intake of breath and her hand squeezing harder around his. The hanyou knew this gesture wasn't really necessary since they were now leaving the mall, but he wanted to do it. Something came over him that made him want to be a little more affectionate towards Kagome.
The pair stepped out into the bright sun, both smiling softly.
