Inuyasha opened his eyes with a start. Then he remembered that he no longer had to be on his guard all the time and slowly relaxed. It was still incredibly difficult to wrap his head around the situation. He was full for the first time in ages, he was lying on something much more comfortable than anything he'd rested on in years, and the day didn't hold any horror for him. Well, he might see Naraku. But that was it. And it was all thanks to her.
Inuyasha heard stirring below him and quickly jumped down from his perch on the canopy of Kagome's bed. She had offered to let him sleep in the actual bed, but the notion made him feel somewhat uncomfortable, like it was something he didn't deserve. Plus, he liked to be up high. When he landed, he gave her a nod.
"Morning," he said curtly.
She scrambled into a sitting position and sent a wave of energy at him, pinning him to the wall. It made his whole body prickle and feel tense. A second later she relaxed and released it.
"Sorry. I'll have to get used to demons appearing out of nowhere in my bedroom."
Inuyasha rubbed his wrists, which still retained a little bit of the tingly tenseness, like they were wrapped tightly with bands of low-watt electricity. "Why didn't you scream?" he asked when it finally dissipated.
She smirked tiredly. "Who would come? No one that I trust."
"I would come. Get in the habit."
She smiled, but said, "No need. You'll be with me all the time. You'll know if I'm in trouble. And I'll know if you are."
He nodded in response, relieved that that was the case. He wasn't sure if he would be doing chores with the others, and he didn't like the thought of leaving her alone where Naraku could reach her. But if he wasn't doing doing chores...
"Then what are we doing today?"
"Oh, you know. Sitting primly in my room, waiting to be called upon as proper ladies do."
"That... doesn't sound like much fun. Or very much like you, from what I know."
Kagome broke into a grin. "It doesn't, does it? Care to sneak out with me?"
Inuyasha almost let her smile coax one out of him. But not quite. "Sneak out where?"
"The forest. It's the only thing here that I love."
"What do you do there?"
"Walk around. Get some peace. Train." She shrugged, and then looked at him expectantly.
"Ok," he answered. Whatever she wanted to do was fine with him.
She grinned again, clearly excited. Then she bounded over to the door, pressing her palm flat against its lock. A sort of webbing flowed out of her hand, faintly glowing. It wrapped itself in and around the keyhole, forming what looked like a tiny tapestry. "That will hold even if a demon tries to force it," she explained, pulling her hand away.
Then she waved the same hand at all four corners of the doorway. Soft lights appeared there and she summoned them to her, tracing them into a character on her palm.
"What does that do?" Inuyasha asked, dumbstruck.
"Sound loop. If anyone says anything by this door, I'll hear it. And if I open the loop on my end I can respond so that it will sound like I'm in the same room. Makes it a lot easier to pretend I'm here if I can answer when someone knocks."
Inuyasha stared at her. How could someone so young have so much power? "Is there anything that you can't do?"
"I don't know. The healing thing has always happened, but I've only really put effort into developing my powers into anything else since I've been here. Before that, I didn't need them."
Inuyasha mulled that over. The girl obviously didn't know what she had and what could be made of it. "So when you train?"
"That's when I figure out what I can do, yeah."
"Then I'm definitely in." Knowing now that she wouldn't scream, Inuyasha charged Kagome, grabbing her around the waist and flipping her onto his back. As expected, she was silent, but the way that she clutched his shirt let him know that she was startled. Without pausing he grasped her legs and leaped through the open window, heading in the direction of the forest. It was amazing to feel the wind through his hair and clothes as he jumped lightly and freely over the land. Kagome's grip soon loosened and she leaned her head back to feel it, too.
Finally, when they were well enough into the forest that they wouldn't be seen or heard by anyone nearby, Inuyasha stopped and dropped her suddenly. To her credit, she rolled gracefully and stood quickly, brushing herself off before tying her hair back from her face into a high ponytail. Then she looked at him with determination, pride, and a little bit of glee.
"Let's begin," she said.
A/N: Well, well, well, Mr. Early Favorite. It looks like you finally scratched your way back up to the top, but barely.
This sad, confused story doesn't know how you guys feel about him at all! You're hot then you're cold, you're yes than you're no, you're in then you're out, you're up then you're down... all my poor little story does these days is hide in a closet and listen to that song on repeat. If you want to see more of him, then you know what you've gotta do.
Side note, I got a question about the characters ages and it made me happy. I'm trying to have them both be very young (late teens probably? I'll decide exactly later) but act mature because they had to grow up too quickly. So their ages should be confusing. I'm glad it's working.
