Interlude 11- Know and Love

Inuyasha © Rumiko Takahashi

Two days after the whole "Fake Water God" incident, Inuyasha and company had continued on with their journey to find the Sacred Jewel shards as well as Naraku's castle. During their travels, they had stopped at a neighboring village and just as Miroku had said, he sold the "gifts" that Taromaru's father had bestowed upon him at a neighboring village. As usual, Inuyasha had to give his two cents about the whole thing.

"You ought to be arrested," the half-demon told him.

Nonetheless, the treasures did fetch quite a price, so much so that the group could afford a night's stay at the local inn, much to the delight of the girls. They could finally take a nice hot bath instead of bathing in a cold stream. Inuyasha didn't seem to see the appeal of it, but he supposed that as long as Kagome was happy about it, then he should be, too.

Speaking of Inuyasha, he was sitting outside on the porch of the inn, staring up at the orange sky and pinkish-purple clouds as the sun started to dip behind the rooftops of the village.

"Haa...that was such a nice bath!"

Inuyasha turned to see Kagome coming out of the inn's bathhouse, wearing her pajamas and drying her hair off with a towel.

"It feels so good to have a nice, hot bath, for once," she said. "Almost feels like I'm at home. Maybe you should take a bath, too, Inuyasha. You are starting to stink, just a little bit."

"Keh!" Inuyasha scoffed. "I don't need a bath."

"Whatever you say," Kagome replied as she sat down beside him, staring up at the sunset. "Wow...look at that sunset. It's so pretty."

"Yeah," Inuyasha muttered before he glanced at Kagome. If he didn't know any better, she looked as if her skin was glowing a bit, and she did smell rather nice. He really did love her smell.

...Love.

"...Hey, Kagome?"

"Yeah, Inuyasha?"

"I still wanna know: what did you mean by 'know and love'?"

Kagome's eyes went wide...but then she sighed in resignation as she put her hands over her face. Ever since she made that comment about "the Inuyasha she knew and loved", the half-demon just wouldn't leave her alone about it, no matter how many times she tried to get him to drop the subject.

She supposed it was inevitable.

"You're never gonna let that go, are you?" asked Kagome.

"I just wanna know what it means," said Inuyasha.

Kagome sighed as she scratched the back of her head, thinking about how to explain the meaning of "know and love" to the half-demon.

"Well...it's like this," Kagome said. "When I said 'know and love', I meant that...well...I know you in a way that feels like I pretty much know a lot about you. I know how you can be, sometimes. You might say that you don't like helping out humans, and I don't really blame you for that...but when it comes down to it, you hate it when injustice is being done. That's something that I love about you. That even though you were mistreated, you still feel like you should help people. Deep down...you're still kind."

"...Am I, really?" Inuyasha asked, causing Kagome to nod her head. "So...is that why you kissed me after I almost drowned?"

"That wasn't a kiss, Inuyasha," Kagome said with a roll of her eyes. "That was CPR. It's something that people do when someone's unconscious and might have trouble breathing."

"...Oh..." Inuyasha muttered as he looked down at the ground. "Then...what about that other time you kissed me? You know...after..."

Kagome's eyes went wide before she looked down at the ground, too. She knew what he meant: he was speaking of the time when they encountered Kikyo, again...and she almost dragged them both into hell with her. She remembered how lost Inuyasha seemed, back then when he heard the resurrected priestess call him "disgusting". She knew it hurt him, very much and it took out a great amount of confidence in himself.

"...Right..." she muttered. "Well...it's just...I didn't want you to feel like you were undeserving of love...and...before I knew it...my body pretty much did something beyond my control."

"...Huh..." Inuyasha muttered.

"...Look...I have to be honest," Kagome said. "I'm not sure how I feel, myself, yet...I mean, yeah, we kissed a few times...but it makes me wonder...are we...really in love?"

"...Aren't we?" Inuyasha asked.

"Well...it's not like we've really said anything to each other, yet," Kagome answered, but then looked up at him. "I'm not saying that I don't like it, though!"

"I-I'm not saying that, either!" Inuyasha answered.

"...I guess...I still feel just a little confused," Kagome replied as she looked at the sunset.

"...You're not alone, there," Inuyasha replied as he looked at the sky, as well...causing Kagome to blink up at him and smile at them.

"Well...look at this way," Kagome said. "We have something in common."

Inuyasha glanced at her, then furrowed his brow in contemplation. After a moment, he smirked a bit, a fang poking out beneath his lip.

"Yeah...we do, huh?" he asked, causing Kagome to giggle as she leaned on his shoulder. "...Thank you, Kagome."

"You're welcome," Kagome replied as he put an arm around her shoulders...but as soon as he did, the modern-day priestess wrinkled her nose a bit. "Uh...Inuyasha?"

"...I should probably take a bath, huh?" asked Inuyasha, causing Kagome to chuckle a bit, awkwardly.

"Umm...yeah," she replied. "No offense."

"No, I get it," Inuyasha answered as he stood up and headed to the bathhouse. "Even I have to bathe, once in a while."

That being said, he turned to head inside so that he could partake in a bath, as well...but just as he was about to do so, he walked back to Kagome...and kissed her on her left cheek, causing her to gasp silently as her cheeks both turned bright red. She turned to say something, but he had already gone inside...and all she could do was sigh as she placed her hand on the spot where he had kissed her.

'...If I didn't know better...it's like he wants me to fall in love with him...'

XXX

In the hallway, Sango hummed a bit to herself as she was about to enter the bathhouse, but before she could, she saw that Inuyasha had already gotten to the door.

"Oh, Inuyasha!" she said.

"Oh, hey, Sango," Inuyasha greeted. "Were you about to go in?"

"Oh, it's fine, I can wait," Sango replied as she headed back to the room the group was staying in. "Let me know when you're done!"

Inuyasha shrugged before he headed inside the bathhouse. After a few minutes, there was silence...until the whole hall was shaken by the sound of Inuyasha screaming.

"MIROKU, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING BY THE WINDOW?!"

"Wait! You're not Sango!"

"OF COURSE, I'M NOT, YOU SLEAZY IDIOT! GET OUTTA HERE!"

Sango could only sigh and shake her head.

"On second thought...I can go a night without bathing..." she muttered.

Could have put this up last night if the site wasn't being so stupid.

Review, please!