Inuyasha (manga and anime) belong to Takahashi-san
The Journey Home – Chapter Twenty Five
She is too quiet, he thought as they continued on their journey. Have I said something wrong? Inuyasha felt miserable, an emotion that he had not felt for a long time and he did not like it one bit. He did not mean to make her practice if she had not wanted to. He just thought she would feel better if she was prepared, and besides she did ask him. Now he was regretting it after seeing her tears, which he did not know they were actually from exhaustion and not because she was upset.
A frown began to appear on his face as he hastily began preparing an apology.
Kagome could see that the hanyou was upset about something. Probably me, she thought. She couldn't help but think that she was such a nuisance to him that he would begin to become frustrated. He didn't seem too thrilled about letting her practice and he kept looking around him occasionally as if someone was about to jump on him. Inuyasha probably didn't even need her as his shard detector as he appeared to already know the location of jewels shards even before she had come back to Sengoku jidai.
Kagome sighed, feeling that her legs were starting to drag and she felt heavier than usual. These thoughts were making her miserable and she wanted to stop them, it was no use being sad.
She saw a convenient place to talk with Inuyasha to ask for his forgiveness for being such an annoyance to him. With a swift motion with her arm, she made a grab for Inuyasha's ponytail and with an expert flick of her wrist she dragged him along behind her.
The hanyou was so startled that he had to comply with her demand, realising then that having his hair up was a very bad idea. But he was relieved when she did not go for the ears. I'm in for it now.
Inuyasha gulped.
Rin and Kohaku looked to Kaede in surprise and then at the miko as she pulled the hanyou along disappearing into the forest.
"Will Inu-no oji-chan be alright? She looked so upset." Rin asked.
Kaede responded with an amused shake of her head. "I'm not to sure children. Kagome's moods are very unpredictable sometimes."
The hanyou and miko stood apart from each other, not daring to look at the other person in the eye. With both of them alone, they suddenly realised that they found it difficult to start a conversation, both fearing each other's wrath.
Kagome fiddled with her fingers.
Inuyasha fiddled with his hair.
One of them snapped.
"I'm sorry."
The other person looked up. He looks so guilty.
"I shouldn't have forced you to practice when you obviously were not ready." Inuyasha almost shouted as he darted his eyes away from her not wanting to say anything else. "I know you were not too happy about it."
Kagome experienced a sudden blank from the hanyou's confession, not knowing why he was apologising to her. She started to stutter, confusing the hanyou more.
"No," she finally said as she shook her head.
"No?" She won't forgive me?
"I-I—uh—mean, it's not like that Inuyasha!" Then she added more quietly, almost shamefully. "I'm sorry for being such a bother to you. I just feel so useless now and I'm not a good fighter or anything. I might be putting you in more danger; with all the jewel business…you don't really need me."
A silence fell on them.
An uncomfortable silence…
Inuyasha stared wide-eyed at the miko who was looking down towards her feet refusing to say anymore.
The silence dragged on, causing the hanyou's irritation to grow. She did not just say that?
Never before in his entire life had he felt so…so…angry.
The irritation grew—but he suppressed it, he should not get angry, he would not get angry.
He clenched and unclenched his fists in an attempt to calm himself.
And the anger stopped completely.
When Inuyasha didn't reply, Kagome's anxiety grew until she could not handle the silence any longer, so she decided to leave. Bringing up her courage, she was about to tell the hanyou not to worry about her and her silly ideas, when suddenly her hand was being held by two larger ones.
The hanyou kept his head down not wanting to portray any emotions that might give away what he was thinking. And right now, he felt his tongue would say something completely opposite to what he was thinking.
Kagome felt the slight warmth from his large hands as he held them. Her heart was gradually beating faster as he still had not said a word and the fear grew as the seconds seemed to last for hours. After a while however, she shivered as she felt him touching her fingertips tentatively and she could see that his own hand was shaking a little. Kagome's heart skipped a few beats as she saw his fingers easily slide together interlocking with hers. Hearing a faint mumble, Kagome leaned closer towards the hanyou to hear him better.
"What did you say?" She asked softly.
Kagome did not know that Inuyasha had begun to blush from her closeness and he had to take a deep breath before mumbling a little louder, "Who says that you're useless?" He did not dare look up towards her because he felt his face was burning up again.
The miko's eyes widened at this point not believing what she had just heard, but at the same time wanting to believe it was real. However it was difficult to see what he was thinking when he wouldn't even show her.
She wanted to see his face, to see his beautiful golden eyes that once told her the many mysteries about him. Kagome didn't want to see his vacant stare every time she spoke to him; it had been just like her dreams, that haunting expression that made her on occasion…fear him. It was true that he had changed and she could not have stopped that. Nevertheless with the time she spent with him, she saw glimpses, even though tiny ones, Kagome saw him, her shy, silly hanyou.
Inuyasha almost sighed in relief when he found that the young woman would not move away from him. He felt the warmth from her hand and he felt his soul lighten by it. Those years alone made him feel nothing, as if nothing around him existed, he lived and thrived in darkness. Even at times when Sesshoumaru would 'politely' ask him to look after Rin for a while, and she did lift up his spirits a little, yet it did not last very long because then she would have to leave again, and he would go back to whatever he was like before.
Now with Kagome here standing next to him, everything seemed to have a more vibrant colour around them, food and drink tasted better, and the objects and people did not smell like blood or death anymore. She was here, she was real, not like a dream that he feared that she would be.
With shaky hands he brought Kagome's hand to cover the place where his heart was. His voice was almost a whisper but the miko could hear him very clearly.
"I need you, isn't that enough?"
Kagome could only stare at where her hand was placed, she could feel his heartbeat that seemed to beat just as hurriedly as her own and she was left speechless by his words. It was only on a very rare occurrence that the miko would hear such words and it never ceased to make her heart flutter.
She smiled, bringing his chin up so that she could look directly towards his face. Their eyes met, caught into each others gaze, falling under a dreamlike spell until they were unable to get out. Kagome could see the blush painted on his cheeks and she felt the heat build up on her own face. With her free hand she brought it up to touch his face. She saw that a tiny smile was beginning to form and she leaned forward so her cheek was touching against his. His skin felt warm, much warmer than the last time she had touched it.
She giggled a little and whispered so only he could hear. "They're watching you know."
"I know," he whispered back into her ear causing a tickling sensation. "If that boy says anything…"
The miko's smile grew, a mischievous grin that the hanyou could not see, but somehow he knew what she was thinking. Or so he hoped.
She laughed a little, "Well…we better give them something to talk about."
"What did she say Kohaku?" Rin whispered to the boy who crouched beside her.
"I don't know, but they're awfully close, do you think they're going to…you know," Kohaku leaned closer to get a better view, "they're so stubborn…"
Rin nodded her head and then she saw something that caused her to cover Kohaku's mouth to prevent him from saying anything. He was about to protest, when he saw it as well…
Kagome was leaning towards the hanyou, her expression was hard to read but it looked like she was going to kiss him. While Inuyasha's face clearly showed that he was stunned as he began to move his head back from the miko, with a funny sort of smile on his face.
Kohaku and Rin leaned closer.
Kagome leaned closer towards the hanyou.
Inuyasha feared that he might fall over from leaning back too far.
Kagome brought her hands up.
They were so close…and getting closer.
Rin and Kohaku were holding their breath and keeping their eyes wide as they possibly could…
…To find that two large sleeves had suddenly blocked their view, turning everything into darkness, preventing them to see whatever they were hoping to see.
They struggled.
They squirmed.
But Kaede's grip was stronger. "This is not for children's eyes." She hissed.
Kagome would have smirked if she had wanted to for tricking them, but she held it in. Instead she wrapped her arms around Inuyasha embracing him as much as she could. Closing her eyes for a while she relished in the warmth of his body and she sighed.
The hanyou however stood frozen as the miko hugged him ever so gently, with as much tenderness that he ever felt in his entire life, that instead of feeling happiness that he should have, he felt…anxious— no, that was not the word. He felt stuck and found himself unable to come up with an appropriate response. He gasped in surprise as he could feel Kagome's hands move to find a more comfortable position on his back and she laid her head on his shoulder and once again she sighed happily.
Kagome was so tired and the most comfortable place she could find was on the hanyou's shoulder and she closed her eyes again.
Inuyasha dared to bring his arms around her, thinking that she wanted her embrace returned. He could smell the delicate perfume that was hers alone as he brought his forehead to touch hers.
Right now, it was them alone. Hanyou and miko, two people who could find solace in each others arms. And that was all they needed.
Inuyasha sighed as he too closed his eyes. Then opened them slowly to see that it was indeed Kagome, the strangest person he had ever met. Looking closer, he saw the smoothness of her face, the way the light played on her features and the way she was slowly breathing in and out.
Inuyasha frowned slightly, hoping it was not what he just saw. "Kagome?" he asked softly.
He heard someone snoring softly, tickling his neck with each breath of air. He blinked a few times, unsure if he really heard what he really heard.
"Kagome…," he said again, fearing he would break the quiet moment.
No answer, only a loud snort could be heard coming from the girl. Then she seemed to fall back asleep again.
She's asleep! How did I know that this was going to happen?
This time, he did not resist the urge to roll his eyes as he picked up the sleeping girl who snuggled in for a better position, still smiling.
Inuyasha felt himself grinning as well, as he strolled out towards the path where the others were supposed to be waiting.
Until next time...