Chapter 12: Cuddle Puddle

Time passed in a blur for Kagome. Most mornings began with a rude wake-up call in the form of a grumpy hanyou calling up the stairs for her. Inuyasha had taken over for Rin in the monumental effort of keeping Kagome in line, and Kagome found that she delighted in trying to make this task as difficult for him as possible.

After the incident in which Inuyasha inadvertently revealed that he occasionally enjoyed seeing Kagome's naked form as she readied for bed, Kagome had considered being naked as often as possible in the house just to get him back for it. Let him sit outside with blue balls all night long, she didn't care! But when the thought of Inuyasha watching her naked body sent a pulse of heat through her body, she decided to play it safe. She assumed that Inuyasha's super-nose might pick up on something like that and he might take it as an invitation to bring his guard duty inside. Into her bedroom.

So in a conciliatory effort Kagome had purchased a few pairs of pajama bottoms to wear with her most comfortable T-shirts. She had a habit of going to bed dressed and waking up naked, but at least she wasn't giving her hanyou guard an eye full of ass every single night.

Once he was assured that she wasn't going to physically assault him for his peeping-tom ways, Inuyasha began spending more time inside the house. Rin noticed him sitting in the tree in the side-yard and invited him in for dinner one night. The next night, Kagome made steak and Inuyasha invited himself in for dinner. After he nodded off at the table on the third night (burrito night), Kagome insisted that he sleep inside on the couch.

After that Inuyasha sort of moved in. He and Kagome still glared at each other any time they were together, and threats of dismemberment were suddenly very common in the household. Kagome asked Inuyasha why nobody else seemed to have guard duty like he did, and he muttered something about his bastard brother not trusting anyone else with her. He didn't seem happy with the arrangement, so Kagome left it alone. She knew he wouldn't be hanging around so much if he didn't have to.

Inuyasha had slept on the couch for the first week, then he ended up on the daybed in the upstairs hall for another week. After Kagome found him sleeping on the landing outside of her door and pointed out how creepy he was being, he went back downstairs to the couch. Every third night or so, she still found him sleeping propped up against her door. Once or twice he would make it into her room, and she would wake up to pee in the middle of the night and trip over his form, which was usually slumped over the end of her bed like he fell asleep while trying to crawl into it.

Every morning Inuyasha would wake her up, either by calling loudly from the kitchen that breakfast was ready (he had been allowing Rin to teach him how to cook) or by coming up into her room and staring at her until she woke, screamed, and he howled with laughter. Once she was showered and changed, she would endure Inuyasha's badly cooked breakfasts and terrible coffee. The first few times he'd cooked for her she'd been honest in her reviews, but it was just so pathetic to see his ears literally droop. She started lying to cheer him up, perhaps also as a kind of reward for the fact that he felt comfortable enough around the house to drop his concealment spell. Rin was much better at the charade, though. Her sincere praise was always well-received by Inuyasha, who treated her with much more respect than he did Kagome. Perhaps out of deference to (or fear of) his brother.

After breakfast, Inuyasha and Kagome would drive to work together. Most mornings they went straight to the gym, where Shippo would be waiting to train Kagome in more fighting skills. Some mornings Kagome and Inuyasha arrived before anyone else was in the building to experiment with Kagome's spiritual powers. By Halloween, she could make herself glow at will. By the second week of November, she could shoot sparks from her hands. The next week she managed to ignite a katana with glowing pink energy. Occasionally, during these sessions, she would slip over the line of control and "go pink", as Inuyasha put it. Small explosions were common. The hanyou's presence was a welcome buffer, though, as he always seemed to know what to say to calm her down. "Going pink" was usually a result of fear, and it tended to happen when Kagome accidentally stumbled on an example of her own enormous power. She feared, more than anything else, that she could hurt the people around her. Inuyasha, who showed her plenty of contempt but absolutely zero fear, usually managed to calm her down enough to avoid any major incidents. After a few sessions, the two worked out a delicate balance of encouragement mixed with gruffness. Whenever Kagome began to light up, Inuyasha would switch between comforting her and trash-talking to her. For some reason she found his gruff manner familiar and comforting.

Kagome threw herself into teaching her class of part-demons. Since her debacle with Inuyasha in the gym, the class had been given the "lesson", as Sesshomaru put it, on demons and demonic traits. Many of the students were not surprised, a few were stunned, and one or two were inconsolable for a time. Kagome spent that particular day comforting Dax and Abigail while a ghostly silent Kazuto said nothing but shadowed her every move.

When Kagome had started teaching at the school, she'd been given the impression that they had a higher-than-average number of students from unfortunate families. Apparently due to Sesshomaru's strict security protocols, she hadn't really been aware of the scope of the school until recently. The students didn't come from unfortunate families. They were orphans, or as good as orphans, most of them.

The students lived behind the school in a huge dormitory, where Shippo, Inuyasha, and a number of the other teachers lived. Of course Inuyasha was currently giving up his duties as a den mother and crashing on her couch, but that was neither here nor there.

Since the students didn't really have normal families, Kagome found that they attached firmly to her. She didn't mind. She hadn't had the best family life herself, and she welcomed the chance to open up her heart to this group of hurting children. She could identify with their fear and confusion. Hadn't she also just been told she had dangerous power?

As a result of her renewed devotion to her class, Kagome began staying later at school, accompanying her students to dinner and spending time with them in the evening. Inuyasha grumbled about being made to stay late but he still agreed to throw a ball or frisbee whenever he was asked, which was often.

One evening in early December, Kagome left Inuyasha on the lawn in front of the dormitory (which she still had trouble seeing, thanks to Rin) where he was currently trying to explain the finer points of soccer to a group of kids. She wanted to pack a few things up in her classroom before going home, and the class hamster-cage (not the mention the hamster) needed a little cleaning out.

She was elbow-deep in cedar shavings when Sesshomaru appeared at her door, looking into her room with a puzzled expression.

"Mr. Taisho?" Kagome said, staring at him. "I didn't realize you would be in the school this late."

"I was just getting my computer out of my office. Why are you here so late?" Sesshomaru responded.

"Well I was just getting Captain Sparkle Breeches' cage a little cleaning…." Kagome said. "Inuyasha was still playing soccer and I know you asked him to take me home, so I didn't think-"

Sesshomaru interrupted her with a raised finger.

"Captain Sparkle Breeches?" He asked. Kagome giggled.

"Last time I ever let ten-year-olds name the class pet," She explained. Sesshomaru nodded, and then turned as if to leave. Just as Kagome thought he was gone, she heard his voice again.
"Did you say Inuyasha told you I asked him to give you rides?" He asked.

Kagome wasn't sure what he was getting at. "No, it's like the guarding thing. I know you asked him to keep an eye on me. He's staying at my place right now."

"Ah, I see." Sesshomaru said thoughtfully. "Where did you say he was right now?"

"He was playing with the kids on the lawn. Why?"

"No reason. I'm sure he'll come to collect you when he's ready to leave."

The imposing Mr. Taisho, suddenly looking even more imposing than usual, left. Kagome went back to cleaning out Captain Sparkle's cage, humming softly under her breath.

Inuyasha felt the surge of his brother's youki before he even saw him. He looked up from the impromptu huddle he had formed with a group of girls (they were determined to beat their male counterparts, as the soccer game had devolved into a kind of pre-teen battle of the sexes). Sesshomaru crested the hill that sloped from the courtyard of the school down to the dormitory, then stood still. Inuyasha knew he was being summoned. He wasn't sure what the problem was, but he couldn't think of anything stupid he'd done lately...so maybe it was someone else who was in trouble? He left his team and reluctantly joined Sesshomaru at the top of the hill.

"What is it?" He said, when he reached the towering demon. "Calm the fuck down you're going to scare the kids. Some of them can sense this kind of thing."

"I am calm," Sesshomaru said, looking out at the horizon. "And I am going to calmly ask you what you think you are doing with the miko."

"What? I'm not doing anything with her!" Inuyasha bristled at the unspoken allegation.

"Then why are you sitting outside of her house night after night under the pretext of guarding her? And why would you tell her I ordered you to do that?"

"She needs guarding! You said it yourself!" Inuyasha protested.

"Which is why I place four of my closest guards around her property."

Inuyasha scoffed. "Those guys are hacks," He said. "You shouldn't trust them with something so important."

"They are hacks if none of them noticed you were there."

Inuyasha said nothing. Sesshomaru glanced at him.

"She said you were staying with her."

"I figured you knew. Aren't you seeing Rin?"

"No."

There was a long silence. Sesshomaru broke it.

"You want this woman."

"No!" Inuyasha said quickly.

"Liar. I can tell when you're around her. But hear me when I say this brother," Sesshomaru said, his voice deadly quiet, "Do not indulge yourself. There are some things even you and I should not touch."

"I'm not indulging myself!" Inuyasha said angrily, just as Kagome's scent wafted over to him. He looked behind Sesshomaru to see her trotting out of the courtyard toward them. As he watched her make her way over to them, Inuyasha considered his brother's accusation. Yes, Kagome was desirable. Could be that he desired her. Right now, for instance, she was wearing his favorite short skirt and her hair was gathered up in a messy bun. Dark tendrils framed her face. Her eyes were bright as she reached them.

"Ready to go?" She said, "Rin just texted me that she's making homemade ramen tonight. You'll love it!" Impulsively she grasped his hand and pulled him back towards the school. Inuyasha felt a little pink in the face but didn't comment on the contact. He was too busy trying to tune out his brother's subsonic growl.