A/N: Thank you for your patience! Next update will happen around midweek.
The Dog and the Dry Place
Sango, armed with an umbrella, had braved the downpour and went back home. She'd refused to stay the night, saying that she needed to make sure Kohaku and Kirara were okay.
Secretly Kagome thought it might have had more to do with Miroku showering compliments at her. There was a limited amount of times a girl could hear that her physical strength was akin to one possessed by a weigh lifter. Kagome supposed she was bound to hear more of his flawless compliments in the future, since he was staying over at least for tonight. Myouga was already dozing off on Buyo.
The rain was still falling, the thick cover of clouds making it way darker than it should be. Hiro retired to bed, complaining that such weather wasn't good for his joints. Miroku got comfortable in the guest room, probably meditating before sleep. Kagome finished washing dishes and wiped her hands on a towel, watching the dark, wet and noisy outside world behind the shoji opened to catch some of the coolness the rain brought.
She gasped when a figure emerged from the darkness, jumping onto the engawa and shaking energetically. That sight made her smile and she threw her towel on its rack when Inuyasha strolled in. It was the right time to do what she'd planned almost since the very start and has done her best to hide from him.
"Here, your stupid notebook" Inuyasha said, fishing the item from within the layers of his kimono where he'd stored it for safe travel. Kagome had left it in the gift shop drawer again, partially because she had been focused on something else and partially to have an excuse to ask him to bring it to her.
"Thank you," she smiled brightly and outstretched both her hands. One grabbed the notebook and put it on the counter top. The other took hold of his sleeve. The fabric was rough, but warm. Inuyasha blinked at her.
"What do you want now, wench?" he asked, his ears twitching. She giggled inwardly and tugged at his sleeve. He was still somewhat damp, his mane a bit less unruly than usual. but his doggy shake had left him not dripping on the floor. Honestly, it wasn't the weather one should be out and she felt a bit guilty for asking him to fetch her notebook. But he'd gone away while she'd been showing Miroku to his room and she really wanted him back in the house.
"Come," she said. "I have something to give to you."
Kagome laughed when she noticed him sweeping a glance around the kitchen, obviously looking for food. Easily she shifted her hold on him to wrap her fingers around his calloused hand and pulled him through the house to the second floor. She totally missed the hot flush covering his cheeks as he looked at their joined hands when they climbed the stairs.
She stopped in front of the shoji that led to the room at the end of the corridor. It'd been a small room grandpa mostly had used to store broken furniture, old newspapers and all sorts of things that belonged in the attic, but the old man couldn't move there because of his back.
"Here," Kagome glanced over her shoulder at Inuyasha and pushed the door aside. She fumbled to fins the light switch on the inner wall of the room, next to the door, and then the room was no longer hid in darkness. She dragged her hanyou friend inside, the man following her like a puppy.
She'd spent hours tidying this room up. She'd hung on the walls a bunch of landscape pictures she'd found during her cleaning. She'd glued on a low table leg together so she could put the table in one corner. One of the spare futons, with new blankets, was laid out in another corner. The light bulb was hanging in a paper lantern she'd painted with leaves. The ancient cabinet holding previously miscalculation trinkets, old books and even older clothes was now emptied of all that. A few fresh towels and kosode were laid out on the shelves. Potted colorful grass adorned the table and a bunch of sitting pillows in new casings laid around it.
"What is this?" Inuyasha asked, blinking at the room. He half turned to look at the pictures on the wall.
"Your bedroom," she smiled happily. "I know it's kinda empty right now, but I figured out that you'd bring in anything you'd like."
"I'm the shrine guardian. I don't need a room." he said slowly, his voice sounding a bit off in the small room. "I can handle rain and if I want to, I can always stay in the well house."
"You did that," she said firmly and put her hands on her hips. "But you are a part of this shrine for much longer than I, and you are going to have a room in the house. You said it yourself, this is your home."
Inuyasha's ears twitched, but otherwise he didn't move to turn and look at her, so she elaborated, gesturing with her chin to the tiny space.
"I know you're an outdoors person and you definitely don't have to sleep here every night, but I want you to have a place of your own. You shouldn't be staying in the forest or in a shed. You deserve to be treated as an equal," she said firmly with a nod to her own words.
That made Inuyasha turn to look at her, his face hid in the shadow of his messy hair. His ears were lowered now and his shoulders were sagging, which made her look away to the table.
"I put a lot of work into this, but if you want to, you can change stuff here," she said uncertainly. "I mean I picked the grass because I wasn't sure you'd like flowery scents. And I made the light bulb casing. And I fixed the table. With glue," she added, awkwardly. She was aware she was babbling, but she couldn't help it, he was too quiet, too still. "We don't have much money to buy fancy stuff but if you need anything, I'm sure we can get it into the house budget. And we can do lots of stuff ourselves. I will look up on the internet how to make a nice sword stand for your katana, if you want to."
She trailed off. His fingers twitched as if he was tying not to ball his fists. She'd been so excited, making this secret room for him. Honestly, him not having a room in the house had been such a stupid thing. She'd asked her grandpa about it and he'd told her he'd tried to suggest something like that but had failed. All he'd managed to do was to make Inuyasha come visit him for a match of Go. So she'd decided to just make place for Inuyasha and then tell him it was his to do with it what he wanted. She'd thought he'd like a dry place and one with easy access to bathroom and kitchen. And now he he was just standing there, motionless and silent, while she was loosing her certainty. Was he not happy to have a place of his own? Maybe he didn't like it? Or maybe he thought she saw him weak and in need of shelter? She bit her lip, the longer he was going to keep silent, the more outlandish ideas was going to sprout in her head.
"Um..." she started and saw his ears perk up. Then he lifted his head golden eyes looking straight at her.
And the next thing she knew she was engulfed in warmth, in rough fabric smelling of forest and faintly of wet dog. She was held against a soiled chest by two gently arms. A waterfall of silver fell over her left side where Inuyasha pressed his cheek to her own, leaning in to whisper barely audibly. His breath on her skin and the words he spoke almost made her knees give in.
"My place is where you are."