Reading

Kagome had spent the bulk of this week meticulously gathering data to support her growing theory. Her chemistry teacher frankly would be flabbergasted at the pristine application of the scientific method. On top of noting her observations she also had to pretend that she was doing nothing out of the ordinary in order to not arouse his suspicion.

The subject under study was none other than Inuyasha.

At first she thought that he was just being his usual annoying self, trying to get a rise out of her whichever way he could. That would be the most likely explanation as to why she could feel him hover just behind her shoulder like that while she was trying to read. He wasn't close enough that he was breathing down her neck per se but she definitely got the uncanny feeling that someone was behind her.

Kagome's knee jerk reaction was to, of course, either give him a piece of her mind or osuwari him. The deadline to finish reading the novel in time for the term paper for her literature class was one measly week, it had not been the time to be messing around. But, she wasn't gonna let Inuyasha win so easily if his end goal was to rile her up. So she had bit down on her lower lip and kept reading.

It was soon after that she started hearing those little huffs coming from him. A short grumpy exhale of air so quiet she wasn't sure she heard it at first. Inuyasha probably had underestimated her hearing enough that he let himself make the noise in the first place.

She turned a page. Huff. He repeated himself as she neared the end of that one. Hmm… She quickly skimmed the new page at lightning speed and flipped it over. Another huff. A touch more annoyed sounding this time. Kagome was beginning to understand. Once, when she came across a chapter littered with so much difficult vocabulary, she had to put the book down and fetch some paper to write down the words to look up later. And taking that opportunity, she had snuck a look at Inuyasha to find his brows furrowed in intense focus as he squinted a little at the open page.

So here's her hypothesis. Inuyasha was actually reading over her shoulder. And tonight was the night to put it to the ultimate test.

Kagome waited till they were deep into the latest plot twist. Just when it was about to get good, she whipped around with the grace that usually eluded her other endeavours in life and caught Inuyasha in a state of deep concentration. His lower lip was captive under a fang as he stared at the page. Or where the page used to be.

"Whoa! I didn't expect that! Did you?" Kagome exclaimed triumphantly, alluding to the events of the story but grinning because she'd caught him in the act, so to speak.

She watched in amusement as Inuyasha's eyes widened as if surprised his head had already swayed in response with her statement without his permission.

They were awkwardly silent for a moment.

"What makes you think I can read?" He finally grumbled, the brief disbelief in his golden eyes conveyed his unspoken words. No one thinks I can read.

"Well unless you find my shoulder endlessly fascinating, I doubt you'd be crouched behind me night after night whenever I'm reading." She replied teasingly with a quirk of her lips.

"Keh." He broke away from her gaze to watch the flicker of the campfire, seemingly uncomfortable. Kagome put the book down, spine facing upwards and turned to face her disgruntled companion.

"Did your mother teach you to read Inuyasha?" Came her whispered question. When he looked up, her grey eyes looked impossibly soft in the firelight.

"Yes." Inuyasha replied gruffly, still shuffling on his seat. "Sure threw those bastards for a loop. A hanyou that can read."

Kagome gave a silent thanks to Izayoi-san, the hime that Myouga-ji-san had told her about, promising that she would pick up where she had left off in Inuyasha's education. Not outwardly obvious of course. Inuyasha would definitely refuse if he got the silly idea in his head that it was somehow a weakness. Kagome reached out to clasp his arm but was at a total lost as to what to do next. Her heart gave its familiar sharp clench whenever she thought of the abuse he must have endured his entire childhood. She understood and she knew he knew that but was there anything she could say that he wouldn't mistake for pity and get angry at her?

"You read too damn fast Kagome." He muttered sullenly at last. It was such a classic Inuyasha thing to say and it perfectly diffused the tension of the moment.

Unable to keep her grin from stretching across her face, she launched onto her feet and dove into her pack, closing her fingers on the two slim volumes at the bottom. She had packed them on a whim when she returned to the Sengoku Jidai after writing her term paper yesterday. They were her literature books from several years ago. The vocabulary level was probably closer to what Inuyasha would be comfortable with. But he didn't need to know that. She'll just work him up slowly once it became obvious that they were too easy. And maybe, just maybe, he would share with her his thoughts on his progress.

Still smiling widely, she returned to Inuyasha and stuffed the items into his hands. Kagome watched as his expression shifted from distant and sombre to surprise to a warm look she had no words to describe. He held her gaze for a moment longer then dropped to regard the two books in his grasp with faint wonder.

"These are for me?" He asked quietly.

"Mmhmm." She replied encouragingly, meeting his hesitant golden eyes. "I can carry them of course, but they're yours to read whenever you want."

Not wanting to further embarrass him or drive him away, she crawled back to retrieve her own book, then promptly sat herself much closer to the hanyou, leaning back against his side with a sigh.

She felt Inuyasha slowly relax behind her and heard the rustle of the pages as he opened his book.

"Let me know if there's an unfamiliar word ok? The language has probably changed over time."

She felt him nod against the side of her head. And warmth bloomed in her chest. Literature was definitely her favourite subject.

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