Evanescent
By: HalcyonMoments11
We're losing height, but holding on.
Soft is weakness;
We're coming in low and way too fast.
Trust that we don't crash.
We're coming in low and way too fast.
-Atlas Genius (Balladino)
Kagome huffed and squirmed, wringing her hands—which were tied with a rough rope behind her back—to no avail. By now, of course, she was used to being captured, to being the member of the group who needed saving, but Kami help her, it never ceased to be an infuriating circumstance.
"You'll hurt yourself if you keep squirming like that Kagome-sama."
Blue eyes turned to her violet eyed companion sitting across from her in the cramped, dimly lit space their captors had locked them in with what was clearly the bandit stash they had caught rumor of.
Shortly after leaving the village in which they had waited out the new moon, the inu-tachi had realized that their funds were dangerously low. On their travels they had heard about a group of bandits that had been terrorizing near-by villages and travelers and they were rumored to have a large stash of goods in the area. Once they had narrowed down where the bandits often attacked they set out a plan. Having been bait before, Kagome volunteered to draw their attention as a traveler. Because a woman travelling by herself may not be enough to draw their attention, or would perhaps draw the wrong kind of curiosity—and because traveling with a hanyou or a taijiya may be enough to deter their notice—it was decided that Miroku would act as her travelling companion. This left Inuyasha and Sango to execute a plan of attack and "rescue".
It all really should have been a standard con the swindler strategy, especially concerning their target was just a group of human bandits.
But something went wrong.
In the midst of the scuffle, Inuyasha and Sango couldn't get to Miroku and Kagome before the bandits overwhelmed them and swept them off. Which is how the miko and monk found themselves tied up—'With three different sets of rope? Really!? The ankles and wrists weren't enough, they had to tie a loop around our thighs as well? A bunch of hentai just trying to cop a feel…'—and tossed into a crowded, dimly lit space, awaiting their friend's rescue.
Kagome sighed exasperatedly and replied, "Ano… we can't just sit here, Miroku-sama."
"Oh, I don't know. I find this rather… what's the word?"
"Confining? Awkward? Demeaning?" Kagome offered, agitation lacing her voice.
"Cozy."
Kagome scoffed, ignoring the way the houshi playfully knocked his knees against her own when he responded, self-consciously shifting with the position of her skirt in mind. The lighting may be dim, but if she wasn't careful she was certain he would find a way to peak if he could.
Miroku chuckled quietly. "I'm sure Inuyasha and Sango-san will be here soon, Kagome-sama."
Kagome was quiet for a moment. Fidgeted some more. Huffed again.
"I'm so tired of waiting to be rescued." Kagome mumbled dejectedly.
They sat in silence for a moment until Miroku bumped his knees against hers again. When she didn't respond, he extended his reiki in her direction, gentle and warm, and yet raising goosebumps across her skin, drawing her blue eyes to his violet.
"We'll have to start by getting these bindings off."
Kagome perked up. "How do you propose we do that, Miroku-sama?"
Miroku hummed in thought, shifted absentmindedly. "If we could maneuver ourselves to sit back-to-back, we may be able to reach each other's bindings to untie them…" he proposed.
"Back-to-back, hm?" Kagome wasn't sure she liked the idea of his hands being so close to her behind when she had no easy way to defend herself from his lecherous wandering. But the idea of freeing her wrists and being able to untie her legs sounded just alluring enough to risk it.
"You'll behave yourself, Miroku-sama?" It was more of an instruction than a question, but Miroku nodded, feigning innocence.
"I wouldn't dream of misbehaving in such dire circumstances, Kagome-sama." She could practically see the way he'd place a hand over his heart in mock seriousness and disappointment had he been able to do so.
Kagome rolled her eyes but shifted to try to pull her legs up under herself. "I think I can get myself up and get over to you," she said, bracing herself against the boxes behind her to get up to her knees.
"Be careful, Kagome-sama, finding balance may be difficult in this lighti—"
Making it to her knees, Kagome pushed off the boxes she had braced herself on and tried a little hop in his direction. The ties around her thighs were tighter than she had anticipated and she immediately stumbled, having no hands with which to catch herself she fell forward with a startled squeak into his chest. Her ribs throbbed with the sudden movement and she groaned, face buried in his robes, chest and shoulders pressed against his.
She felt his chuckle more than heard it, felt his breath in her hair, on the side of her face.
"Well, you certainly achieved getting closer."
Despite her embarrassment, she was grateful he couldn't see her blush with her face buried in his robes. She turned her head slightly, tried her best to glare up at him.
His face was much closer to hers than she had anticipated, his breath fell hot on her lips. Having turned to look down at her already, all it would take is the smallest shift up for her lips to reach his. He smiled winsomely and she felt her breath catch in her chest.
For a moment they were back in the village, his arm was around her waist, forehead pressed against hers, lips enticingly close and her heart was pounding in her ears.
"You're not even a little tempted?"
How did he keep doing this? She was so certain she was immune to him, to his leering, to his charms, purposeful or unintentional. How many times had she laughed and rolled her eyes at the village women he attempted to woo along the way? How many times had she shrugged off comments and gestures aimed at her? Teased Sango for being so flustered by him?
"G-gomen Miroku-sama," she mumbled, drawing another chuckle from him.
"This is a bit of a predicament, isn't it, Kagome-sama?"
She nodded slightly, looked down, tried to pretend it was not the spans of his neck, the hook of his jawline that she had to focus on. If only she could use her hands to brace herself, move away from him.
Another thought occurred to her: 'Thank Kami he can't use his hands.'
"I think I can get us into a less compromising position," he said, drawing her eyes back to his. "But I'm going to need you to shift up a bit more."
She flushed, knowing that would put them nose-to-nose. She was quiet for a moment, breathing to steady her racing heart. 'Get a grip, Kagome!'
"You trust me, don't you Kagome-sama?" Miroku asked.
His voice was gentle, earnest. She nodded once.
"I will behave."
His statement drew a small smile to her lips and she chuckled. In response she shifted against him, chest and shoulders bracing against his to push herself up slightly, and met his gaze once more when they were face-to-face. His amethyst eyes roamed her face quickly and she tried not to notice how they lingered for a moment on her lips, before meeting her gaze again.
"Good. I'm going to push you back a bit. Are you ready?"
She couldn't find her voice in the moment, so she nodded again, forehead bumping his.
Having braced himself against the oddities behind him, he pushed forward with one shoulder, solid chest pressing against hers, forehead braced against her own. He may not have use of his hands, but she could imagine where they would be placed now—one in her hair and one at her waist—in a movement that relayed nothing but tenderness, intimacy. Suddenly everywhere he touched her was fire. Her eyes fell to his lips, breath shuddering.
"Careful," he whispered, voice thick. She wasn't sure if it was a warning for her or for him. 'Careful of what?'
"Pull your legs forward," he bid, drawing her eyes back to his.
She did as she was told and found that she could shift away from him if she needed, could fall back into a seated position beside him if she pushed away. She lingered, and if it had meant her life she wouldn't be able to say why had anyone stumbled upon them in this moment. She wondered at the way her heart stuttered when he remained as well.
"Kagome-sama?"
If her name hadn't been enough to break her out of whatever held her in that moment—even at barely a whisper—the loud crash, yelling, and commotion outside the room was. They stilled in a different way, eyes turning in the direction of the door. The building practically shuddered, a boom echoing from the roof.
And suddenly the ceiling was caving in and they needed to move. Violet eyes met her cobalt blue in alarm before Miroku quickly pressed against her, pushing off the materials around them on which he had remained perched, side of his face brushing the side of hers as he tried to cradle her against him without arms to do so. The warmth of his reiki surged around them, to which hers soared to meet, still searing and raw in the aftermath of the battle they'd had with a scourge of reptilian youkai just a little over a week ago.
Excepting the pain that still wracked her ribs, she hadn't realized they'd landed with a huff, portions of the ceiling barely missing them due to Miroku's quick thinking with a barrier, or that light from the new hole in the roof filtered in through the dust around them until she heard a gruff: "W-what the—?!"
Blue eyes looked up around Miroku's shoulder to see the distinctive red haori of their hanyou companion as the dust settled around where Kagome and Miroku had both scrambled out of the way of the crumbling ceiling.
"Inuyasha!" she said, relief laced through her voice.
"Heh," he swung the Tessaiga up onto his shoulder, amber eyes taking in the position in which the two had tumbled, her legs somehow over Miroku's, his torso twisted slightly over hers despite the way he had angled himself to look back at Inuyasha after Kagome had announced his arrival. His ears twitched agitatedly, "Ya'd think with two of you, ya coulda avoided getting captured this time," he said, a jesting edge to his voice.
Kagome's eye twitched, a frown pulling hard on the corners of her pursed lips. She saw Miroku glance at her out of the corner of his eyes.
He tried to defuse the situation, taking his own calming breath. "Inuyasha, we certainly did not intend—"
The hanyou cut him off. "Then, I have ta go out of my way to rescue ya and I find ya here, lounging around, getting all cozy with the damn houshi." His tone turned irritable, accusatory. Kagome flushed slightly, pushing aside the thoughts of how close she and Miroku had been just moments before, how tangled they remained due to the binds that still held them.
Despite her flush, she fumed and was decidedly not in the mood for Inuyasha's allegations and grousing. She had dealt with too much already today, having been manhandled and discarded in what was essentially a vault, uncomfortably bound in a small, dark space for hours, delicately maneuvering said situation with a lecherous monk and ultimately becoming inexplicably, infuriatingly flustered by said houshi, and now harassed by the hanyou who had supposedly come to her rescue after it had been his plan that had found her in this situation to begin with?
She felt Miroku wince for their friend as she breathed in.
"Inuyasha, oswari!"
A/N: This chapter felt a bit like a filler episode to me, but I hope you all enjoyed it anyways. Please review? - HM11
